Heat sink to prevent wire melting

[Synchrony Pedalworks]

I thought I had read a post a while back lamenting the struggles of wire insulation melting when soldering. I asked my Pops, who is an EE, about techniques to prevent the melting.

Others might already know, but using a heat sink can cure the issue. To help, I left a longer lead on the wire, so that I can clip a small alligator clip to the wire. By doing so, I had longer contact time with the soldering iron, so that the solder had better adherence to the jack and there was no melting!

Cheers

 

[RetiredUnit1]

I use solid core silverplated teflon insulated wire I got from Apex Jr. on eBay. Very affordable and doesn't melt. You need to use stripmasters to strip it tho, very tough stuff.

 

[Sturdag Lagernathy]

Silicon insulated, pre-tinned solved all the problems I've ever suffered with hook-up wire.

 

[andare]

Silicon insulated, pre-tinned solved all the problems I've ever suffered with hook-up wire.

Germanium sounds better.
Aha you mean silicone

 

[iamjackslackof]

Silicon insulated, pre-tinned solved all the problems I've ever suffered with hook-up wire.

Do you have any specific brands or links? I use stranded pre-bond wire from one of the usual pedal sites and I love it, but the only improvement would be silicone insulation. Then I'd have no tinning, easy stripping, no melt wire, with the stiffness of solid core, but the durability of stranded. Perfection in my book.

 

[bowanderror]

Do you have any specific brands or links? I use stranded pre-bond wire from one of the usual pedal sites and I love it, but the only improvement would be silicone insulation. Then I'd have no tinning, easy stripping, no melt wire, with the stiffness of solid core, but the durability of stranded. Perfection in my book.

For some reason it's really difficult to find small gauge pre-bond wire with any insulation other than PVC. I do like working with pre-bond, but no longer buy it due to the overwhelming advantages of a more flexible & temperature resistant insulation.

In my experience, the majority of wire failures happen right where the insulation ends. PVC insulation is particularly bad at this as it's quite thick & stiff, and temperature abuse can make it recede down the wire, leaving a highly vulnerable section of exposed wire.

After trying a bunch of different wire options (20-26AWG, stranded/solid/pre-bond, PVC/silicone/teflon insulation), here are my thoughts:

• 22AWG - 24AWG also works great, but I like working with stiffer wires so I can route them and have them stay where I place them. I also build non-pedal stuff, so it's nice to not have a bit more current carrying capacity.
• Solid Wire - I prefer solid because I hate tinning wires and have had bad experiences with wires failing where they meet the board. Improper tinning can make this worse as the section of wire where the tinning stops flex a lot, which can sever strands & weaken the joint over time. I haven't had any issues with wires snapping or failing. You really shouldn't have issues if properly size wire runs, so avoid routing overly long/short lengths.
• Silicone Insulation - Silicone and PTFE (teflon) insulations both handle soldering temperatures really well. PTFE is much more stiff, and isn't fun to strip, so I prefer silicone. The ability to slide the insulation back on the wire also provides a bit of natural strain relief when you're soldering to a board. You can read my thoughts on PVC insulation above, and if you're using lead-free solder, the higher temps will make things even more difficult.

I usually just buy multicolor packs from Amazon or wherever, like this or this.

So I wouldn't discount solid wire. The durability of stranded wire is overblown for guitar pedal applications, especially when used with more flexible insulation types.

 

[Passinwind]

Do you have any specific brands or links? I use stranded pre-bond wire from one of the usual pedal sites and I love it, but the only improvement would be silicone insulation. Then I'd have no tinning, easy stripping, no melt wire, with the stiffness of solid core, but the durability of stranded. Perfection in my book.

I've been using mostly the 22 ga. version of this stuff for several years now: https://bntechgo.com/silicone-wire/24-gauge-silicone-wire/

I've used PTFE a lot too, but it tends to require more expensive tooling which it will eventually wear out, and a lot more care on my end, so I reserve it for things that truly benefit from it. And IME burnt fingers are much more common with PTFE than silicone.

