[Paladin79]

  @Paladin79 Hey Tom, can you link me where you buy your Rean Mini XLR 4-pins from? I cant find them on markertek.
 
Thanks 

 

http://www.markertek.com/product/rn-rt4mc-b/rean-rt4mc-b-tiny-xlr-4-pole-male-black-shell-gold-contacts
http://www.markertek.com/product/rt4fc-b/neutrik-rt4fc-b-rean-tiny-4-pole-xlr-cable-connector
 
I tried searching for them myself with no luck but luckily I knew the part numbers and knew they had them lol. By the way I had some quadruple Belgium in DC that was amazing, good to hear from you Frank!
 
I would lead you elsewhere but they have a decent price, if you are in a hurry drive over and I will hand you a couple.  I buy them from the same company but they have a retail side and a distributor side.
 
Once I get it done you will have to bring down your HD-650's and try them on my Bottleneck Crack, I have not received the kit yet but I will be making major mods to it and the headphones I will plug into it.
 
Tom

 

[Letmebefrank]

  http://www.markertek.com/product/rn-rt4mc-b/rean-rt4mc-b-tiny-xlr-4-pole-male-black-shell-gold-contacts
http://www.markertek.com/product/rt4fc-b/neutrik-rt4fc-b-rean-tiny-4-pole-xlr-cable-connector
 
I tried searching for them myself with no luck but luckily I knew the part numbers and knew they had them lol. By the way I had some quadruple Belgium in DC that was amazing, good to hear from you Frank!
 
I would lead you elsewhere but they have a decent price, if you are in a hurry drive over and I will hand you a couple.  I buy them from the same company but they have a retail side and a distributor side.
 
Once I get it done you will have to bring down your HD-650's and try them on my Bottleneck Crack, I have not received the kit yet but I will be making major mods to it and the headphones I will plug into it.
 
Tom

 
Thanks Tom, just ordered a pair of each!
 
I'll take you up on the offer to check out the BH crack once you finish it. I would like to get one myself so it will be nice to try out first. What sort of upgrades do you have planned? I was thinking of making mine in a custom enclosure with rear input for power and signal and front output for headphones instead of everything on the top.

 

[Paladin79]

   
Thanks Tom, just ordered a pair of each!
 
I'll take you up on the offer to check out the BH crack once you finish it. I would like to get one myself so it will be nice to try out first. What sort of upgrades do you have planned? I was thinking of making mine in a custom enclosure with rear input for power and signal and front output for headphones instead of everything on the top.

Ok I am doing that and using 1/8 inch copper plate for top plate and front and back plates. I am also making or having made a custom quartered oak or walnut cabinet and adding little round yellow VU meters to the front. I am having a couple knobs turned in solid copper on a metal lathe. As far as headphones I am putting new drivers (250 ohm) into some CHC Silverados since they will go with the finished look. I am also using special cables and building a headphone stand to match. All Steampunk, copper with a Patina. I showed a few photos in one of the Crack threads. Those are the changes I will talk about, a couple may or may not work and if they turn out badly I may need plausible deniability.
 
By doing my own top plate it will only have openings for the two tubes and transformer. I am also getting brown bakelite and brass tube sockets. I am also adding an extra on off switch to the front, rear switch can be main power. I envision my cables looking like copper mesh but I have not thought that all out yet.  Oh and I am raising the cabinet height a few inches cause the VU meters are a must for me lol. I will mess with the electronics too and probably add some military grade plugs to the inside so I can pull the top plate if I need to but that is the simple stuff.

 

[TAsme]

Good evening guys!
 
Eventhough i am completely sure this question has been asked a hundred times in this thread already but I have to do it ones more:
I wanna try Building my first DIY IEM cable. I have a pair of Noble Audio Katanas and would love to connect em with my Onkyo DP-X1 balanced 2,5 mm Output.
 
So far I found the following products:
 
http://www.norneaudio.com/litzheim/Norne-Audio-Eidolic-2-5-mm-4-pole-trrs-balanced-connector-diy-cable-cables-iem-ciem-astell-kern-onkyo-dp-x1-cowon-plenue-eidolic-carbon-aftermarket
http://www.norneaudio.com/litzheim/Norne-Audio-Eidolic-e2-78-pg-tecu-ciem-iem-tellurium-copper-peek-diy-aftermarket-noble-heir-alclair-1964-um-unique-melody-jh-cable-plug-hifi-audio-connector
 
I am still looking for a silver cable to buy. which one would you recommend me? So far I did only find this one:
 
https://www.toxic-cables.co.uk/product/silver-poison-1ft-7n-26awg-occ-cryo-stranded-silver1-gold-wire-2/
 
Also what other parts would you recommend me to get?
 
