Hold my hand through this.

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earth tones
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Hold my hand through this.

Post by earth tones » Fri May 05, 2006 11:56 pm

I know many people assemble their own XLR cables here, and I assumed it was as easy as soldering wires to terminals. I suppose it's still that simple, however, I cannot figure out to hold the soldering iron, the wire to be soldered and the solder, at the same time, while maintaining a steady hand in order to secure a well-settled joint.

Is it really this complicated or am I missing something here?

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brianroth
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Post by brianroth » Sat May 06, 2006 12:12 am

Figure out a way to "clamp" the XLR in place. I use a Panavise, but there are less expensive solutions, such as a pair of ViceGrips.

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ckeene
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Post by ckeene » Sat May 06, 2006 6:47 am

YES, get a panavise to hold the XLR connector. Also if you get one of those little adjustable armatures with the alligator clips to hold the cable side, your life is going to be even easier.

My process is kind of like this:

Use a new, single edge razor blade to cut off about 1 1/2 inches of the outer sheathing.

Use a wire stripping tool (very important) to cut off about an inch of the insulation for the hot and cold wires.

Tin the ends of the hot, cold and ground wires.

Trim the tinned ends to final length, about 1/4 inch. It's a lot easier to assemble these when all your ends are tinned and squared off.

Mount the XLR connector in the vise and position the cable so that the stripped ends fit into the XLR cups. Essentially, you want to be able to solder these without holding onto either the cable or the XLR connector.

Heat up the cup with your iron and let the solder melt onto the wire and cup, not the tip of the iron. If you keep the heat on too long, your insulation will start to melt and shrink back, so try and get this done quickly. A little, uh, "shrinkage" is normal.


VERY IMPORTANT: Make sure your connector casing and plastic insulator are on your cable BEFORE you start soldering. This is really obvious but I still forget to do this every 1 out of 25 connectors I solder then end up having to desolder and reassemble.

Good luck.

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Post by Spark » Sat May 06, 2006 10:51 am

While its not elegant, you could always 1/2 plug the xlr into a DI box or something with the coresponding connector to hold it in place.

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Post by FollowTheMusic » Sat May 06, 2006 11:39 am

Get yourself some Helping Hands from Radioshack or wherever. They're about $13 and very handy. Basically 2 articulating alligator clips and a magnifying glass on a base, perfect for exactly this sort of thing.

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Post by Cyan421 » Sat May 06, 2006 3:43 pm

Ive got a chunk of 2"x4" about 8 inches long. I drilled holes that fit (tightly) XLR male, XLR female and 1/4" male jacks. Its really simple and effective. Also don't forget to tin both the wire the and jack terminal. If you get enough solder on both parts your tring to glue together than you shouldnt need to hold the solder, just hold the wire and the iron.
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Post by philbo » Sat May 06, 2006 4:09 pm

Other options:

Pick up a variety of hemostats (typically $2 apiece from a surplus store). They are basically high quality stainless steel locking roachclips, which in a prior life were used to do surgery.

Wrap a rubber band around the hand grips of a pair of pliers enough times so it will hold the work firmly.
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Last edited by philbo on Sat Mar 19, 2011 11:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.

earth tones
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Post by earth tones » Sat May 06, 2006 5:09 pm

I do have the XLR component mounted in a small vice....it was the mounting of the wire that I was missing. If that is somehow held in place, then I can easily apply heat to the joint with one hand, and apply the solder with another. Thanks for all of the suggestions and explanation. I will try this again.

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brianroth
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Post by brianroth » Sat May 06, 2006 7:23 pm

If you pre-tin the wires AND the solder cups, you don't need to feed solder into the connections.

For best results, use 63/37 alloy solder.

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earth tones
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Post by earth tones » Sun May 07, 2006 8:53 am

Does anybody prefer to use silver solder, 62/36/2 ?

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Post by dino » Sun May 07, 2006 3:39 pm

Be a little obsessive about your measurements, and though it may seem obvious, work in a comfortable, well lit position. If your doing a lot of cables, you can end up screaming like a banshee when you try to stand up.. Your consistency will improve and you'll avoid a few nasty burns.
Just repaired a whole bunch of buggered xlr cables. Discovered it was all multiple conductor stuff. (star quad?) .Yikes! Re-using old connectors with that stuff will test your patience and manual dexterity.


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earth tones
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Post by earth tones » Sun May 07, 2006 3:58 pm

Yes...I am also using star quad cabling, and I will be making about 20 cables. I think these "helping hand" devices will be very helpful. The most time-consuming aspect, for me, is unbraiding the copper shield that is used on these Canare cables.

Any opinions on silver solder (tin/lead/silver) vs. standard tin and lead solder?

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brianroth
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Post by brianroth » Mon May 08, 2006 12:12 am

If a cable has a true woven braid, then use a very sharp tool to carefully make an "opening" just as the braid exits the outer jacket, then carefully pull the various "innards" out through the opening.

As I alluded earlier, I only need two hands to attach any connector once the plug has been clamped down somehow. The trick is to pre-tin the wires and connector, so you won't need to even touch the solder roll while attaching the connector. One hand holds the iron, the other the cable.

As for silver bearing solder, I know some folks who use it/like it, but I've been a satisfied 63/37 user for maybe 30 years now. I have been using 0.031" diameter wire for perhaps the past 20 years.

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