How to solder bullet connectors

[BHChieftain]

I found this really good video on soldering bullets. I've soldered many many many bullets, and I still found some useful tips here...

Chief

[HydroMike]

Few good things to know I like thanks

[kingwrench]

Good info

[stadiumyamaha]

Funny. He's the guy I watched a few years ago to learn how to solder bullets. System has been working great for me since.
Mine where a mess before I watched it.

[morewattsnow]

Excellent video. Covers all the principles and techniques very well. I would just add that for large bullets (8mm) you need a soldering iron with a large tip- I use a Weller iron (not a gun) with a tip that's about 1/2 to 3/4" wide. Let it get good and hot before use. The mass of the tip allows you to get a lot of heat into the work in a short time and makes for a better joint. And as the video shows, the solder should should melt on the work, not the iron. You only need a little on the iron for effective heat transfer into the work. And definitely clean the flux off well- I actually returned a motor once because it was only running on 2 legs because the flux insulated the connection.

[IRON-PAWW]

I may as well try this question again here.

All my soldering iron tips are getting eaten away so fast it isn't funny. It's like I've dropped acid on the tip and it has begun eating the metal away. Just recently I had to retire an iron because the tip and half of the shaft had completely disappeared. Tried a few different brands all with the same result. Last one was an $80.00 Weller so it wasn't a backyard cheapie by any means. Standard rosin core solder that my local hardware store sells. Run of the mill soldering fluid for cleaning stripped wires etc.

There *has* to be something i'm doing that's causing this. Does anyone have any idea what it could be?

[morewattsnow]

IRON-PAWW, I don't think you are doing anything wrong. Maybe change brand of solder? Do you clean the tip well? Maybe what you are cleaning the stripped wires with is more corrosive than you think. I have a Weller iron (not a gun) I've done probably a hundred bullets with and no degradation at all. But my Weller soldering gun goes thru tips pretty fast- they just get eaten away. So maybe the large iron is a better way to go. Anybody else out there have any ideas? Let's see if we can help this guy out.

[stadiumyamaha]

Just make sure your tip is always clean and keep it tinned. This tip has been used on dozens of tips and is showing no signs of needing replaced. Also I really like the coil type cleaning pad rather than the sponge type. ImageUploadedByTapatalk1358381881.089655.jpg

[tlandauer]

Thanks for the video, very informative, though I am doing pretty much the same it is nice to pick up some new ideas.
One thing I had always wondered about is when I solder a cap bank on the ESC, it has to be close enough to the original battery posts and in order to melt the solder on the work, it gets pretty hot,
just worried that if I will somehow damage the components or warp the circuit board. It hasn't happened, but any tips from you guys?

[bigwaveohs]

IRON-PAWW, I don't think you are doing anything wrong. Maybe change brand of solder? Do you clean the tip well? Maybe what you are cleaning the stripped wires with is more corrosive than you think. I have a Weller iron (not a gun) I've done probably a hundred bullets with and no degradation at all. But my Weller soldering gun goes thru tips pretty fast- they just get eaten away. So maybe the large iron is a better way to go. Anybody else out there have any ideas? Let's see if we can help this guy out.

I use a 40 watt Weller with a 1/4-inch chisel tip and it lasts about 100 bullets. With the Weller it is an iron clad tip over a copper core. Once you break through the iron it's all over baby. The thickness of the iron determines the durability of the tip. For example, Weller makes 600, 700, 800 degree tips. Tips are like tires...they eventually wear out. See attached slide for the reasons the new lead-free solders and more aggressive fluxes are causing you problems; but you are doing nothing wrong!

http://www.digikey.com/Web%20Export/Supplier%20Content/Cooper_72/PDF/CooperWU_ModuleI_Tips&LeadFree.pdf?redirected=1

Iron Defects.jpg

[iridebikes247]

Depending on the solder station you're using sometimes you can find a chisel style tip available. I have a hobbyking soldering station thats 60 watt (station is identical to an older Hakko station) anyway I bought a 5.8mm chisel tip for 10 bucks from amain hobbies and well...you can solder 8 gauge wires in your sleep with this thing lol. If you're worried about heating up a component too much I would say buy a chisel tip. Hobbyking has the soldering station for 15 bucks and combined with the chisel tip from amain hobbies you can't lose. Also as far as the video goes I saw it months ago and I'm pretty sure the guy in the video didn't tin the esc wires before putting the wire into the bullet connector? Anyway I always tin the wire right before the bullet to avoid a cold solder joint. You know a good joint when you see one, when you put the wire into the bullet the solder will slowly creep up the wire and form a sorta "cone" at the top of the bullet. Anyway for anyone interesting in the ultimate budget solder setup here ya go.

Hobbyking solder station
http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/s...h_US_Plug.html

Chisel tip

http://www.amainhobbies.com/product_info.php/cPath/89_142_2013/products_id/4026/n/Hakko-56mm-Chisel-Tip

[IRON-PAWW]

Thanks for your reply's guys. This problem has stumped a lot of people I've asked so far, even online. With the last Iron I got, within minutes on the first use I noticed that the tip was already clearly disappearing. I was pretty much resigned to trying to locate a bucket full of replacement tips and just replacing them.

According to the information in Bigwaveohs' link (thanks for that!)

#Quote from article#

The flux residues are highly aggressive and create corrosion even when the soldering Iron is in the stand.

##

That is talking about rosin core solders.


So maybe it *is* the solder I'm using, because that is definitely rosin core. Other than that I'm just using the standard Bakers soldering fluid to clean stripped wiring etc...

Using metal wool as a dry tip cleaning solution is also something I'll try. I do use the wet sponge method at the moment. Never realised the wet sponge may not be cleaning off excess flux.

What's the coil type tip cleaning that Stadiumyamaha speaks of?


Does anyone else use the rosin core solder? Surely I can't be the only person with this problem.

[tlandauer]

Does anyone else use the rosin core solder? Surely I can't be the only person with this problem.

I have used rosin cored solder from Radio Shack w/o any problem. It is corrosive but not at the rate you have just described.

[martin]

I pretty sure its the Bakers fluid thats causing the problems, shouldnt let this stuff near an iron used for electrical or electronics. The acid in this Bakers is so corrosive.

[bigwaveohs]

You should ONLY be using rosin flux...anything else such as an acid flux should NEVER be used on electrical components. You might also want to stick to lead-based solders. The others require higher temps and the alloy is more damaging to tips.
I believe Bakers Fluid is HCL-based...a definite NO-NO.