Since I wanna use the balanced Output of the Onkyo, will this mean extra work or anyhting extra I Need to think of? I am really completely new to those Things and have never done anything comparable..
 
Any advice I can get I am happy with!
 
Thanks a lot!

 

[chillaxing]

for solder pots, what type of bars should I use?  Does it matter?

 

[Paladin79]

  for solder pots, what type of bars should I use?  Does it matter?

I have good luck with Kester high purity Sn60Pb40 (60/40 tin to lead ratio) for general work. There are some high end bars out there with some silver content but the price goes up drastically and you buy it in pound bars. I use this solder for work that stays in the US, if shipped outside then ROHS compliance kicks in and the solder does not flow the same.
 
You also need liquid rosin solder flux. I was given two gallons of that a while back (which is a good thing cause it is not real easy to ship.)
 
You dip the wire in the flux then the solder, bar solder contains no flux that I know of, it would burn off. Use a small fan or solder exhaust fan if you do much of this, the fumes can get really bad.

 

[chillaxing]

ok, I was gonna get some stuff from amazon. it was a 50/50 lead to tin, wanted to know if it really mattered what the stuff was made up of.


so you dip it in the rosin then dip it in the solder? wouldn't it burn off? I've done soldering before since I work on my own cars, but using a solder pot is new to me.

 

[Paladin79]

ok, I was gonna get some stuff from amazon. it was a 50/50 lead to tin, wanted to know if it really mattered what the stuff was made up of.


so you dip it in the rosin then dip it in the solder? wouldn't it burn off? I've done soldering before since I work on my own cars, but using a solder pot is new to me.

rosin cleans the wire so the solder adheres, it does not have to stay on it. Try adding rosin to the solder and it burns off before it hits the wire. Trust me, this is the order lol.

 

[docholliday]

ok, I was gonna get some stuff from amazon. it was a 50/50 lead to tin, wanted to know if it really mattered what the stuff was made up of.


so you dip it in the rosin then dip it in the solder? wouldn't it burn off? I've done soldering before since I work on my own cars, but using a solder pot is new to me.

Ewww. 50/50 solder is usually for plumbing or stained glass...and may be an acid-core instead of rosin-core (if it's in spool format). 
 
I used to use 60/40, but have since switched to Kester 63/37 .021 on tiny boards (when I'm not using hotair and paste).
 
I hate RoHS compliancy, it's the reason I've had to fix so many things that've failed because of bad solder joints. A lot of automotive control modules, computer motherboards, and high-voltage power supplies seem to all randomly die in the last few years. Every time, it's been cracked/not enough/cold solder. I don't remember the last time I had to change a component, minus a few electrolytic capacitors in power supplies. And those were because the manufacturer used crappy Rubyconn or Capxons. 

 

[Paladin79]

We were talking bar solder for solder pots so there is no core. I have used 63/37 as well and it is fine.

I just make sure and teach new people to wash their hands before eating since lead is a cumulative poison. I also keep warning about solder fumes from a solder pot. The rosin does burn off after cleaning the joint and the smoke gets bad if you do this for 8 hours. A few wires on occasion, not so bad. ROHS solder does not flow well and has a higher melting point as I recall. I hate to count on it lol.

 

[Letmebefrank]

Paladin79 That sounds amazing I can't wait to see/hear it!

 

[docholliday]

We were talking bar solder for solder pots so there is no core. I have used 63/37 as well and it is fine.

I just make sure and teach new people to wash their hands before eating since lead is a cumulative poison. I also keep warning about solder fumes from a solder pot. The rosin does burn off after cleaning the joint and the smoke gets bad if you do this for 8 hours. A few wires on occasion, not so bad. ROHS solder does not flow well and has a higher melting point as I recall. I hate to count on it lol.

Bah, been smelling those fumes since I was 6 years old...
 
