Cold solder joints on buss wire

[warioblast]

My solder joints won't stay shiny, as soon as the solder cool down it turns into dull grey. Is it something to worry about ?

[bnwitt]

check out the thread below:

http://www.electro-tech-online.com/threads/dull-coulored-solder-joints.127272/

Use a good hot iron (I use 752° on my station), heat both components (wire, eyelet, turret whatever) evenly and get in and out fast.  I usually start heating the largest lead/component first and then move to the smaller lead/component while touching the iron tip with the solder wire.  Flowing the solder onto the connection helps heat everything up evenly. The longer you hold the tip on the joint the more potential you have for heat damage so hot iron, fast soldering. 

[warioblast]

The problem comes from my thick buss wire. My soldering on components leads and thinner buss wire are nice & shiny.

I tried to use different temperatures, different amount of tin but it stays the same.

[warioblast]

I think it comes from the silver coat. I filed the wire enough to see the copper and the solder seems to stay shiny on it.

[PRR]

I'm not very concerned about a dull finish. But-

Your iron is cold. Solder should not be blobby. Solder should "wet" the turrets.

[warioblast]

Well after some tribulations, silver plate is not the issue. 

I'm using 630°F (330°C) for the domes and 750° F (400°C) for pretty much everything else

You answered my question about the dull finish so thank you ;) I'll be able to carry on.

[bnwitt]

Yes.  My point about the hot iron.  As I said, I use 752° setting on my iron for turret and eyelet work including the bus wire.  No problems.

[brewdude]

Try using som flux.

[rake]

How and where the heat is applied to the joint is also important.
Solder seeks out the heat and flows to the heat. You always want to apply
the most heat to the larger member. In this case the turret should see the
majority of tip contact and not the component lead.

[bnwitt]

Well I see you are in France so I assume you are using lead free solder right?

[warioblast]

My solder is a 60% tin and 40% lead alloy with SW26 flux.

[bnwitt]

My solder is a 60% tin and 40% lead alloy with SW26 flux.

Nothing wrong with that stuff.  I'd say again, it's a heat issue.  Get the iron hot and keep it on the turret primarily until you get the solder flowing and then oscillate back and forth between the turret and the component lead.  You should be able to make the solder pool follow the heat.  Doing it that way you'll typically have the solder wanting to go down inside the turret hole and you have to use the iron to coax it back up to the lead to get your shiny top puddle.  I'm component loading a Hoffman AB763 board tomorrow.  I'll try to shoot some video of my method for what it's worth.
Barry

[bnwitt]

Ok, I made a short video of the turret soldering process I use which is basically a 752° iron heating the body of the turret first with the solder on the opposite side of the turret from the iron and when the solder wetting starts I move up to the top where the lead is and solder that connection  I hope this helps:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/xb2uunrnibt8t2m/20170911_124451.mp4?dl=0

Barry

[SoundmasterG]

If your buss wire is connected to the chassis when you try to solder to it, the chassis is acting as a heat sink and you will need way more capability out of your soldering iron than what you have to get a good joint. I agree with the others that your soldering iron is too cold. When I will be soldering to buss wire, I run my iron temp up as high as it will go so that it heats up quick and I can get the part soldered quickly and remove the heat quickly. That is probably in the 900 degree Farenheit range, though I would have to look at my soldering iron again to be sure. If the buss wire is attached to the chassis, I either disconnect it before soldering, or use an ancient 200 watt iron that I picked up at a surplus store. That one can get hot enough to solder directly to the chassis but it is huge so is not as controllable as a smaller iron is.

Greg

[bnwitt]

If your buss wire is connected to the chassis when you try to solder to it, the chassis is acting as a heat sink .... I either disconnect it before soldering, or use an ancient 200 watt iron.
Greg

Absolutely correct.  Same thing with ring terminals.  Anything bolted to the chassis is going to take a lot of heat to solder because of the chassis heat sinking.  Always solder first before connecting to the chassis.  That much heat isn't good for components either.

[sluckey]

I solder turrets the same as bnwitt does in his video. But I also have a second step. The cute little shiny solder balls that sit on top of my turrets are added ***AFTER*** the initial soldering has cooled. When the board is completely soldered I will go over each turret again and add the little ball. The silver balls are just for looks and have no practical function.

     http://sluckeyamps.com/6v6plexi/P-6V6_05_big.jpg

[bnwitt]

I solder turrets the same as bnwitt does in his video. But I also have a second step. The cute little shiny solder balls that sit on top of my turrets are added ***AFTER*** the initial soldering has cooled. When the board is completely soldered I will go over each turret again and add the little ball. The silver balls are just for looks and have no practical function.

     http://sluckeyamps.com/6v6plexi/P-6V6_05_big.jpg

I do the same thing.     I also use dental picks when all the soldering is done to pick off the rosin.  Don't forget to floss.

[pompeiisneaks]

I solder turrets the same as bnwitt does in his video. But I also have a second step. The cute little shiny solder balls that sit on top of my turrets are added ***AFTER*** the initial soldering has cooled. When the board is completely soldered I will go over each turret again and add the little ball. The silver balls are just for looks and have no practical function.

     http://sluckeyamps.com/6v6plexi/P-6V6_05_big.jpg

Funny, I started doing exactly the same thing as well.  hehe, looks much nicer, imo, and I agree from what I can see, the connection doesn't change due to this it just sits on top of the already soldered joint.

~Phil

[shooter]

cute little shiny solder balls

All those years of corona balls has gone to your head

[PRR]

> The silver balls are just for looks and have no practical function.

I would argue that the balls are DIS-functional. A solder joint should be inspectable. Did the solder really wet a large area of wire? It is possible to glop it up and not really have connection. We had a CRT monitor that crapped-out and I finally traced it to a fat blob which didn't really wet the joint.

_I_ (being paranoid about solder joint integrity) would want my workers to leave the hole in the turret as open as possible so the wires showed clearly for inspection.

Naturally I know that YOU are sure of your joints before you decorate. But anybody with less experience should not rush to cute domes.

[sluckey]

cute little shiny solder balls

All those years of corona balls has gone to your head

Ever since I was a young boy, I played with silver balls...

[bnwitt]

Ever since I was a young boy, I played with silver balls...

You wizard you