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Mastering the Art of Soldering
6. How to Solder Wires Together
6.1 Introduction
In this chapter, we’ll guide on how to connect two wires together using melted solder/
soldering technique. Aside from the common tools and materials used for soldering, you will
need some wires to be soldered. You will make use of the mini wire stripper tool with
stainless steel blade to punch down wires or for wire insulation stripping on particular
connectors.
This chapter will also make use of a heat shrink tube. A heat shrink tube is a tube that is in a
form of plastic tubing that shrinks when heat is applied. It is used to protect exposed wires,
to guarantee environmental safety and to make waterproof connections. It comes in different
colors, flexibility or temperature sensitivity. It is manufactured to a certain diameter like 2:1,
4:1, 5:1 and 6:1. The diameter means stretched size:shrinking size which means that 2:1
size will shrink to half upon application of heat.
A heat gun may also be needed to produce a stream of hot air during soldering method.
6.2 Preparing the Wires to be Soldered
1. Use the mini wire stripper to strip half inch of insulation at the end of each wire.
Just be careful not to cut the actual copper wire because it will lessen the conducting
strength.