Seriously, though, I have a full fume exhaust in my lab (I mix a full chem lab on one side with my electronics lab on the other). A hot solder pot puts out constant fumes as long as it's on, so yeah, it sits under the fume hood. I've got over a dozen different rolls of solder on the bench, each with it's purpose. I don't work on any wiring or headphones, but many board level designs and repairs, so I only have the pot on when I have to make 40-100 pin interconnects between boxes. 
 
The 430+ melt of RoHS solder isn't the worse part, it's the brittleness of the joint that makes it not hold up to any length of time. But, i guess since it's a throw away society, planned obsolecence is much easier for manufacturers nowadays!

I recall what a shop looked like when I was growing up, simple and most one or two irons. Large oscilloscopes and pattern generators galore. The largest space utilizer was the bins and bins of components, huge caps, ceramic bar resistors.
 
Now, I have a huge stereo Zeiss microscope for soldering, 3 different Edsyn stations (solder, desolder, hotair), a solder "holder" that's two feet high (with the dozen 1lb rolls of solders), and refrigerator in the lab for the paste solders. 
 
Half the repairs I've been doing is removing every bit of RoHS solder from a board and reworking it with nice leaded solder. I had a board that somebody else had fixed a half dozen times, kept coming back broke. I changed the solder out and it's been working fine for over a year...ugh.

 

[Paladin79]

  Bah, been smelling those fumes since I was 6 years old...
 
Seriously, though, I have a full fume exhaust in my lab (I mix a full chem lab on one side with my electronics lab on the other). A hot solder pot puts out constant fumes as long as it's on, so yeah, it sits under the fume hood. I've got over a dozen different rolls of solder on the bench, each with it's purpose. I don't work on any wiring or headphones, but many board level designs and repairs, so I only have the pot on when I have to make 40-100 pin interconnects between boxes. 
 
The 430+ melt of RoHS solder isn't the worse part, it's the brittleness of the joint that makes it not hold up to any length of time. But, i guess since it's a throw away society, planned obsolecence is much easier for manufacturers nowadays!

I recall what a shop looked like when I was growing up, simple and most one or two irons. Large oscilloscopes and pattern generators galore. The largest space utilizer was the bins and bins of components, huge caps, ceramic bar resistors.
 
Now, I have a huge stereo Zeiss microscope for soldering, 3 different Edsyn stations (solder, desolder, hotair), a solder "holder" that's two feet high (with the dozen 1lb rolls of solders), and refrigerator in the lab for the paste solders. 
 
Half the repairs I've been doing is removing every bit of RoHS solder from a board and reworking it with nice leaded solder. I had a board that somebody else had fixed a half dozen times, kept coming back broke. I changed the solder out and it's been working fine for over a year...ugh.

I personally own a Nikon dual ocular scope as well as most things you discuss. I am on the downhill side of my career but I did own and operate my own electronic business. Past history includes working for the largest color television plant in the world and then for a company that lists itself as the largest independent electronics repair company in the world so I have had a little experience.
More often than not I got promoted quickly and sent on for a lot of post grad education so I gravitated to business and management since it paid more. I still get to handle a soldering iron when my people get behind but I mostly do technical research, teaching, and project management. It is obvious you work in the industry and I know what you are talking about in regards to ROHS solder. I do not have the pleasure of doing much repair now but I did fix an NAD amp the other day for my own use and I have helped a few folks from here when they stopped by my company to learn some soldering and such.
 
On a side note, I have visited Doc Holliday's grave in Glenwood Springs Colorado. My daughter was graduated from a college there so I had a chance to visit a few times. The hot springs was the site of a sanitorium (sanatorium?) where he spent his last days, it was depicted in Tombstone as I recall.
 
I have not tried a bunch of bar solder but I generally use Kester brand. In custom cable making I work with a lot of people with little electronics background. Most of our work is for the government or large corporations so headphone cables are a welcome relief from some of the repetitive things I encounter.
 
Tom

 

[Paladin79]

Getting back to DIY type of stuff, I just received some wire I have been waiting for and owe a few of you some samples. (You can always send me a PM to refresh my memory if you still want said samples).

 High strand count, 24 awg OFC made in the USA.
 
Tom

 

[Allanmarcus]

  Getting back to DIY type of stuff, I just received some wire I have been waiting for and owe a few of you some samples. (You can always send me a PM to refresh my memory if you still want said samples).

 High strand count, 24 awg OFC made in the USA.
 
Tom

Can you tell us the strand count, and width of the conductor (OD of the full wire, including insulation)?