 

[RetiredUnit1]

I've been using mostly the 22 ga. version of this stuff for several years now: https://bntechgo.com/silicone-wire/24-gauge-silicone-wire/

I've used PTFE a lot too, but it tends to require more expensive tooling which it will eventually wear out, and a lot more care on my end, so I reserve it for things that truly benefit from it. And IME burnt fingers are much more common with PTFE than silicone.

That's why I use solid core, just crimp the wire before soldering, no fingers required. These crescent medium nose pliers work great for wire manipulations of all types. On those times when I'm soldering up a transformer, which are always stranded, I use these to pull the wire instead of my fingers.... just hold the solder with these, then drop it and grab the wire like you would with fingers...

 

[Passinwind]

That's why I use solid core, just crimp the wire before soldering, no fingers required. These crescent medium nose pliers work great for wire manipulations of all types. On those times when I'm soldering up a transformer, which are always stranded, I use these to pull the wire instead of my fingers.... just hold the solder with these, then drop it and grab the wire like you would with fingers...

View attachment 36190

No doubt that's it best to get a good mechanical joint before soldering. But historically I've been prone to having to do battlefield triage and also certain types of PCB mod/rework where that just doesn't play out, and I also work with a fair amount of mobile applications where solid core wire is just asking for it. Horses for courses, and all that.

Those pliers do look quite useful, I just have some pretty standard issue small Erem needlenosers for stuff like that, and they were already hammered before my ex-GF gifted them to me a few decades ago. Maybe Santa will bring me something more uptown!

 

[RetiredUnit1]

No doubt that's it best to get a good mechanical joint before soldering. But historically I've been prone to having to do battlefield triage and also certain types of PCB mod/rework where that just doesn't play out, and I also work with a fair amount of mobile applications where solid core wire is just asking for it. Horses for courses, and all that.

Those pliers do look quite useful, I just have some pretty standard issue small Erem needlenosers for stuff like that, and they were already hammered before my ex-GF gifted them to me a few decades ago. Maybe Santa will bring me something more uptown!

They are fantastic for changing strings as well. Use them to remove the old string without fear of the dreaded snapback finger pierce, and for holding the string while wrapping around the post. Cuts 40% of the time off..... They have just a tiny bit of scoring in the jaws, just enough to hold snug but not prone to embossing lines on stuff.

All my electronics building have been at my leisure, an escape from the world of high pressure IT director and programmer. So much happier now that is history and I'm retired. This is a 5e3 I built, after making a layout "Hiwatt" style instead of Leo style. You can see I totally took my time to get it as neat and shiny as possible.

Been making jewelry since 67, the attention to detail is part of what I enjoy the most

 

[Passinwind]

This is a 5e3 I built, after making a layout "Hiwatt" style instead of Leo style. You can see I totally took my time to get it as neat and shiny as possible.

Been making jewelry since 67, the attention to detail is part of what I enjoy the most


View attachment 36278

Sweet! One of these days I might get back to some classic style turret board and/or eyelet builds but PCB layout is super fun for me and I feel like I'm just hitting my stride at ~ten years into that. I've worked on a lot of classic Fenders and that will always be in my comfort zone, I reckon.

 

[RetiredUnit1]

Sweet! One of these days I might get back to some classic style turret board and/or eyelet builds but PCB layout is super fun for me and I feel like I'm just hitting my stride at ~ten years into that. I've worked on a lot of classic Fenders and that will always be in my comfort zone, I reckon.

for what it's worth, I decided with this experiment that hiwatt style tag boards don't work so well in tiny fender style chassis. Works great in that biggo 19" x 9" x 2.75" Hiwatt chassis tho. I built 6 of those about 20 years ago and thought I'd try it with a 5e3. Still have the 5e3 and one of the DR504's tho. Great amps, both of them.

Getting ready to build a 59 Bassman, and I'm going to use the fender style, however I did make my own layout with a couple mods. A three way NFB and duel bias pots.