I like how detailed you are at showing each step at a nice slow pace and zoomed in enough so that we can truly see what you’re doing and explaining. You explain things well for us peeps who are just learning about anything dealing with soldering or wire or electrical. I would say yes to you having a voice that puts you to sleep so that’s nice to listen to you and feel relaxed while learning something new when you suffer from overthinking things and anxiety lol. Thank you. I’m following you now and I hope to learn so much more from you. I’ll have to check and see if you have a tutorial on how to use a multimeter and settings for whatever you’re trying to testing. Thank you again 😊
Thanks for the encouraging feedback. I don't do too much with electronics anymore. My channel is mostly live code videos, but every once in a while when I learn something new I'll post. EEVBlog is a pretty good channel with tons of videos on multimeters. You'll get good suggestions from the RU-vid algorithm for next videos to watch after watching a few of his multi-meter videos.
THANK YOU! This works perfectly for fine multi strand audio wire (the ones found in headsets) which were a PITA to remove enamel, this 400 degree tip helped a lot, here, take one subscriber! Best from Southern Brazil.
Came here because I accidentally ordered enameled wire instead of silicon. I was frustrated that I got the wrong thing, but after trying it out I kinda fell in love with the stuff. Good work, man. :)
Thank you for the longform tutorial I had all but given up and was thinking that my "Enamelled Wire " was actually painted stainless steal! The razor technique worked the best for me along with turning my soldering station down a notch so that the resin at the core of my solder wouldn't be immediately liberated
I use this method too but I wanted to see someone else do it. Thanks for posting, Magnet wire makes the cheapest and less space invasive hookup for a lot of circuits
Thank you so much for the tips!! Just starting to mess around with old electronics and was dumbly staring at these impossibly thin wires before finding your video! Also, I thought you were making sound effects with your mouth at 7:48 . Had a chuckle 😂
If you use a rotary tool with circular sandpaper holder and a fine grit sandpaper, it seems to me to be the fastest and best way to remove the enamel. Other than that, thanks for the video. Helped me out a lot...
Thanks for great video, trying to solder in a new plug on Sennheiser headphones and wondered why I wasn't getting a circuit from one end to the other. I had scraped the wire with the edge of a pair of scissors but still no circuit. Wasn't expecting the coating on such fine stranded wire but guess the figured it was necessary. I learned a lot from you thanks.
OH! BTW, yes, a very good video! I did try the suggestion that I found of using acetone to strip the enamel. Left mag wire in fresh solution for a half hour. Acetone did not touch it. I have not tried the sodium hydroxide solution. Before trying that, I will try immersion in MEK and, also, Enamel paint thinner.
From an old electronics book I know a fourth method but I did not tried it: place the end of the enameled wire on an aspirin and press with your soldering iron
@@coolaj86 in the meantime I was very curious about this method and tried it... It works very well, but you need to keep your nose away or some fume extractor because the smell is awful. I used a normal 300C temp during this, but I guess it work also with much lower... Maybe I will do a small video this week and post the link here..
Did you use fresh solder and fresh flux? Or was your solder a few years old? If your solder looks dull rather than shiny, it's oxidized and it won't conduct heat well.
@@coolaj86 It was old solder. Tried with and w/o flux, didn't see a ton of difference. Granted, I need to try them all a few more times. I'll also try with some paste, which is the only new solder I have.
@@rixoff I say go to the hardware store and pick up some fresh solder. A small tube will probably cost around $10. Worth it. My experience with oxidized solder is that it's very difficult to use, makes bad joints, and can't be helped with flux.
The simplest and easiest way is to use a burning matchstick or candle flame. Good for wires up to about 32 SWG. Works with thinner wires as well, but have to be fast and quick, longer time in the flame will melt the wire. I have been doing this since I was a school kid. Afterwards clean it up with a cloth dipped in alcohol/petrol/thinner etc.
I've found the matchstick approach to not work well because the wire becomes too brittle to work with - it just breaks afterwards - perhaps because, as you say, I'm not quick enough with the candle. But I mentioned this in another comment - fire is very (very) hot - well above soldering temperatures.
How about some non-conductive, non-flammable epoxy or glue? Epoxy is non conductive, but sometimes cumbersome to apply: amzn.to/36N0fZ4 E6000 is decent for areas that are low temp, but it doesn't harden and gets softer as it gets warmer: amzn.to/37JVZJ8 Locktite is another potential option: amzn.to/36LzVyw
Funny! You went to all the trouble of making sure the loose end of the thin mag wire was properly attached to the pad, then ran your Continuity Test on the THICK mag wire! And pronounced success....LOL!
Once I've removed the enamel, does the temperature matter in terms of tinning? I removed the enamel with 220 grit sandpaper but I'm using kind of a cheapy soldering iron, and it melts the solder no problem, but I seem to be having that same problem of the wire still not accepting the tinning despite all the enamel being removed. (Or maybe it is accepting it, but it is just a very thin coating? It is very hard to tell). Can two tinned wires done this way easily be soldered together? I'm trying to solder two small wires together in a vacuum that got so hot, it burned through the enamel and wire, so I'm just trying to reconnect them. Thank you in advance for any help!!
The wire is very thin, so it cools very quickly. It's difficult to get it to hold enough heat to actually bond. I'd say make sure that you've cleaned your tip well and that you get some flux on there to help the bond. If you don't see the tinny color, it probably didn't bond, and so you'll probably get a cold joint if you do stick the two bits together, and so it may hold, but may fail again quickly.
I've been searching for this one. Gonna make a modified headphone , i was having trouble on what gauge or type of wires to use. Audio cables was found first then i read about magnet wires. Do you have suggestions to what i should use ? thanks !
I cannot help you when you attention span is literally to short to finish reading "see description for 5-minute video" or the "Spoiler: Tinning the wire at 400ºC, instead of my normal 300ºC, is what worked best for me." as the first line of the description. Or the pinned comment.
@@coolaj86 Lol : ) @ 37:20 you finally fix the finer of the two wires (one end had slipped from the solder) . . . once fixed you then test the new connection, but accidentally test the thicker of the two wires ! (@ 37:50) . . . cheers for the video by the way, ordered myself some 0.15mm, I think I'll have a go at your Exacto knife approach.
Excellent question. No, you can't. Or rather you can, but the metal will literally burn, become brittle, most likely break, but definitely not conduct electricity well. The flame is about 1400˚ C, I think. Much too hot.
John Fuller. Not sure if you’re joking or serious, but I’ll assume you’re being serious: Option A) Use either side cutters or wire clippers to make the exposed part as short as you need, for small microcontrollers you’ll be surprised how little solder you need (and how large of a chisel or bezel tip you should use) for such such small pinpoint pads. Just make sure you don’t cut too short or you’ll get a “cold joint” that bulges around the enameled portion. Option B) You can get heat shrink tubing for wire-to-wire connections. Options C & D: Use electrical tape, non-flammable epoxy, or an electrically safe lacquer / coating / paint. I’ve used E6000 for low-heat / low-risk applications.
@@coolaj86 not joking :) Thanks for the response. I need to splice some LEDs with enameled wire. I'll solder the joint but would like something clear and thin to cover the joint for insulation. Been looking on the web and hadn't found anything. Would E6000 do the trick? Looks like more of an adhesive. I was thinking about Star Brite Liquid Electrical Tape, but it looks like it might be thick. Any help is greatly appreciated!
Do you have a better suggestion for 0.1mm wire? Personally I haven't run across an issue where 0.3mm is too thick to be useful, but I imagine that if you need 0.1mm you don't have a lot of "high quality" options.
