Something else I do with 8 pin connectors is, if you're not using all 8 
pins, break off the tabs for the pins you're not using, usually they break 
very easy and that gives you more room though I, personally would rather 
never have to solder on an 8 pin connector, but I did one just the other 
day.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Colin McDonald" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, April 17, 2008 1:08 PM
Subject: soldering mike plugs


> Hey Shaun:
> Personally I use a table vice, a big one so it is heavy enough that it 
> doesn't
> need to be bolted to the bench, but you can use any type of vice that will 
> be
> fairly stable and won't move easily while your working.
> Typically, for a mike plug, I would put the end opposite of where you are
> soldering into the vice, using some sort of padding if it is a metal vice 
> to
> prevent any damage to the plug, and have the pins that you want to work on
> sticking out just enough to work on them.
> Some mike plug pins will have a small hole in the pin that you can run the 
> end
> of the stripped wire through and fold back to keep it there while you 
> solder.
> Most don't though, and your typical mike jack pin is sort of a U shape 
> where
> the wire is soldered into the valley of the U.  Steve's suggestion to tin 
> the
> end of the stripped wire is a good one if you know how to tin a wire.
> Basically it is melting solder to the end of the wire to both keep it from
> fraying if it is a multi-stranded wire, and so that when you put it 
> against the
> contact you wish to solder to, all you have to do is touch the soldering
> iron/pen to the wire while it is against the contact and it'll sort of 
> solder
> itself on.
> Otherwise, you have to try and position the wire, hold it, hold the peace 
> of
> solder in the right place and then touch all four things together, that 
> is,
> wire, contact, solder and soldering pen.
> I would recommend to work on tinning wire for a while, and once you get it 
> so
> that the wire has a nice clean coating of solder on the surface, start
> soldering your mike wires.
> All this said, it gets extremely tricky soldering 8pin mike jacks because 
> the
> pins are so bloody close together.  This can be slightly over come by 
> using a
> very fine tipped soldering pen/iron and very small gage solder and keeping 
> your
> consentration high while your working.
> For most projects, a relatively light gage of solder is best with a 25 
> watt
> medium tipped pen.  The terms pen and iron are interchangeable mostly. 
> You can
> also get solder guns which are shaped, oddly enough, like a gun.  Most
> soldering irons come with a couple tips, one fine and one medium fine.
> That just means the actual tip is smaller and sharper when its a fine tip.
>
> As for soldering without burning your fingers, well, you need to have very 
> good
> spacial sence to solder as a blind person.  You have to be able to gage 
> the
> distance from the end of the soldering iron to your other reference 
> finger.
> You can use the heat of the iron to get a good idea of how close it is.
> However, burns seem to be a fact of life when soldering in close quarters.
> This is why it is good to use a vice or large device to hold your work 
> because
> then you can always have a good hard tactile object to refer to.
> vice grips, plyers, heavy objects to keep the plug in one place will work.
> the rest is really up to your own bravery and personal learning methods.
> 73
> Colin, V A6BKX
>