Tricks to soldering thickish wire

Daox · 08-10-20, 08:17 PM

So, I don't work with electronics a ton, but I have soldered my fair share of things over the years. I typically use a 20W soldering iron and it seems to do darn near everything I need. However, the power wires broke on my 3d printer lately, and I replaced them with 12 gauge thin stranded wire. First off, my 20W iron wouldn't even remove those wires. It seemed like the solder was a higher temp solder than I typically use. So, I used an ancient 100W gun style soldering iron to get the wires off. I was able to reattach them with the 100W iron, but one of the wires fell off. Also, since then my 100W iron has stopped working.

So, my main question is what tricks do you guys know to get this to work well? Do I just need more heat, or is there something else I can be doing? I do use flux.

08-10-20, 08:17 PM	#1
Daox Administrator Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Germantown, WI Posts: 5,525 Thanks: 1,162 Thanked 374 Times in 305 Posts	Tricks to soldering thickish wire So, I don't work with electronics a ton, but I have soldered my fair share of things over the years. I typically use a 20W soldering iron and it seems to do darn near everything I need. However, the power wires broke on my 3d printer lately, and I replaced them with 12 gauge thin stranded wire. First off, my 20W iron wouldn't even remove those wires. It seemed like the solder was a higher temp solder than I typically use. So, I used an ancient 100W gun style soldering iron to get the wires off. I was able to reattach them with the 100W iron, but one of the wires fell off. Also, since then my 100W iron has stopped working. So, my main question is what tricks do you guys know to get this to work well? Do I just need more heat, or is there something else I can be doing? I do use flux. __________________ Current project - To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. & To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.