Soldering 550m of copper wire

[Goran]

I have to solder 550 - 600m of 1mm copper wire.
Wire must be completely covered with solder.

It will take some time to do this on regular basis ( with soldering iron
) so i was thinking to make some kind of slot in some aluminium housing
and melt the lead alloy in it.

Then i can put the wire in it and draw it slowly throe this slot.
Additionally i can set some stepper motor on the other side to
automatize the whole process.

1.) Could this be done on this way ?

2.) Would this work with iron wire ?


Regards !

 

[Jasen Betts]

I have to solder 550 - 600m of 1mm copper wire.
Wire must be completely covered with solder.

step one: order 600m of tinned copper wire.

done!

eg:
http://www.wesbellwireandcable.com/BareCopper/18awgTin.html
buy two 1000' (305m) rolls unless you need it to be continuous

It will take some time to do this on regular basis ( with soldering iron
) so i was thinking to make some kind of slot in some aluminium housing
and melt the lead alloy in it.

"some time" is an understatement. This is wrong newsgroup for what is
essentially a industrial process.

 

[Michael Black]

I have to solder 550 - 600m of 1mm copper wire.
Wire must be completely covered with solder.

The most obvious question is "why"?

You've asked in .basics so it may be that your logic about this is faulty.
You've not explained what this is about, simply want a solution, and from
experience here since before sci.electronics was split up into the current
subgroups, people often ask questions that are the wrong questions, since
they haven't started with the actual question.

I can't see why you need solder coated copper wire. I can see why you
might want it protected against tarnish, I can see why you might want to
make it easier to solder to, I can see why you might want it to keep hi Q
if this wire is used for winding coils, but all of that comes other ways,
not coating it in solder.

Michael

 

[Tom Biasi]

The most obvious question is "why"?

You've asked in .basics so it may be that your logic about this is
faulty. You've not explained what this is about, simply want a solution,
and from experience here since before sci.electronics was split up into
the current subgroups, people often ask questions that are the wrong
questions, since they haven't started with the actual question.

I can't see why you need solder coated copper wire. I can see why you
might want it protected against tarnish, I can see why you might want to
make it easier to solder to, I can see why you might want it to keep hi
Q if this wire is used for winding coils, but all of that comes other
ways, not coating it in solder.

Michael

Maybe a troll? He can buy tinned wire and he is talking about doing two
football fields of wire.

 

[Jamie]

I have to solder 550 - 600m of 1mm copper wire.
Wire must be completely covered with solder.

It will take some time to do this on regular basis ( with soldering iron
) so i was thinking to make some kind of slot in some aluminium housing
and melt the lead alloy in it.

Then i can put the wire in it and draw it slowly throe this slot.
Additionally i can set some stepper motor on the other side to
automatize the whole process.

1.) Could this be done on this way ?

2.) Would this work with iron wire ?


Regards !

I think it would be cheaper to get tinned copper wire ready made..

However, if you insist, a solder pot with a deep roller in it so you
can wrap the wire around it and pull.


Jamie

 

[Phil Allison]

"Jasen Bleats"

step one: order 600m of tinned copper wire.

done!

** Err - tin plating and solder coating are different things.



.... Phil

 

[Goran]

"Jasen Bleats"


** Err - tin plating and solder coating are different things.

----------
Yes, as you mention it this are different things.
In this alloy i have to use 70 or more % of lead.

Solder pot and solder bath suggested by Jamie and John is the only
solution. The problem is that i dont know if this will work.
I can melt lead and put some tin in it to get the alloy but will this
alloy stick to wire ?

In general it should be no problem if the wire is oxides free...

 

[Goran]

Yes - did something similar with hot melt glue and ordinary magnet
wire.

But you'd have to watch out for corrosion or possibly run the wire
through a bath of flux before hitting the solder.
Iron doesn't "take" solder well - or not with any flux I know of...

Zinc coated (galvanized) will work with flux. Not easily or well, but
it can be done.
you too

 

[Jamie]

And then you have electroplate.

Jamie

 

[Michael Black]

About any wire you'd want to tin, will have an oxide layer and you need to
pre-treat with some kind of flux.

In the tinning process, your alloy doesn't "stick" to the wire - it alloys to
the wire surface.

