DIY Cable Questions and Comments Thread

[penmarker]

Knives are not made equal. Different metal mixture, different tempering techniques, different forging, those change the characteristics of the blade. They induce small changes but when you use those tools with your hands you tend to notice it feels different even though you don't know it is.

 

[Paladin79]

Time to try out more Litz wire, personally I use a solder pot. No matter how careful one solders and how hot the iron, I prefer the surety of using the solder pot. There are so many tiny wires it is possible to miss some when soldering by hand. How the strands are interwoven in a spiral jacket gives the Litz effect from what I have read.
I also happen to have a Nikon dual ocular inspection microscope in my home shop and that helps me form the above opinion.

 

[musicmaker]

Thanks for your guys' advice. I purchased an american beauty solder pot and kester ultrapure solder bar. They arrive tomorrow. The wires, splitters etc have already arrived. Cant wait to make my first litz headphone cable for the Z1R/Focal Clear.

 

[Paladin79]

Good brand solder pot and you can buy replacement heating elements if ever needed. Just make sure you have some liquid solder flux or equivalent, dip the wires in the flux, then into the pot. You will see a bit of smoke as the solder pot removes the coating on the wires. I may make a cable for some Alpha Primes with wire I received.

 

[musicmaker]

Thanks. Liquid solder flux I need to source in a store locally as the online shops had big bottles ! Shouldn't be too hard to find in a frys or Radioshack I guess ?

 

[Paladin79]

https://www.amazon.com/Kester-959T-...479&sr=8-3&keywords=kester+liquid+solder+flux

It is on Amazon, 2 oz is not a huge bottle.

 

[Allanmarcus]

Thanks. Liquid solder flux I need to source in a store locally as the online shops had big bottles ! Shouldn't be too hard to find in a frys or Radioshack I guess ?

If you still have a RS, they should have it. Fry's should have it too.

 

[musicmaker]

https://www.amazon.com/Kester-959T-...479&sr=8-3&keywords=kester+liquid+solder+flux

It is on Amazon, 2 oz is not a huge bottle.

If you still have a RS, they should have it. Fry's should have it too.

Thanks guys ! Had that been amazon prime I'd get it in a heartbeat. Will try Fry's.

 

[Paladin79]

Yeah I thought it was on Prime at first but no such luck. I have plenty of it but could not ship till next week and I am not sure about suitable containers.

 

[kingkikapu]

As much as I’d love to invest in a pot I just can’t for the amount of use. DIY wise, anybody used a copper plumbing cap and a heat gun/torch?

 

[HiGHFLYiN9]

Not sure about others here but my solder pot takes a darn long time to fully heat up before it's ready to fully strip litz wire. I wouldn't want to have to sit there with a torch or heat gun against a copper cap for that long... also doesn't sound terribly safe.

 

[kingkikapu]

In my former life I was an astrophysicist. Handled many things far more dangerous (chemical, laser, nuclear, the works).

I think I’m good with an open flame.

 

[HiGHFLYiN9]

My apologies King if I offended, but consider the average user in the Headfi DIY section is often a novice, and I'd prefer no one here hurts themselves to save a few bucks. DIYAudio.com has a more technically experienced crowd and you'd likely find a several people there with some good DIY solutions if no one here chimes in.

 

[kingkikapu]

No worries bud. A little danger can be educational/fun

 

[Paladin79]

This is a very interesting conversation but I should probably bring up one small point in the interest of safety. An air fed torch can reach temperatures of about three times the melting point of copper. Personally I would use a stainless steel or even a small cast iron cup. Copper caps most likely have to contain enough copper to allow for proper soldering yet other alloys might allow them to withstand a bit more heat. It would be a fun experiment to try but a molten solder leak would not be a fun experience and I am someone who has used bucket capacitors in conjunction with a tesla coil. That being said, if you were able to spread the flame over the bottom of the copper cap and cover more surface area you might have a chance. Were i to try such a think i would have a metal plate under the area in question and definitely be in a garage or out building with a work bench. Dipping a very tiny portion of a small wire into a pot is a fairly delicate operation. If a person had a propane burner that a small pan could sit on in a stable position, I can see that working, I have seen such things done to make lead sinkers for fishing and to mold musket balls.

I love the Red Green reference!

https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/aven-tools/17100-150/243-1249-ND/5886022

There are some available on digikey for roughly $26 US plus shipping and they even list a less expensive model that is out of stock, these work well for occasional usage but long term there is a mylar capacitor that might give out if you use it day in and day out like my employees tend to do.