Soldering

[nirvana]

Welcome again to one of my quests for knowledge on our fantastic o'club.  I'm trying to put together this model and it requires a halfway decent snake of wires so the motor will power it and the spark plugs will light up etc etc.  I start off going holy sh**!!!  The only thing i've ever sautered was a guitar cable after it had an encounter with my leg during a rather intense jam session.

Anyway, I start by putting on the wires with standard lopps through the holes, it recommends using the included eyelets....but I say no to those.  Being the young dumb teen I have most of it wired before i even try the motor...didn't work.  So I start the excruciating process of  checking each wire to the motor.  After ungluing (yes I GLUED the wires ) and unwinding them, I decide soldering is my best bet.

So here we are, I have the 2 main wires soldered to the motor, hooked to a 9 volt, and it doesn't run unless I jiggle around the wires a bit.  What mistake have I made and how should I fix it?

(It's not something that will explode, perfect to learn how to solder)

[FiLtH]

Im a plumber not an electrician...but most soldering requires this....

  Clean material, flux, and proper heat.

[FUNKED1]

Solid wire or multi-strand?  Probably one of the leads has weakened from all your connecting/gluing/ungluing and is starting to fail (break).  Usually this happens right at the point where the insulation ends.
Also where the wires enter the housing of the 9V connector, you can get fatigue and breaks there.

[RTR]

Nirvana, It sounds to ma that you have the 2 wires very close together?

Soldering is really only hot metal.  If you make each connection seperatley it should work.

Point of interest here..if it says solder....dont "glue"...aint the same thing.

Sounds to me like you have a couple wires touching each other or a bad ground.

RTR

[DREDIOCK]

Originally posted by nirvana
 What mistake have I made and how should I fix it?

Not following what it said to do in the instructions.
Probably cant.
Trash it and buy a new one. Actually doing what the instructions say to do this time.

The instructions are there for a reason

[Pooh21]

Ahh accidents with tools, brings back memories of high school shop. Why when one loses ones arm to the 'orrible band saw, must he run through the shop spraying blood everywhere while waving his stump? Thankfully he passed out before he could spray me.

Nirvana remember to read the warning labels

[bj229r]

I've not tried it yet, but I understand there is newer method of soldering wires together which doesn't quite involve heat? Seemed like it looked like a typical battery-powered soldering iron...don't know how it works tho-- I use a butane thingie for my job--looks like a big crack-pipe lighter:lol

[eskimo2]

Solder is conductive; electricity flows through it very well.  Two soldered wires become one.  Glue, of any sort is an insulator, very much like the plastic that covers the wires to prevent electricity from conducting to any metal that the wire might come in contact with.  Grease or corrosion can also insulate and prevent the flow of electricity between two wires, even if they are twisted together.  

Get some good, thin solder for this job.
Sand the tip of your soldering iron before you begin; remove all corrosion.
Practice soldering before you begin.  Get the hang of it and then try soldering near or on plastic.
Scrape and clean the glue off of the model’s wires.
Don’t tell anyone in RL that you first glued the wires together.

[lukster]

The bigger the glob, the better the job.

[Jackal1]

One tip........Place the tip on the contact and heat it instead of the wire. Have the wire laying on the contact and both will heat up. Like Brylcreem...A little dab will do you.

[WhiteHawk]

i'll spare you the tech jargain.  Dont try to drip hot solder on the wires, you have to heat the wires up to 'suck' the solder to it.  This requires enough room to get the soldering tip in there.  Assuming plenty of room, twist the wires together securely.  Apply heat to wires, keep tapping solder to heated twisted wires until solder melts.  It only takes a tiny bit.  Flux is not needed to solder wire.  If they are tiny 'phone' wires, good luck.  I have ruined many a board trying to solder wires to a circuit baord, i dont even try it any more.

[nirvana]

Originally posted by bj229r
I've not tried it yet, but I understand there is newer method of soldering wires together which doesn't quite involve heat? Seemed like it looked like a typical battery-powered soldering iron...don't know how it works tho-- I use a butane thingie for my job--looks like a big crack-pipe lighter:lol

Cold heat?  I've tried them, not impressed.

I'll just go through with new wire, tin the ends and try to restart, if not I have 2 more motors lying around.

[Widewing]

You probably have a "cold" solder joint. Fixture the wires so that they cannot move, apply a bit of flux (never depend upon rosin-core solder to provide enough flux) and reflow the joint.

Of course, it could be a poor mechanical connection within the motor too.

My regards,

Widewing

[CptA]

I agree with Widewing...it sounds like you have a cold solder joint.

When soldering it's important to apply the heat evenly to both the pre-tinned wires and the lug first, and then to add just enough solder so that it flows smoothly and bonds to all the surfaces, then remove the heat without moving or disturbing the wires.

Done correctly, you'll have a shiny, strong, and conductive joint without any gobs or blobs of dull-looking or "cold" excess solder.

Proper soldering technique is sort of any art, but it's one thats easy to learn with a little practice.

Good Luck!

CptA