acerpal

Maybe someone can help me. I have trouble soldering piano wire. I bind the pieces together with clean copper wire. When I go to apply the soder it dosen't flow it stays in globs. Any suggestion on what I may be doing wrong?

raistlin12

My Feedback: (1)

Sounds, to me, like you're not heating the parts to be joined properly. For solder to flow, not just the solder, but also the parts being joined, must be heated to, at least, the melting point of the solder. That's why it's so important to use a heat sink when soldering electrical components. The heat necessary to melt the solder, would fry the electronics if not properly drawn off.

acerpal

thanks but I don't think that is the problem. I heat the steel wire sometimes red hot and it won't stick. I thought I might be using the wrong solder or flux. The flux always "burns and gets black"

acerpal

I meant to add I clean the wire very well and avoid touching were it will be soldered. The sodler just dosent flow the way it should.

digger.10

What kind of solder and flux are you using?

Piledrive

What are you using for your heat source, soldering iron or flame? Remember, you can heat the small wrapped wire and still the much thicker landing wire can still draw enough heat away to prevent a good joint. I use silver solder and flux for heavy duty stuff.

dr_wogz

My Feedback: (3)

I remeber doing the landing gear on a 1/4 scale cub. Copper wire binding three 3/16" piano wire pieces...

Clean and lightly sand teh areas to be soldered together.
Bind with the copper wire.
Apply solder flux / paste (the sluff from the plumbing store to do pipes) tot eh areas being joined.
Apply more, making sure you've got it on every parts of the steel rods. (a syringe helps here..)
Heat the whole mess with a torch. Ensure the parrts are all hot (I have a mini benzomatic, perfect for these jobs!)
The solder paste should start to flow, buble and drip all over the place!
Use silver solder, much stronger than the electrical (rosin core 63/37 - 63% lead, 37% tin) stuff..
Apply the solder, the heated assembly should suck the solder into the winding. If not, heat some more.
Help it flow into place with a popsicle stick (don't use your finger...) and scrape off any globby drips. You might have to apply a little more heat here & there..
let cool.
Remove the flux residue with Acetone, to get is all nice & shiny!!
(Remember, the flux is an acid!)

And repeat!

Use some tin foil, or a thick pice of cardboard as a heat sheild, so you don't burn other unintended parts.

I found the mni benzomatic at my local Home dep[ot store, saw it, and totally forgot what else i was shopping for. It came with a can of propane as well, good enough for a few refills. I use this for my contol rods too, soldering the clevises to the rods.