[TowerTalk] Soldering Coax Connectors

[Gedas]

GM Dick and Martin and TU for the replies. I will not talk about 
PL-259's as they are not an issue for me (as stated in my OP). Also I 
must apologize for the 2nd post this AM. I thought my OP last night did 
not make it through so I sent out one more this morning.....well, come 
to find out my Thunderbird filter was porting over all these solder 
related posts into a non-tower-talk sub-directory so I never saw them 
until just now. Sri for the double post guys.

Martin so my new question, if I may refine it now that you have shed 
some light on how you do it is, do you pre-tin your soldering iron tip 
with solder so that you get a very efficient and direct heat transfer to 
the center pin by touching the iron near the weep hole? Or is that 
simply not needed because your iron can supply the right amount of heat 
very quickly?

When I have tried to wipe clean my tips so no solder exists on the tip 
and I hold it onto the center pin it seems the heat transfer is greatly 
minimized and I tend to have to keep the iron in direct contact with the 
center pin for a very long time.....long enough to start melting the 
dielectric etc.

But so far, from what you are saying I gather a much better regulated 
iron and a tiny pin point tip (like I currently use) is the way to go. 
Looks like I may need to change out the Weller for something like a 
Metcal etc. Maybe I should also  spend some time on Youtube and see if 
anyone has a great video on an installation done properly.

Thank you both again for chiming in on this. I am about to make up a 
whole bunch of different length jumper cables for my basement RF lab 
(and shack) using RG-223 and RG-142 for N, BNC, and SMA connectors, all 
outer crimped but requiring that center pin to be properly soldered. TU 
es 73

Gedas, W8BYA

Gallery at http://w8bya.com
Light travels faster than sound....
This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.

On 9/6/2019 8:42 AM, wc1m73 at gmail.com wrote:
> Good question. I used to try to solder the center conductor through the weep hole of N crimp connectors and ran into similar problems. I stopped doing it because the drawings for all the N crimp connectors I've tried specify crimp die size but, unlike UHF crimp connectors, don't specify "solder" or "crimp/solder".
>
> 73, Dick WC1M
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Gedas <w8bya at mchsi.com>
> Sent: Thursday, September 5, 2019 11:56 PM
> To: Bert <balmemo at sympatico.ca>; towertalk at contesting.com
> Subject: [TowerTalk] Soldering Coax Connectors
>
> I use crimp and traditional clamp type of connectors. I have a question on the proper way or technique that should be used to solder the center pin of N, BNC, and SMA style connectors onto the coax center conductor w/o making a mess.
>
> I do not have any issues with connectors like PL-259's or pure crimp type connectors but I still struggle to solder just the center conductor of the coax to the center pin w/o making a small mess on the outside of the center pin and w/o melting the dielectric. I use a 25W Weller for the center pin and have tried various tips. I also have tried different solder sizes down to those ideal for SMD work.
>
> How do folks get solder to flow just into the weep hole ? Do you use a tiny pointed tip iron and put that tip into the weep hole and hold it there until the center pin gets hot enough to melt solder? If so do you then keep the iron in the weep hole and dab solder at the tip/pin interface and hope it gets drawn in? Or, do folks use a larger sized iron tip underneath the center pin to heat it up enough so that solder when pushed into the weep hole will melt and cause a good connection?
>
> What about pre tinning the center conductor?
>
> Either way, regardless how careful I am, more times then not I seem to get residual solder all over the outside of the center pin and need to carefully scrap it off with an X-acto blade after things cool off.
>
> And then of course there is the problem with holding the larger iron tip under the center pin too long and start melting the dielectric because the center conductor has been over heated.
>
> Gedas, W8BYA
>
> Gallery at http://w8bya.com
> Light travels faster than sound....
> This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.
>
> On 9/5/2019 11:07 PM, Bert wrote:
>> I always solder the pin, regardless!
>>
>> Bert VE3NR
>>
>>
>
>