Lacquered cable soldering

[venton]

Is there any way to solder lacquered earphone wire?
I've tried dabbing it in hot solder but it just gets black and dirty.
So delicate it can't really be scraped off. Cheers.

 

[misterdog]

Is there any way to solder lacquered earphone wire?
I've tried dabbing it in hot solder but it just gets black and dirty.
So delicate it can't really be scraped off. Cheers.

See the thread below re HD 600 same problem.

 

[venton]

Oh yes, same issue. In my case it's not very expensve ear buds but I just like to fix stuff.
I like the sound of nitromors paint stripper, I might try dipping the ends in that.

 

[Chops54]

When dealing with this sort of wire I lay the end of it flat on a piece of wood or similar. I then get a blob of solder on the tip of the iron and stroke it hard against the wire to work the solder into the wire. The tip needs to be hot and clean. If it's not having it I'll use a touch of flux paste.

 

[venton]

I've just come back from leaving the wire ends embedded in a blob of nitromors for an hour. Enamel came clean off with a little drag between my finger nails. Super shiny copper ready to go. There are some nylon filaments in the braid so separated them carefully and chopped off. Just managed to tin them and it took very well.

 

[misterdog]

The old Nitromors that takes your breath away, or the new stuff which doesn't work anything like.

 

[venton]

The old Nitromors that takes your breath away, or the new stuff which doesn't work anything like.

Its a very old tin of the thick stuff which rips your nose off if you sniff it.
I didn't realise there was a new shitty formula thanks to EU bureaucracy.
I best keep my tin specially for this job.

 

[demotivated]

The other way is to scratch the wire with a sharp knife. This loosens the lacquer and allows the solder to get underneath. It usually just shrivels off the copper when you solder after.

 

[Vinny]

Original Nitromoors was methylene chloride with cellulose acetate dissolved in it as a thickener (MC is thinner than water-thin solvent).

As an educated guess the current version uses MEK (methyl ethyl ketone) as the active ingredient - MEK is an excellent softener for most surface finish polymers (paint, varnish, lacquer etc.), but not as good as MC. (Both will usually resurrect paint brushes that have even gone completely solid.)

You can buy MEK online, probably far cheaper than Nitromoors.