DIY Cable Gallery!! - Page 347

more practice they are very fun to solder mine always end up shorting

Use 15 watt solder do not over tin your solder tip, do not tin the pin, minimum tinning on your cable. use the helper's hand to hold the plastic piece.

Use small tools instead of hand to hold everything except the hot solder.

Do not use magnifier unless you really have eye problem

Do not consume anything that alter metal state and physical condition(coffee, tea, alcohol, medications) 12 hours before the work.

Don't do it when you are tire, stupid mistakes and injuries are not impossible, I had plenty.

Last but not least, "practice make perfect"

Thanks guys lol. I don't drink alcohol, I am not old enough, and I don't drink anything with carbonation so there goes most of that. I have perfect vision. I just can't do it. I think it is an experience thing. This is the first time I have ever soldered. Any recommendations on which tip to use. I am using the "chisel" tip and it is too big.

Conical tips are the best for making most interconnects in my opinion. You need to try to minimize surface area at the end of the tip for the most precision. Just practice soldering jumpers/random wires to protoboard for a little bit.

Have fun!

Hi guys I know I don't contribute any pictures...yet but I have another question.

I was planning on purchasing a 936-12 Hakko soldering station and will need some practice and tutorials. I know someone spent a lot of time typing up a really nice tutorial or making a youtube video. Honestly I have not searched in depth yet, I will once I decide to purchase the soldering station, but it would help filter a lot of tutorials out if anyone knows of a particularly good one.

As always I appreciate the help more than you imagine, its a true lifesaver sometimes.

austin

Cool stuff my friend, I love it.

Curious Inventor - Guides : How to Solder
check this out, look very good to me, the site also cover surface mount soldering. I think this will help a lot

My third cable attempt, but first posting.

Mogami 2534
GLS Audio locking RCAs
Yellow Techflex
Cardas solder

I'm very surprised at the performance of the Mogami cable. Better bass presence than my Tara Labs RSC with a similiar tonal balance in the mids and highs.

Cable building is pretty addictive, I'm making cables even though I don't have enough places to use them.

Looks great. I recently got my hands on some GLS audio plugs, too and really like the way they look (although I peeled off the GLS Audio labels, as they are just stickers). Love the yellow techflex, too.

And I have been making cables I have no need for for several months now. I need to see if I can trade them for more gear...

Hsiu, thanks a lot for the link. I saved it and will do some reading and eventually practicing.

Wow tke398 that is really nice looking. Did not think I would like the yellow but it looks nice. I may have to get some yellow dye as well with my next order of dye. I also really like those audio plugs you used.

This is gonna sound really really dumb. Some may laugh off of their rocker but everywhere hga, cryo, alo, aps, and all the other websites (Cant remember the 5 or 6 others, I have them bookmarked on my work computer not home computer even though that seems backwards) sell the rca connectors and other interconnects diy products, I get a little confused. The rca that people make serve the same purpose as like the red and white cables on a tv correct? I realize people are using them for probably all sorts of applications but yeah.

For instance you have:

analog interconnects
speaker cables (self explanatory to me I am not too too dumb)
digital cables
rca connects
banana plugs
spade connectors
3 different sized headphone jacks

I guess the two that I am unsure about are rca and analog connector plugs. Are these for balanced systems so you have a dedicated right and left?

I need a book for dumb people. Actually I graduated college and an engineer just some of this is new to my world.

Once again thanks, I think my questions have been answered. Now onto reading!

austin

Check out Tangent's website. Same one I posted for the cmoy(tangentsoft.org, under audiologica). He has superb videos and articles on all the basics.

calm down, sounds like you are a bit stressed or something yo make 2 such nervous mistakes. buy a heap of the connectors so you dont put so much pressure on yourself. practice on some other things or even the ruined ones. remove all the pins except for the ones you are using to give yourself more room, get the cable 99% finished so the last thing you are doing is soldering the finished cable to the LOD connector. have enough length of wire to thread some small heatshrink on it, solder one pin then add a dab of glue and shrink it on for strain relief. (not for the L/R channels until both are done or you will screw up the solder surface with excess glue perhaps) use ground pins other than pin 1 or 2. pin 15, 16, 29, 30 are just a few others, all are connected on the ipod. bend pin 3 and 4 away from each other carefully to give even more room. use solder flux, add a dab to the pin and tin the wire a touch, then add some flux to the wire as well and join, should form a nice smooth joint in a matter of a split second.

thats all I can think of for now


crap really?? wow I would never get ANYTHING done

the hakko 936 is a great tool, a real workhorse; good choice!! try tangent's tutorials. sorry dont have a link but if you google it you should come up with something. he has some nice through-hole and SMD soldering tutes.

HA nice one on the tangent link, i couldnt be bothered googling it for him you must've been posting at the same time as me

RCA's are some of the oldest connectors, I believe. No special purpose other than delivering a single channel of sound. Analog interconnects is just a term that encompasses cables designed to handle analog sound (ie not digital like optical or coax spdif (confusingly can use RCA as its connector, though) and usb). Analog interconnects can be RCA (most commonly used (like you said, red and white on your TV, receiver, etc)), mini to mini or XLR for pro or balanced setups.

great minds...