Micro-Torch

[Yamaha B-2]

Have new speaker terminals to install. They are big heavy mothers from Cardas. ~1/4 diameter and am having a bit of trouble getting enough heat into the tip to solder in the 14ga leads to the crossover. Have tried my good Weller soldering iron, but too small. Next I tried a 240 watt soldering gun, but it is old and not very effective (hot).

So, am wondering if anyone out there has done any soldering with a butane micro-torch? Would this solve my problem (should certainly be able to get some heat on the area)? Any suggestions/cautions/etc.?

Thanks.

 

[rwortman]

Try cleaning and tightening the connections to the tip loop on the old gun. They get resistive and won't conduct enough current to get hot.

 

[luvvinvinyl]

As for the micro-torch, I use one for heating hosels on golf clubs, to pull the shaft. Very easy to control the amount of heat. Have used it for tinning ends of speaker wires and fastening spades and bananas. Worked quite well, with a small flame. I haven't tried it on anything close to a combustible substance, such as the back of a terminal cup. That would be my only major concern.

 

[EchoWars]

Try a bit of flux.

 

[outlawmws]

Try cleaning and tightening the connections to the tip loop on the old gun. They get resistive and won't conduct enough current to get hot.

This needs to be done near every time a gun sits for even a few weeks. Its my SOP whenever I need to use one of mine. (which isn't very often!)

 

[Yamaha B-2]

Try cleaning and tightening the connections to the tip loop on the old gun. They get resistive and won't conduct enough current to get hot.

Thanks. Been so long since I've used anything this 'big' that I forgot about cleaning the contacts. Pulled apart, scrapped with the edge of my fishing knife to clean away the surface corrosion and, Bingo, got heat.

Finished rewiring the speaker with DHLabs 14ga interconnect wire, 6% silver solder and Cardas speaker terminals and it sounds great!! One down and one to go.

Thanks, all.

Glenn