Are you using flux? that really helps everything. also make sure your soldering iron is clean and tinned, and hot enough, and powerful enough to heat the amount of metal you're trying to heat. and yes, adding a little fresh solder usually helps move the process along.

 




Thanks. No on the flux but only because it's slight acidic which will fail the connection over time (my understanding anyhow). I have no doubt I'll be messing with this table a lot but would prefer to make it more of an upgrade path vs needing to monitor with a multimeter etc because the joint degrading would always be somewhat top of mind (that's more a symptom of this ridiculous hobby that I still cant believe I choose to keep pursuing).

I should be good to go on the temp of my gun as it has no problem melting solder otherwise. Fairly certain whoever decided to "upgrade" the RCAs in the past only knew slightly more than me and just cooked the stuff. Now that I type that out though I'm wondering if they used some sort of super high temp solder on the joints and that's part of my problem...guess I'll find out soon enough.

What I think I really need to do is to remove both the rca and tonearm cables and get that terminal switch looking good again (I have some soldering wick and the little suction gun to get the old stuff out of there). Not looking forward to that though because I always sucked at Operation the game and that's exactly what this seems like right now. Here's a shot of the terminal strip that I'm working with...it's all sorts of misconfigured but might give an idea as to what I'm working with (ignore the circled areas - that was just be highlighting how the RCAs are switched from stock). You can see the joint I started on the far right..looks a little burnt and that's from me with the iron turned way up..to no avail.

EDIT to add that I did not tin the tip of the iron..that may explain a big part of my issue so far...

I just started work in a Pro AV electronic shop and we do a bunch of wiring.

I just asked the guys in the shop and they said you probably have high zinc solder and need a very hot iron to melt it. He also said to get a small drop of new solder on the tip to help spread out the heat and not just work from the tip.

wow..is that ever timely! Thanks! Just replacing the terminal switch might be the smartest route to go then. I wonder if it would be a no-no to just directly solder the wires together (taking the terminal switch out of the equation). My read on that switch is that it's there primarily as an anchor point since we're looking at some fairly sensitive wires coming out of the arm. Probably trying to get too much mileage out of you and your shop guys but if you have any thoughts on that I'd love to hear them.

eh, the quality of the solder joint is really improved with flux. Personally I use RMA186 for almost everything. just clean with a swap and some alcohol after.

also if that board is just used to join wires, you could just snip the wires and direct solder them and finish with some heat-shrink to make it look nice and prevent shorting. honestly that might be the best way to go if there is enough extra wire.

Thanks. I do think that is the only function of the board, no grounds or anything else interesting going to it. I think I'll likely go direct between the cables, solder, heat shrink and then pick up a simple harness to anchor/separate the connections to the underside of the plinthe.

Good to know on the flux/quality of the joint. Learning a ton through this little exercise.

Any tips/tools that might come in handy when it comes to stripping crazy tiny little wires?

There are lots of different kinds of solder and flux out there. Most solder you buy at home improvement stores will be 50/50 tin/lead, acid core. This is not suitable for electronics.
For electronics, the easiest to work with is rosin core eutectic (63/37 tin/lead) solder wire. The rosin flux is much less acidic and is easily cleaned up with rubbing (isopropyl) alcohol. Currently, consumer goods will all be made with lead free solder, which typically has a higher melting point than the 63/37 tin/lead solder, but it can also have a water based self-cleaning flux, which leaves basically no residue.


Technique is key here. First thing is to clean and "tin" the tip of your iron, and then remember that the name of the game with soldering is heat transfer. You need to get the part you are working on hot enough that it melts the solder. Having some solder on the tip of your iron to start with can improve the heat transfer to your parts by orders of magnitude. Additionally, the solder and flux from your iron will alloy with the joint you are working on, as well as remove oxides, and that helps the old solder to flow (which is what you want when you're cleaning up what is there).

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Less is more.

hard to tell how small that wire is from the pics, but for small wires down to 30awg I prefer simple dedicated wire strippers. not the auto-strippers, and not the multi-tool strippers. At work I tend to use Klein or Ideal strippers. something like this: https://www.digikey.com/...1742-1436-ND/6804877 but i am sure there are cheaper ones out there.

stay away from things like this: https://www.digikey.com/...1742-1454-ND/6804296 the stripper cuts are usually inferior and they are a real bear to get into tight spaces. this style probably doesn't go small enough anyway.

back to the flux thing real quick. any RMA type flux that specifies clean up with water or isopropyl will be a good choice for this type of work.

Cool - thank you.

I had a feeling that the link for “stay away from things like this” was going directly to the ones I currently have :). Planning on picking up something similar to example #1 before going any further. The added control of the spring tension seems like a really good idea for this delicate work (and just general wire stripping).