Soldering Iron

[glasgow]

Sorry for the numpty question.... I am seeking recommendation for a soldering iron/kit..

 

Yesterday, I discovered the earth wire of the repeater on the cycle wing is hanging loose. Looks like the screw that was connecting it to the end of the wing stay has failed. I am thinking of soldering the earth wire to the wing stay...

 

A) Would soldering work fine on the wing stay. (is it a good idea to apply a small drop of sikaflex on on top of the solder)

 

B) any recommendation for a soldering iron/kit: there seems to be lots of different types (main power, battery operated & gas... ). I don’t think i need a professional one, just a basic one that does the job. Did a search in the archive and looks like the 12v one is not good.

 

C) what solder/flux type is recommended?

 

Regards

 

Ahmed

[Doug phillips]

You will not be able to solder the wire to the wing stay, crimp one of these to the end of the cable and pot rivet it in.

http://www.spares2you.co.uk/images/Cable-crimps-tile.jpg

 

Job done

[Tony Whitley]

You won't manage to solder the earth wire to the wing stay, you'd have to get the wingstay up to the melting point of the solder. You need to solder it to a tag and then screw that to the wingstay and you'd do better with a crimped tag. Get yourself a cheap crimping set from Halfords or similar.

 

Soldering is not a difficult skill but you do have to learn it and where it can be applied.

[dalongbloke]

As Doug and Tony say, crimp an eye onto the end of the wire.

 

I would not recommend pop rivetting in place as this would make it very difficult to remove when it corrodes and meeds cleaning or replacing.

 

Best to drill a tiny hole (if not one there already) and use a stainless steel self tapping screw, which you will be able to screw into the metal.

 

As for solderong itons, I recently bought a gas powered one from B & Q for a bout £15. Easy to use in situ, especially if no mains powe, and cordless. I must have soldered 40+ joins this winter with mine!

 

You may also wish to aquire a "third hand" from your local pound shop! A device to hold 2 wires while you solder them.

 

Good to see more owners doing work themselves... good luck, Andy

 

Edited by - dalongbloke on 3 Jul 2011 08:25:19

[Doug phillips]

I would not recommend pop rivetting in place as this would make it very difficult to remove when it corrodes and meeds cleaning or replacing.

I would say that removing a pot rivet is a lot easer that a rusted in screw, just 5 seconds with an electric drill and it is out. Also as it is held in so well, it has (twice) saved me for losing a wing when the fixings have failed.

I does flap about a bit though ☹️.

 

Each to there own method

[glasgow]

Thank you for the reply

 

Crimp still on..... looks in good condition! it appears as though the head of the screw that was fixing the crimp has gone. the rest of the "rusty" screw is still inside the stay hole. i can use a drill to get rid of the screw body. Inclined to go for the pop rivetting (2 reasons, A. new skills 😬 B. save the hassle of shopping around for the correct size stainless steel self tapering screw)

 

Any recommendation for a pop rivetting kit?

 

Cheers

[glasgow]

OK,

 

Just bought this crimper here and this crimp pack here

 

The crimp ends are circular and only attach to the bare part of the wire here- i think there another types of crimps that attachs to both the bare wire and to the sheath part as well here any one knows where i can find this type please

 

regards

[Titanium7]

It is possible to route the earth wire with the live into the engine bay then can be connected to the main earth points on the sides of the engine bay. Fiddly but can be done.

[Grebby]

Glasgow,

 

The crimper that you have bought will not crimp (unless it has interchangable jaws) the F type terminals that you have asked about.

 

I have the F type crimps and crimper but I am a bit far away to be usefull. I think that I got them from car builder solutions. Something like here

 

Cheers

 

Grebby

[Klemheist]

The crimper you bought is not the correct pattern for the crimps you bought, and the silver cable shoes are for larger sizes of wiring than you need, they start at 4 / 6mm cable and go to 600mm ( at least thats the largest I've used and stock) and require hydraulic cable crimps at the larger size.

 

May I suggest you ask your local electrician who if hes like me has lots of different crimps and tools for different size wires, you will want one of the red plastic sleeved ring terminals for the 1mm cable you are trying to terminate and if used with the correct tool the red plastic will grip the cable.

 

http://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/products/0533279/

 

is the type of crimp tool required for the terminal set you bought.

 

Unless you are driving past Nottingham so I can show you how

 

Edited by - Klemheist on 4 Jul 2011 16:40:37

[Roger Ford]

I'm a bit confused.

 

Just bought this crimper here and this crimp pack here

 

Those two look compatible.

 

he crimp ends are circular and only attach to the bare part of the wire here

 

That doesn't appear to be from the crimp pack you just mentioned - did you buy it separately?

 

If the insulated crimp pack doesn't contain any ring terminals, you can buy them separately, eg. these. That should work with your tool - no need to spend 70 quid on an RS Components F-type crimper.

 

The better insulated terminals have "shaped" metal sections that will grab the insulation as well as the bare wire. Cheapo ones only grip the wire end, and rely on the squashed plastic to grip the insulation, which is much less effective. Unfortunately, without looking inside them you can't really tell which is which.