[joneeboi]

It may not be required, but I'd still put it in there while your iron's hot and the dock is open. You never know when you'll run into a situation where you'll think, "Dang, I should have put in that resistor."

 

[Baird GoW]

how the hell can you guys do it its sooooo hard. I tried 18 guage jenna wire got everything soldered on and then both audio pins snapped leaving me with very little of each left i resoldered each back on but now when ever i get them on the break of again and again. Any tips?

 

[Good Times]

Baird, I’m making some assumptions here but if you solder your first wire as the ground wire, then you have a nice straight starting point. Have your 18g pre-braided and then keep it tight at the collar with eg a cable tie.

After the ground is soldered to pin 15, the other wires should be able to be positioned at pins 3 and 4. If you have the wire at a 45 degree angle, but then bend the stripped bit back 45 degrees so it’s parallel to the pin, you should achieve the least strain on the pin/legs.

Solder them up, then hot glue around the solder joints, ensuring the hot glue also contacts the plastic of the plug for stability.

Once it’s dry, you should have a bare plug that is resistant to a lot of strain.

 

[Good Times]

And supporting pics. Notice that the wire is positioned in such a way that even without the solder, it's happy to lay there. Mind you this isn't 18G (it's ~24) but hopefully this helps.

 

[qusp]

after each joint with the 18AWG Jena I slide some small heatshrink on over some hot glue or 5 minute epoxy and shrink over the top (5 min epoxy actually sets instantly if you hit it with a heatgun); has the bonus of also stopping the jena from oxidizing too

goodtimes; jena doesnt stay in a bend AT ALL. but I have to say i've never had it snap the pins off ever. starting with the ground is a good tip though.

 

[Bonthouse]

Try heating the Jena, then bend it and keep it in that bend while it cools down. It should take the shape of the bend perfectly

 

[scootermafia]

The way I do it (don't have a pic yet but i'll post on the next one I build) but for pins 2 and 3 before I put on the wires, I put a blob of glue where they go into the connector and only leave about 1mm of pin bare, and bend them about 20 degrees apart. This way no solder can get in between them. Once they're soldered on, I glue them up, then when it dries I use end-cutters to remove any glue that's above/below the profile of the connector so she still fits into the plug body. If you pre-glue like this there's no way you can solder bridge pin 2 and 3 nor can you snap them off, I guarantee it (/George Zimmer).

I bend pins 11 and 15 towards each other until they nearly touch, and bridge them with solder then put the ground wire right on top of that.

Although people tell me otherwise, I still find it easy to start with 3 unbraided wires, and once they're securely glued, braid them and slide the sleeving and heatshrink into the connector, secure with glue, and then snap the top onto the connector.

I think the glue-free LOD is very clever although it does make me nervous, me with my butterfingers I'd have broken it before getting that far.

I guess I could do the resistor thing next time.but it doesn't bother me much to press the button once whenever I plug the LOD in.

I think with the Jena, and the pre-gluing the space between the pins, you can just stick the jena straight on top of the pin and glue the hell out of it. For pin 2 it'd go atop the pin, and pin 1 it'd go below. That is a great idea to heat the wire to bend it into a more appropriate shape before you solder it though. I don't know why anyone would punish themselves with jena18g though, I know it has its fans but I recall Lawton Audio's website saying that 18g is not as appropriate as 22g for interconnects, that it sounds woolier and boomier (unless that's what you're after).

 

[Baird GoW]

thanks a lot you guys i did most of what you guys said the first time i took some of the pins i pulled out and replaced those two so today after i get some sleep (just got back from an awesome dragonforce concert (i think my left ear might have some hearing damage)) i will try again. this time i may go buy some epoxy if they have it at home depot. and i will also try gluing the pins first.

 

[qusp]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bonthouse /img/forum/go_quote.gif Try heating the Jena, then bend it and keep it in that bend while it cools down. It should take the shape of the bend perfectly

yes I know this trick and by putting heatshrink over it with epoxy, just what do you think i'm doing??? but I try to limit the amount of heat I apply to cryoed wire.

 

[qusp]

Quote:

Originally Posted by scootermafia /img/forum/go_quote.gif The way I do it (don't have a pic yet but i'll post on the next one I build) but for pins 2 and 3 before I put on the wires, I put a blob of glue where they go into the connector and only leave about 1mm of pin bare, and bend them about 20 degrees apart. This way no solder can get in between them. Once they're soldered on, I glue them up, then when it dries I use end-cutters to remove any glue that's above/below the profile of the connector so she still fits into the plug body. If you pre-glue like this there's no way you can solder bridge pin 2 and 3 nor can you snap them off, I guarantee it (/George Zimmer). I bend pins 11 and 15 towards each other until they nearly touch, and bridge them with solder then put the ground wire right on top of that. Although people tell me otherwise, I still find it easy to start with 3 unbraided wires, and once they're securely glued, braid them and slide the sleeving and heatshrink into the connector, secure with glue, and then snap the top onto the connector. I think the glue-free LOD is very clever although it does make me nervous, me with my butterfingers I'd have broken it before getting that far. I guess I could do the resistor thing next time.but it doesn't bother me much to press the button once whenever I plug the LOD in. I think with the Jena, and the pre-gluing the space between the pins, you can just stick the jena straight on top of the pin and glue the hell out of it. For pin 2 it'd go atop the pin, and pin 1 it'd go below. That is a great idea to heat the wire to bend it into a more appropriate shape before you solder it though. I don't know why anyone would punish themselves with jena18g though, I know it has its fans but I recall Lawton Audio's website saying that 18g is not as appropriate as 22g for interconnects, that it sounds woolier and boomier (unless that's what you're after).

I wouldnt bother with an 18AWG HP cable either, but in my experience with jena (which I actually have) I dont find it very difficult to work with anyway once you know how to deal with it and lawnton audio doesnt even make interconnects; only headphone cables anbd thats what they are referring to. you just have to aproach things a little differently. I also would never put glue on a pin before soldering it. too easy to contaminate a solder joint. but thats just me; i'm old fashioned that way; I prefer to just use a bit of cardas flux on both the wire and pin before making the joint and then you only need a very small amount of solder; that way its nearly impossible to bridge the pins

 

[Good Times]

I don't know how/who is bridging pins on a LOD. How thick is your solder or iron tip? You tin the leg, tin the wire, then you just heat them to join. You shouldn't be applying any solder whilst joining them, and thus shouldn't ever bridge them.

 

[qusp]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Good Times /img/forum/go_quote.gif I don't know how/who is bridging pins on a LOD. How thick is your solder or iron tip? You tin the leg, tin the wire, then you just heat them to join. You shouldn't be applying any solder whilst joining them, and thus shouldn't ever bridge them.

no but I do often make sure the tip of the iron is well tinned; depends on the wire i'm soldering. dont know how this bridging is going on either really

 

[Baird GoW]

i ended up using 22 gage jenna and i also glued it shut before taking a pic by accident. i also hear a huge difference. i went from the ipod line out using the nuforce interconnect to a Ipod LOD with jenna. HUGE DIFFERENCE. I LOVE IT

 

[pcyl]

here is another LOD with Eye candy

 

[bidoux]

Any pics of the internal ?