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  1. #11
    Super Moderator bmorgil's Avatar
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    That's an interesting thing for you 51. Usually its the other way around. Properly soldered joints are the gold standard of low resistance connections. It looks like you are experiencing a rash of bad craftsmanship! It is probably going to become rare to find anyone who really knows how to properly solder anymore. Or for that matter a manufacturer who can do it as fast as they need to do it now a days. The modern push in styles and solder-less connections are definitely faster. My first quarter in electronics way back was spent learning how to prep the soldering iron, solder joints and apply the heat correctly. I don't think they teach that stuff anymore!

  2. #12
    Super Moderator LarrBeard's Avatar
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    Proper Crimps

    Quote Originally Posted by 51 CJ3 View Post
    ... with proper crimps.
    The key word is “proper”. Many times a crimp connection has problems because Bubba and Junior just squeezed it together without appreciating how to do it right,

    A. Start with a good sharp wire stripper and strip the insulation with the right size stripping die. You know when you have the right strip die when all the insulation comes off and none of the wire strands are nicked or cut. And yes, there are English (AWG) and metric wire sizes. Like English and metric wrenches, they almost interchange – sometimes. (1.5 mm metric conductors fall right in between #16 and #14 AWG!)

    B. Strip to the correct length. In general, the insulation on the wire should butt up against the metal ferrule of the contact barrel and the strands of the conductor should just peek out the other end. It should go without saying that you don’t crimp insulation in with the conductor strands. (Some contacts have separate crimp ears to support the insulated portion of the wire – these are special cases.)

    C. Make sure you have the proper size connector for the wire size you are using. The conductor should fill most of the barrel of the connector; it should not rattle around loosely on the barrel. Nor, should you snip off wire strands to get the wire to go into the connector.

    D. Have a good crimping tool to finish the job. A pair of vise grip pliers or gas pliers isn’t the right tool. If you are going to be making a lot of connections, spend a few dollars for a good crimp tool. Many folks do not realize that most crimp tools are color coded with a dot (red, blue, yellow…) to match the plastic sleeve on a contact. And no – you don’t need to add solder to a crimped contact just to make it better.

    E. Check things when you are done. A properly crimped contact won’t pull off with finger strength pulling, nor will it twist around on the wire.

    Once upon a time when I had to do real work for living, I was sent to a two day school to learn how to make MIL-SPEC crimps. As with most education, I didn’t realize how important that school was for many years.

    I had an intermittent horn on the ’48 after we installed the new harness. It took me several years to get aggravated enough to chase it down and it ended up being a bad crimp in the horn wire. There was insulation crimped into the connector with the stranded conductor. I managed undo the original crimp, but I broke some contact ears and I did have to solder it back on to get a secure connection. Sometimes you just gotta’ do what you gotta’ do to get it back together.

    Good luck and thanks for sharing.
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    Last edited by LarrBeard; 05-28-2021 at 03:42 PM.

  3. #13
    Super Moderator LarrBeard's Avatar
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    "I don't think they teach that stuff anymore!" They do, but not many people want to learn it.

    Once upon a time - I ended up being an Engineering Manager at Raytheon Fort Wayne (I can say the name now) and our QC organization decided that all of the lab techs had to be Level 1 solder certified. After the usual griping and complaining ("I've been soldering since you were wearing diapers...") everyone who needed to touch a soldering iron went to solder school.

    I went too - partly to share the burden and partly because I wanted to be able to do anything my people could do. Now, fast forward a couple of years. Raytheon was the prime contractor for a major job in Brazil. Our shop was located in Manaus at the head of the Amazon River. There were a couple of intramural squabbles going on and Fort Wayne needed a manager on the ground to take our side in the squabble.

    I ended up setting up a repair facility out of boredom - you can only attend so many meetings. A young engineer was sent down from Marlboro to install an update in some equipment, but once he got there he confessed to the Marlboro manager on site that, quote; "I can't solder, I'm not comfortable working with molten metal”.

    The quick decision was; “Well, we’ll have to cycle all of the equipment back to Massachusetts to make the modification.” I replied; “Nope, I can do it – we’ll do it here.”

    “You can’t do that – you’re not certified to make those kinds of repairs” was the other manager’s reply. Then, I whooped out my Level 1 Solder Certification card and I said; “The heck I’m not.”

    The guy from Marlboro got on the phone with his QC people, who checked with the Fort Wayne QC people and they decided I really was qualified to run a soldering iron after all. If I recall, it was changing a 16-tab surface mount IC and a couple of discrete parts and I did all 24 units in a day. The young engineer who was afraid of molten metal did the checkout and declared it good.

    A bit later, the Marlboro manager asked me; “How did you end up with a solder certification?” In a moment of extreme meanness I replied;

    “In Fort Wayne you have to be able to do real work before they make you a manager… .”

  4. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by LarrBeard View Post
    because I wanted to be able to do anything my people could do.
    There is a dying management attitude/thought process if I ever heard one!

  5. #15
    Senior Member 5JeepsAz's Avatar
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    The best everything, above, and applauding it. I'm currently wondering if we were a different type of person, or even today, if there are folks who believe this. I refused to seek promotions unless I knew every job underneath by doing it. Bah humbug to the specialty approach where not everybody can do the basics of a job type because specialized. Yeah you can learn the basics of each and every job, and should, to elevate from management to leadership. Only later do I find out the world is not based on meritorious promotions. The number of incompetents out there is stunning. On the other hand, I have my resto to keep me humble daily. Harumph

  6. #16
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    The best crimp on connectors crimp onto the insulation as well at the conductor making a built in strain relief in the process. I was introduced to those and a ratcheting crimper when I started maintaining aircraft and it is all I use now.
    Last edited by 51 CJ3; 05-29-2021 at 06:52 AM.
    Jeff
    '51 CJ3A
    '47 CJ2A

  7. #17
    Senior Member TJones's Avatar
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    I found these at Summit and I'm telling you they are the best butt connectors I have ever seen!!!

    https://youtu.be/7Wh5gM8GM70

  8. #18
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    Quote Originally Posted by TJones View Post
    I found these at Summit and I'm telling you they are the best butt connectors I have ever seen!!!

    https://youtu.be/7Wh5gM8GM70
    Solder sleeves work very well. I use them for smaller than 22awg wires and connecting woven shielding to a ground.
    Jeff
    '51 CJ3A
    '47 CJ2A

  9. #19
    Super Moderator bmorgil's Avatar
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    My son brought a bunch of those home. I poo-pooed them being unsure of low temperature solder and an "old school taught" solderer! Looks like I am going to have to give those another look. I wonder what the difference is between the solder they use and standard 60/40 rosin core solder? Or maybe you can melt 60/40 with a concentrated heat gun?

  10. #20
    Super Moderator LarrBeard's Avatar
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    A. Yes, you can melt 60/40 rosin core solder with a heat gun - at least my heat gun will.

    B. I suspect that they use a low temperature eutectic solder (it goes directly from a solid ring to a liquid without the "paste" stage in the middle of the melt cycle). It probably has some flux in there as well. I wonder how they work on old wires that aren't new and shiny at the intertwined junction?

    C. When I was rewiring my brother's duck hunting boat, I found some crimp terminals with shrink sleeves with a gooey insert that melted and waterproofed the connections. They were really a good idea for wet applications, but dern if I remember what or where - but I'd bet Mrs. Google can find them if I need them again..
    Last edited by LarrBeard; 05-30-2021 at 07:28 AM.

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