As for iron wire - in my first year at college, the lecturer demonstrated a
little trick, first he snapped a thin iron rod and dipped the broken ends in
a bath of mercury - nothing happened. Next he snapped an iron rod while it
was submerged in the mercury bath - this time the mercury alloyed into the
broken ends.

The demonstration shows that exposed iron immediately forms an oxide layer -
I use *active* plumbers flux for stainless steel bicycle bowden cable, iron
may need even more aggressive flux than that!

That reminds me of all the debate in the amateur radio magazines about
soldering to aluminum. No it can't, yes it can. ANd then when it was
esplained, one I scheme I remember was "liberally apply oil to the
surface, scrape the surface under the oil, then start soldering" or
something like that. The oil keeping it from oxidizing, the scraping to
thet the existing oxidation off.

Michael

 

[Phil Allison]

"John Fields"
"Phil Allison"

** "Tinned copper wire" sold as solid wire on a reel is ** tin plated **.

Do try to follow the context - fuckhead.



.... Phil

 

[George Herold]

Yes, as you mention it this are different things.

In this alloy i have to use 70 or more % of lead.

Solder pot and solder bath suggested by Jamie and John is the only

solution. The problem is that i dont know if this will work.

I can melt lead and put some tin in it to get the alloy but will this

alloy stick to wire ?

In general it should be no problem if the wire is oxides free...

This sounds like a real PITA. What is the purpose? (Maybe there is some other solution?) Once you get away from the eutectic mix of tin and lead the solder has this temperature range where it's not really solid or liquid..but this weird mixture, I have no idea what happens when you try and coat a wire with it.

You might try a post on the rec.crafts.metalworking. Lots of political 'junk', but just ignore that.

George H.

 

[Goran]

I try to make some soldering pot with camping gas stove.
I melted lead and soldering wire (40/60) and am guessing that final
ratio is around 70 % lead 30 % tin.

Then i took copper wire mesh ( that i cleaned before ) i put this into
pot. I grease it before i put it in the pot.

Well, it looks like am doing something wrong because the copper was just
partly covered with lead.

Rest of it looks like it was oxidized.

What am doing wrong ?

 

[Jamie]

I try to make some soldering pot with camping gas stove.
I melted lead and soldering wire (40/60) and am guessing that final
ratio is around 70 % lead 30 % tin.

Then i took copper wire mesh ( that i cleaned before ) i put this into
pot. I grease it before i put it in the pot.

Well, it looks like am doing something wrong because the copper was just
partly covered with lead.

Rest of it looks like it was oxidized.

What am doing wrong ?

Get some pipe acid, the stuff used to wet the pipes before soldering.
it's clear and usually comes in a squirt bottle.. Dip the copper in
that first..
You obviously are working with old copper.

Jamie

 

[Michael Black]

Get some pipe acid, the stuff used to wet the pipes before soldering.
it's clear and usually comes in a squirt bottle.. Dip the copper in
that first..
You obviously are working with old copper.

Is that stuff corrosive? I remember warnings in the magazines where
people had used plumbing flux, only to learn it was corrosive and the
wrong thing for electronic soldering.

Michael

 

[Michael Black]

If you've got a deep fryer you need the grease.

Michael

 

[Fred Abse]

Probably an acid bath first, to get the oxides off, then a flux dip. After
the solder bath, some stripper to remove the excess. A big deal.

Very big deal.

I've seen it done. Freshly drawn wire after vacuum annealing run through
a hot acid flux bath, followed by a cotton wiper, followed by a pure tin
bath, then a final water-wet cotton wiper, then spooled. All at 200 feet
per minute.

After a few minutes, the acid fumes get to your eyes.

The guys working in the "tinner" were all in their twenties and thirties,
and looked about sixty.

An interesting place. Wherever you stood in the plant, you could see a
thousand tons of copper in various forms. That was back in the day when
telcos were using the stuff as fast as it was being dug out of the ground.

 

[amdx]

---
You're right, and you could have politely corrected my error without
rancor, but instead chose to take the low road.

Why?

Oh, you must be *new here, this is what Phil does.
Just treat it as entertainment.
Mikek

* I know, I know.