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Re: [TowerTalk] Reuse PL-259

To: towertalk@contesting.com
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Reuse PL-259
From: KD7JYK DM09 <kd7jyk@earthlink.net>
Date: Mon, 15 Feb 2021 23:16:30 -0800
List-post: <mailto:towertalk@contesting.com>
Please tell me how it is possible to melt solder for the surround soldering of the shield, remove the coax stub, and shake out the solder inside the shell? That requires a very large heat source and a way to hold the stub of the coax while heat is being applied and a means of pulling out the coax once the entire circumference of the connector is hot enough.  And to do it with the absolute assurance that there won't be solder bridges that are a short or a near short. And, oh, by the ways -- what does all that specialized equipment cost -- the very large heat source, the tools to hold the coax stub while it's being heated and to pull it out of the connector?

A 325W Weller D550 gun, or a 100W iron, and practice. You can remove the reducers, as well. I just use some old battery terminal pliers for those, easy to grab the collar, and unscrew. D550, about $5 at a yard sale, iron, new, about $30 at the time, a small machinists vise swiped from Dad (about $30 for him) to use as a parts holder, a few bucks for bore brushes, a few more for braid, a $9 solder sucker from Rat Shack, a couple bucks for more sucker tips, a few dollars for spare D550 tips (file, or crush to the right shape), also from Radio Shack, some liquid rosin, I made that by the quart (necessary for el-cheapo de-soldering braid), so maybe $5-10 there for a few pounds of rosin from Tri-S, and some quarts of isopropanol from Thrifty's... That's it for "specialty" items, then some tweezers, I found those in the trash, and some stainless cleaning brushes from Harbor Freight, so maybe $5 there. Canned air, or an air compressor helps, Dad bought a paint sprayer compressor from Sear's in 1979, so that was laying around. I guess about $75 across four decades, a hundred bucks maybe, at the outside. But, heat, pull out in pieces (two, if lucky, the braid, and dielectric, then the center conductor, then clean), shake, blow, brush, wick, wash, no different that de-soldering a component, just a little more heat, and practice. You should have it figured out in three, to four connectors.

Kurt


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