proper way to solder?

[85 250sx]

well one of the wires came loose on my sx dash and i tried to solder it back on but i cant get the solder to sick onto the little spot on the dash just onto the wire. Is there a proper way to solder? and a lot of the time it will just beed up onto the end of the soldering gun and stick there and if i does come off it usauly beads off and rolls right off the wire or what ever im soldering.

[Tri-ZNate]

ok get the solding gun hot. touch some solder to the gun and quickly move the gun to the wire so it presses against the wire. Press the solder on the WIRE untill the solder melts. And now you have sucessfully soldered. If the wire is long enough twist the two ends together to make it hold stronger. I think what you did was just press the solder to the gun or pencil and didnt heat up the wire.

[darrel632]

Are you using paste and silver solder? Its always best to solder down hill if you can.
Usually if solder won't stick if the wire is corroded or plactic coated or an alloy which doesnt like lead solder. silver solder works to fix most of these issues

Darrel

[85 250sx]

well theres no wire to solder to its just one wire that needs to be soldered to a small piece or metal on the back of my key switch. and the little metal piece that i need to solder to is surounded by plastic. the piece that i have to solder to is probly as big as this 0 . It sucks because the wire that disconected is the one that enables my electric start and headlight to work.

[darrel632]

so find a small flat blade connector crimp and solder it to the wire and push it on to the blade on the back side of the dash

[Tri-ZNate]

pinch the wire between the metal piece and the pencil ( I recommend a soldering pencil otherwise it is gonna be harder than **** to get in there). then place the solder on the metal piece till it begins to melt and melt some on the wire and metal piece.

[slothminx]

Its not soldering because either the wire or the contact your trying to solder onto are dirty, you need to clean then with paint thinners or something similar. Clean the tip of the iron to the copper then put a little solder on the tip of it, now put the exposed dlean wire onto the slighty soldered tip for 5 secsonds and add some more solder. It should "take" the solder and draw it into the strands. Now make sure the pad is clean and heat that up with the tinned iron for a few seconds and form a small bead of solder on it, the just put the wire on the bead and press the iron ontop. Should join right together when you heat them, when they are fully joined take the iron away and hold the wire still until its solidified. Should be a good connection if done properly.


Will

[VABCH350X]

Flux! If you're not cleaning your pieces and using flux, the solder will not want to flow properly.

[bigredhead]

To clean the tip of your iron.. if you can find a small piece of sponge.. it's the best.. otherwise. saturate some paper towels.. or even news paper if you have to... but sponge is best.

Get the iron plenty hot.. and roll it onto the sponge to clean the tip nice and shiney...

Dip the tip of the iron in flux and let it smoke a bit.. and clean it on the sponge again.. do this until you get a clean iron tip.

Then cut the wire.. and splice a new clean copper section .. about 1/2 inch.. and like said above.. .. put a thin coat of solder on the iron's tip and " tin " the wire.. then clean the surface to be soldered to and put a tiny bit of flux there ( if you are using silver solder. ) and touch them together and heat them just enough to make them stick.. and the solder should not " ball up ".

Contamination if your worst enemy.

if you have resin core solder.. you don't need the flux to make it stick.. but do make use of it to clean your iron's tip.

good luck.

practice . practice practice..

[RedRider_AK]

Flux! If you're not cleaning your pieces and using flux, the solder will not want to flow properly.
Finally someone said flux.

[tri-z_250R]

Finally someone said flux.
yup if your not using flux core solder, or adding flux to your solder then that could be you problem.

[bigredhead]

Oh.. and the proper iron for the job is also important.

how many Watts is your iron ?

[Banage]

tie 2 wires together
Spred flux on open whire
get gun hot
heat wire with gun
press solder to whire till it melts,
ammount of solder depends on guage of wire

[85 250sx]

Thanks guys i got it back on and its working great agian. Thanks for all the tips