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The last time I remember soldering electronic components was probably circa 1973- when I built a Dyna ST 70 as a stop gap for my Quads until I could afford Audio Research gear.
I recall that I set out on the project with great enthusiasm, but hit many bumps in the road, mainly due to my lack of technique and skill in soldering. (Actually, I hadn't thought much about how miserable I was until today, when I embarked on what should have been a quick easy job).
I bought a decent soldering pencil with adjustable heat and multiple tips and some silver solder. My goal was simply to make a low voltage DC power cable using a barrel plug. Got a decent Switchcraft plug; it had little holes in each of the connectors, but after I tinned the wire (16 gauge), the wire was too thick to fit through the hole. The hole was also now gunked up with solder, and I didn't have any desoldering tools handy (shoulda bought that kit, but it had a lot of stuff I already owned of better quality than the kit). So, I grabbed another inner plug (I bought several) and tried fitting the wire through the hole bare-assed naked. Still too big. I wound up peeling off some of the strands at the contact point-- which effectively narrowed the gauge of the wire considerably. Since I didn't have one of those "helping hand" desktop devices, I used some tools to position the parts, tinned the wire, the connection point on the plug and just soldered a good joint- shiny, no globby cold solder joint. The whole thing is micro-sized, so I checked my work with a magnifier, and decided to stick some electrical tape between the two connectors, just to prevent a possible short if the wires got jiggled and once the outer jacket of the plug was screwed down; of course, the wire, solder, and electrical tape didn't not want to go into the plug jacket; it started to thread unevenly, but then straightened out and I managed to screw the plug jacket down fully. I plugged the wire into my bench power supply and checked continuity using my Fluke meter-- bingo. Good. But man, this process made me wonder how I've managed to get this far in life as an incompetent nincompoop. My wife's take: forget how easy it looks when people do it on a YouTube video, you solder stuff what- once every 40 years? and maybe it isn't your strength. But, for Jah's sake, this isn't a complicated exercise, the materials and process are very straightforward and I spent an hour getting it right when I suspect a competent (or even incompetent) tech school student could do this in five minutes.
So, the moral of the story: if you really suck at something when you are 18 years old, chances are, when you are in your sixties, you're still gonna suck at it. (Maybe not true with all things in life, I certainly got better on a couple fronts with age and experience). But, it's kinda pathetic. It's like Don Delio's character in White Noise who is an expert in Hitler studies, but can't read or speak German. I hope quality soldering skills are not required for the audiophile test. Otherwise, I'm gonna flunk.
I recall that I set out on the project with great enthusiasm, but hit many bumps in the road, mainly due to my lack of technique and skill in soldering. (Actually, I hadn't thought much about how miserable I was until today, when I embarked on what should have been a quick easy job).
I bought a decent soldering pencil with adjustable heat and multiple tips and some silver solder. My goal was simply to make a low voltage DC power cable using a barrel plug. Got a decent Switchcraft plug; it had little holes in each of the connectors, but after I tinned the wire (16 gauge), the wire was too thick to fit through the hole. The hole was also now gunked up with solder, and I didn't have any desoldering tools handy (shoulda bought that kit, but it had a lot of stuff I already owned of better quality than the kit). So, I grabbed another inner plug (I bought several) and tried fitting the wire through the hole bare-assed naked. Still too big. I wound up peeling off some of the strands at the contact point-- which effectively narrowed the gauge of the wire considerably. Since I didn't have one of those "helping hand" desktop devices, I used some tools to position the parts, tinned the wire, the connection point on the plug and just soldered a good joint- shiny, no globby cold solder joint. The whole thing is micro-sized, so I checked my work with a magnifier, and decided to stick some electrical tape between the two connectors, just to prevent a possible short if the wires got jiggled and once the outer jacket of the plug was screwed down; of course, the wire, solder, and electrical tape didn't not want to go into the plug jacket; it started to thread unevenly, but then straightened out and I managed to screw the plug jacket down fully. I plugged the wire into my bench power supply and checked continuity using my Fluke meter-- bingo. Good. But man, this process made me wonder how I've managed to get this far in life as an incompetent nincompoop. My wife's take: forget how easy it looks when people do it on a YouTube video, you solder stuff what- once every 40 years? and maybe it isn't your strength. But, for Jah's sake, this isn't a complicated exercise, the materials and process are very straightforward and I spent an hour getting it right when I suspect a competent (or even incompetent) tech school student could do this in five minutes.
So, the moral of the story: if you really suck at something when you are 18 years old, chances are, when you are in your sixties, you're still gonna suck at it. (Maybe not true with all things in life, I certainly got better on a couple fronts with age and experience). But, it's kinda pathetic. It's like Don Delio's character in White Noise who is an expert in Hitler studies, but can't read or speak German. I hope quality soldering skills are not required for the audiophile test. Otherwise, I'm gonna flunk.
) It brushes on, use judiciously only a small dab is needed in most cases. the other type is a paste that comes in a jar or squeeze tube not unlike toothpaste. some brands have the constancy of a thick gel others are less viscous. squeeze out a small dab on your work surface and then use a toothpick or the like and apply to your wire or the solder end of the connector.
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