Audio Wiring Guide 62

The ideal is that each cup is full enough to surround the strands inserted
into it, but not so full as to overow when the strands are pushed home.
Think of a rounded teaspoon of sugar rounded, but not heaped, if you
see my point.
In Figure 1.81 only one of the three cups being lled is shown, but of course
for this technique to work, all three have to be prepped (that s wirespeak
shorthand for prepared ). Got those solder cups tastefully lled? Nice
bright, shiny solder, with a bit of rosin left on for the reheat? Good! Now
lets attach a conductor to a solder cup.
Inserting conductor strands
No, that s not a suggestive title, it s just what you re doing at this step
honestly. Place the iron tip across the cup to heat both the cup and the
solder. Wait one or two seconds after you see the solder melt and start
to ow. This allows all of the solder in the cup to become molten. Then
quickly push the strands into the cup ( Figure 1.82 ). Push them in until the
conductors insulation is ush to the rim of the cup. Rapidly slide the iron
away with a sideways motion (don t lift it).
Figure 1.82 Inserting strands into hot cup.
If you ve done all this correctly, and held the conductor in place for a few
seconds while the solder cooled, you should be rewarded by a chrome
fender bright solder joint, with excellent strength and conductivity.
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1 Basic information 63
In Figure 1.82 only one conductor is shown being soldered, when in reality
all three must be soldered. But you knew that, you were just waiting to see
if I d forget to tell you, right?
Congratulations! If you ve got this far and practiced the techniques I ve
described and illustrated, you re now almost ready to begin wiring.
Designate a few connectors of each type for practice, and work with them
before actually starting the wiring of your installation. This will save you
some ruined connectors and a lot of frustration.
The wiring techniques for each individual type of connector are contained
in later sections in this book. Select the sections that contain the types of
connectors you ll be working with and study each one carefully.
But , before you rush off to start wiring things, please check out Section 2 of
the AWG. That s the Intermediate Information section, and there are a few
things I d like to show you there, before you start chopping.
The last technique I want to talk about in this section is that of de-soldering.
If you practice on a few connectors, it would be useful (and cheaper) if
you could do so several times on each connector. And suppose you make
a mistake on a real connector? So I m going to show you a rapid and
effective way to de-solder connectors. Remember those safety glasses I
told you to purchase? Now is a great time to put them on, if you re not still
wearing them.
Now let s de-solder
After you remove a conductor from a connector, a thin coating of solder will
always remain on the conductor. In addition, the majority of the old solder
will remain in the solder cup and must be removed.
To de-solder is to take away the bulk of the old solder by a variety of means.
The goal is to remove the majority of the old solder, without damage to
either the insulation of the conductors or to the connector itself. This is
necessary because reheated/contaminated solder makes a poor electrical
connection, and is also physically weak.
It s OK to leave a light lm of solder on both the conductor and the
solder cup. This actually aids the re-soldering process and is, in any case,
impossible to remove.
Audio Wiring Guide 64
Let s use an XLR male plug as our rst example. It has some conductors
attached to it which we want to remove along with the old solder in the
solder cups.
Mount the connector (after removing its shell) in the vise. Tighten the vise
jaws on the Pin 3 contact of the plug or on the plastic surrounding all the
pins. If you tighten the vise jaws across the Pin 1 and 2 contacts of the
plug, they may become loose or misaligned when you start to de-solder
the conductors. The plastic in which the contact pins are embedded is
somewhat thermoplastic in nature and will ow when heated. Then the pins
will become loose or misaligned not a good thing.
Grasp the most convenient to you of the conductors with the tip of a pair of
small needle-nose pliers. While holding the conductor with the pliers, heat
the solder cup the conductor runs into. Pull the conductor out of the solder
cup once the solder has become molten. Perform the same actions for the
other two conductors.
In Figure 1.83 Ken s camera got me just as I d pulled the conductor out of
the center solder cup (Pin 3). And yes, you have to do them all.
Figure 1.83 Removing soldered conductors.
Now you have a plug that s free of conductors, but you still have the old
solder in the solder cups. It s been used and contaminated; you d like to get
it out, but how?
1 Basic information 65
Figure 1.85 Hitting vise to expel solder.
Figure 1.84 Heating solder cups.
Remove the connector from the vise and grasp it by the plastic with your
pair of slip-joint pliers ( Figure 1.84 ). Hold the connector so that the solder
cups face toward you. Heat any of the three cups with the tip of your
soldering iron and, while the solder is still molten , slam the pliers down
against the edge of the vise! Make sure you hit the vise with the edge of the
pliers and not the edge of the connector ( Figure 1.85 ).
This action will cause the molten solder to y out of the solder cup and
(hopefully) down onto the vise or the tabletop. Keep those safety glasses
on and while I m on the subject, it s not a good idea to do this while
you re wearing shorts. It s far less painful if stray drops of solder hit the fabric
of your trousers than if they hit your bare skin.
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Repeat this operation for both of the other two solder cups in the
connector. The plug will now be quite hot, so let it cool for a few minutes
before you attempt to handle it.
De-soldering other types of connectors is similar, but the exact details will
vary from connector to connector.
You can also use a solder sucker or solder wick to remove the solder
from the cups. But what if you run out or can t buy any? The above
technique works every time, and all you need are the tools you should
already have.
This method of de-soldering is pretty universal. You could call it the PHW
method for: Pull out the conductor, Heat the solder cup and Whack the vise
with your pliers holding the heated plug, to expel the solder.
A number of people asked that we show how to apply it to a {1/4}
inch guitar plug, since they are so ubiquitous. Here is the same sequence
of operations for de-soldering a {1/4} inch male guitar plug. The only
changes are to accommodate the difference in construction of guitar vs.
XLR plugs.
Unscrew the outer barrel and mount the plug in your vise with the bent-over
arms of the strain relief facing up. In Figure 1.86 I m prying up the rst arm
with a small screwdriver.
Figure 1.86 Mount plug and open strain relief.