Quote:
The information in these pages is provided to give guidance on various techniques not usually identified with a specific standard. These are recommended practices that will result in reliable products. They are not, however, intended to be hard requirements, assumed to be supplemental to existing standards, or judged as the only acceptable method that can be used for the particular topic. For each topic covered herein, there can be several other techniques or procedures not described that can provide equivalent reliability, and their use should not be discouraged because they're not included in these pages.

This information should not be used if it conflicts with any contractual or program-specific requirements. Unless otherwise specified, these pages fall in order of precedence behind the contract, approved drawings, and any standards imposed on the program.

Quote:
This debate is informative, answering some questions and raising more. I've probably gotten myself into trouble by choosing solder, but given enough time and information, I can learn the task.

The solder-type RCA connectors I'm using have a flat - solder post. Can I solder wire onto a flat surface? My cheap RadioShack RCAs have holes posts. The "high end" - is just a flat surface and the + is a depression to receive the wire. Tempted to drill a hole in the - receiver to thread the wire.

The RCAs are where strain relief is my biggest concern. I'm considering hot gluing or caulking the wires at the end of the connector to help them.

How do I better join two (or more) wires before soldering them? Should I twist individual strands from both wire, then twist together the whole mass? Seems like risking metal fatigue.

I chose clear thin walled heat shrink tubing, but it seems thin. I probably should have got the thick walled for stronger support... but I think it had a higher shrink temp that I didn't want to mess with.

I chose standard tin/lead solder (two spools: one with and one without flux) over 4% silver solder because I didn't think I could handle the higher melting temp of the silver.

Maybe I'll try testing some soldering and shrinking this weekend. Eventually I'll get it figured out.

Quote:
What a -fabulous- disclaimer!

Quote:
Can I solder wire onto a flat surface?

Quote:
I'm surprised flux is that important. Described as "an agent to clean the metalic contacts" it seems almost pointless. My wires and RCA connectors are fresh out of the box, never used, making me wonder why they need cleaning.

I hope my solder with active rosin flux core will do the trick. Still waiting for my radio to come in (since the first was "lost in the mail") before I can start...

Quote:
flux does something chemically that allows the solder to really bond to the surface of the metal in a way that just heat alone won't.

Quote:
In reality, the chemistry of flux interactions at oxide surfaces is complicated and involves acid-base, oxidation-reduction, and coordination-type and adsorption-type reactions. Most fluxes react as Bronsted-Lowry acids with metallic oxides to form their respective salts and water, and the salts serve as surfactants that promote solder wetting.

Quote:
reducing the surface tension of the liquid solder