Soldering Wire tips

[pinball god]

This has always pissed me off not having 3 hands. Anyone have tips on painlessly soldering wires neatly while the part is on the playfield, like wires to coils etc.

My problems always begin when its to do with soldering 2 connected wires to a coil. Ideally I have someone holding the wires against the terminal and me holding solder and the iron. The job is a nice clean piece of work. Without that extra hand the job turns out with a big glob of solder or it just attaching to the terminal or worse the two wires seperating etc etc.

Any experienced solderer have ideas please?

[beaky]

i hold the iron in one hand and the wire in my other hand between my thumb and finger next to my thumb, then i hold the solder in between my longest & ring finger in the same hand as the wire. it takes a bit of practice but after years of soldering it's easy for me.

[pinnies4me]

i hold the iron in one hand and the wire in my other hand between my thumb and finger next to my thumb, then i hold the solder in between my longest & ring finger in the same hand as the wire. it takes a bit of practice but after years of soldering it's easy for me.

Sounds like using chop sticks to eat Chinese!!

[patric67]

This has always pissed me off not having 3 hands. Anyone have tips on painlessly soldering wires neatly while the part is on the playfield, like wires to coils etc.

My problems always begin when its to do with soldering 2 connected wires to a coil. Ideally I have someone holding the wires against the terminal and me holding solder and the iron. The job is a nice clean piece of work. Without that extra hand the job turns out with a big glob of solder or it just attaching to the terminal or worse the two wires seperating etc etc.

Any experienced solderer have ideas please?

try applying the solder to both parts first seperately. then solder the two parts together. learnt it off an electronics guy.

[goodolddays]

try applying the solder to both parts first seperately. then solder the two parts together. learnt it off an electronics guy.

Yep .. thats the way to go 

[Steevsee]

try applying the solder to both parts first seperately. then solder the two parts together. learnt it off an electronics guy.

Yep .. thats the way to go 

This usually works well enough, but you might need to add some additional flux to ensure nice join.

[beaky]

i hold the iron in one hand and the wire in my other hand between my thumb and finger next to my thumb, then i hold the solder in between my longest & ring finger in the same hand as the wire. it takes a bit of practice but after years of soldering it's easy for me.

Sounds like using chop sticks to eat Chinese!!

I forgot to mention i do tin both sides with solder first before my 'Chop stick' style of soldering.
If I can i remove the old solder in the hole on the coil or switch and put the stripped wire through the hole and bend the wire so the wire will sit there on its own, then I solder it.

[Strangeways]

Two wires to one lug - Strip both wires back 1 CM. Twist each individual wire. Then twist the two wires together. Apply solder to the two (joined) wires. Apply solder to the lug and bring the joined wires onto the lug and you are done. Been doing this since I was 14 years old.

You can also place some shrink tubing over the new solder job to make it look nice 

[MrMaloo]

If I have to do a solder join in an awkward position I use a small alligator clip to hold the wires in position until I can get enough solder on them to hold ... Be careful not to get any solder on the ally clip . 

[48]

Another alternative to the 'gator clip is a hemostat I always have a couple around,
has a million other uses too (or maybe only 999,999) 

[pinball god]

Thanks guys for all the useful tips. When I'm alone I'll try these out, but I must admit using the wife as the third hand is the best and for soldering as well