Sodering Problems

[Chevyaudio 5,000+ posts]

Ok so yesterday i was messing around with my old audiobahn //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/uhoh.gif.c07307dd22ee7e63e22fc8e9c614d1fd.gif amp. I figured that i might use it for my Comps or something. When iwas removing those cursed lug lock screws from the amp, the d@mn cheap things got crosthreaded a broke. So now i can't remove it and i cant get a ground wire to stay, so i figured that since it was an old amp that i could try my hand at sodering. so i take off the case, and attempt at sodering an 8 ga. wire ( i know thats kinda a big wire to soder) but for some reason the soder won't stick to the meat piece that connects to the board. Am i missing something, or is this task impossible?

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[JimJ 5,000+ posts]

1. What size iron are you using?

2. What kind of solder are you using? For most electronics work, you want to use a 60/40 rosin/lead mix...or is it lead/rosin...I can never remember. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/crazy.gif.c13912c32de98515d3142759a824dae7.gif But I know 60/40 is the ratio //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

3. Heat the connector and the wire first, then melt the solder onto it...never melt the solder on the iron and drip it on the connector, that's a recipe for cold solder joints and future joint failure. 8awg wire is going to take a lot of heat to melt solder, so I wouldn't be surprised if you had to hold it there for a few seconds to bring it up to soldering temperature. I use a 100W soldering gun for big jobs like this, when I have to solder antenna connectors on feedlines...something my dinky 35 watt pencil iron that I use for PCB work would choke on.

All else fails, use a butane torch...

 

[Chevyaudio 5,000+ posts]

ive got a 100 watt sodering gun, yeah i was doing the drip the soder on the connection thing. Thanks alot, your help is appreciated.