solder

[hellosailor]

Soldering PL-259 Coax Connecters

Here's a nice photospread from someone who pretins the braid to make the job easie.

[DeepFrz]

Do you mean the black heat shrink material? That doesn't come with the pl259.

[Cheechako]

Originally Posted by tuberider

i have a weller 100-140 gun but the pl259 just doesn't seem to get hot enough. i leave the gun on the connector for at least 20 seconds, but doesn't seem to get hot enough. any more then that and i worry about damage. i'm hoping hotter weller gun will work better.also i've never seen the pl259 that crimps, where can you buy the pl259 and the crimper tool. does the sleeve that goes over the crimp ,as in the picture, come with the pl259

Yeah, 20 seconds is likely causing damage. pretinning is a good thing. Touch the solder to the contact point to start flow. SOldering seems to be very much about contact area (tip to joint) also. Some NOKORode flux helps a lot.

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by conachair

I almost missed it first time, but slightly subtle is funnier. Though pretty obvious if you actually read the all words. That's the tricky bit.

Tis not unique, tis the tinterweb, ever will it be so.

What about lead solder? Pretty hard to find this side of the pond, is it easy to get west side of the pond?

No problem finding lead solder in Europe, all the electronics supply houses still carry it. It's only illegal in production equipment. You can use it.

Dave

[SoonerSailor]

Originally Posted by tuberider

i have a weller 100-140 gun but the pl259 just doesn't seem to get hot enough. i leave the gun on the connector for at least 20 seconds, but doesn't seem to get hot enough. any more then that and i worry about damage. i'm hoping hotter weller gun will work better

A 120 watt soldering IRON is fine. A 125 watt soldering GUN is not. The iron has a high mass element/tip which stores heat and transfers that heat quickly to the PL259. The gun has a low mass tip that can't heat it up fast enough. Eric uses a high wattage gun in a different fashion, which makes the PL259 itself the heating element, that works well for him but you have to have a modifed tip to do that.

In a pinch Ive used a 140 watt gun to solder PL259 plugs, but it is an exercise in frustration with a high likelihood of a poor or shorted result.

It helps to get good quality plugs, ideally Amphenol with Teflon insulators. Silver plated versions are easiest to solder. You can get these from thewireman.com for reasonable prices. There are other good vendors too. I think Ive even bought Amphenol plugs from the local Radio Shack, which typically doesnt have the highest quality parts even though relatively expensive.....

Chip

Chip