[SixClub] Station grounding

[Gabriel Sierra]

Really?

So, lets crimp components to the pc boards instead of
soldering them! LOL!

Seriously, I have been doing professional audio work
for the last 20 years, as well working as an
electronics technician, and it is the first time I
hear something like that!! Did you know that
professional studios use soldered patch bays instead
of the most common type that uses rear patch cords?
Why? because mechanical connections do get rusty!
Oxigen gets into everything, no matter how tigth it
is. Professional speaker manufacturers know that, that
is why they are using SPEAKON high current connetors
instead of the good ol' bind posts. But we are not
talking speakers here, do we? It is all on how good
your soldering is and, boy, you would not believe the
mayority of people don't know how to solder properly.
A good soldereing is clean and shiny, with no blobs
and very low in resistance (.2 ohm typical). A bad
soldering is dull, bulky and high in resistance. The
diode problem you mention happened when you used a
water pipe as a ground. Pipes were soldered with a
different type of solder; 40/60 acid core, while
electronis uses 60/40 rosin core. Pipe soldering goal
was never inteded to be good, electrically speaking.
That is why they advice against using water pipes as
grounds. Building code now specifies using PVC
plumbing in houses. So, old buildings that had
previous metal plumbing are getting mixed up with PVC
at some point, so a ground path can not be assured.
This will turn the plumbing into an antenna! A
properly done soldering isolates the copper from the
oxigen in the air thus preventing oxidation

If you read closely my post, I advised to solder a lug
to the flat braid and that lug is the one that gets
tigthten to the screw of the terminal block. 60/40
rosin core solder is hard to oxidize because it is 60%
tin and 40% lead. The solder used in pipes is 60% lead
and 40% tin, so it is a softer soldering, prone to
breaking if stressed. Then you add the acid core...!

By the way, Galena is Lead Sulfide, not oxide. It is a
different compound. It is an ore.In fact, most lead
and silver comes from it. Read more here:

http://mineral.galleries.com/minerals/sulfides/galena/galena.htm

One last advice, always test your grounding with a
good digital ohm meter. You should get less than .3
ohms on a mechanical connection for it to be
considered as good. More than .5 ohms is crap.

When a lightning struck my site last year, I only 
lost my preamp, for obvious reasons. All the radios
fared fine, and I repaired the preamp, yeah I soldered
the new GaAS FET, as they did in factory.

My two dollars ;-)

Gabriel


--- Tom Peters <tpeters at mixcom.com> wrote:

> I wouldn't solder, I'd use a very tight mechanical
> connection, such as a #8 
> screw. 

=====
Gabriel Sierra
Moondancer Recording Studios
moonrec at prtc.net
http://www.moondancer.freeservers.com