Heat Shrink Self-Solder Butt Splice Connectors

[Wathen1955]

Need to get a few of these.

YouTube (Short URL)

[Antfarmer2]

[MrPeabody]

In the late 70s I worked for Raychem, the company that invented heat-shrinkable tubing.

[BADRACR1]

We use those for some repairs out in the shop. Work pretty good.

[Sea Six]

Very cool.

[mrvette]

I seen them tricks before, but being an old ET from over 1/2 a century ago, just WHAT and HOW does that work,?? I have always used TV/Radio/Electronic solder with flux that allowed the metals to anneal and essentially form one solid connection, BUT that required about 600f heat and my iron rated at 800f tip temp.....witch is FAR above the melting point of any plastic I ever heard of.....

Can someone esplain just specifically how this works???

[86RAG]

Pretty good discussion about them over here: https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/...#post-12788043.

Biggest complaint was no mechanical connection, but people that use them seem to be happy with them.

[86RAG]

Originally Posted by mrvette

I seen them tricks before, but being an old ET from over 1/2 a century ago, just WHAT and HOW does that work,?? I have always used TV/Radio/Electronic solder with flux that allowed the metals to anneal and essentially form one solid connection, BUT that required about 600f heat and my iron rated at 800f tip temp.....witch is FAR above the melting point of any plastic I ever heard of.....

Can someone esplain just specifically how this works???

It's a low temp solder ring inside the heat shrink tube. Melts with a heat gun.

[VatorMan]

Originally Posted by BADRACR1

We use those for some repairs out in the shop. Work pretty good.

Yep. Been using them for years.

[VITE1]

This looks great!!

[mrvette]

Originally Posted by 86RAG

It's a low temp solder ring inside the heat shrink tube. Melts with a heat gun.

What METAL will melt and anneal to the copper at temps less than 600F.....


never heard of any metal melting at the temps plastic will survive at....much less anneal....

so just what is that lo temp 'solder' composed of??

[mrvette]

Originally Posted by 86RAG

Pretty good discussion about them over here: https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/...#post-12788043.

Biggest complaint was no mechanical connection, but people that use them seem to be happy with them.

After Rat Shack folded, I gave up on shrink wrap and just using black electrical tape and then secure with a small tie wrap over the soldered joint....I typically twist the wires together, enough to hold them while I solder them anyway....

[86RAG]

Originally Posted by mrvette

What METAL will melt and anneal to the copper at temps less than 600F.....


never heard of any metal melting at the temps plastic will survive at....much less anneal....

so just what is that lo temp 'solder' composed of??

Not sure what it is, maybe something like this?
https://www.amazon.com/Melting-Point.../dp/B001QUXA8M

[mrvette]

Originally Posted by 86RAG

Not sure what it is, maybe something like this?
https://www.amazon.com/Melting-Point.../dp/B001QUXA8M

I never knew of any metal melting at less than lead solder...

so it makes me wonder about corrosion, but with that jacket around it, I don't suppose it would matter.....

interesting.....

[Rob]

@aerovette could use these for his master skillz

[Cybercowboy]

A place I worked at in the 80's and early 90's was a military contractor primarily making electronic sub-assemblies and all sorts of wiring/cabling like harnesses for jet fighters, Space Shuttle, nuclear subs, you get the idea. We used these things on quite a few cables, not typically the most high-end ones but quite a few. I learned that teflon insulation is good, silver-coated copper stranded wire is very good, shielded twisted pair is good, and all solder joints must be inspected and electrical tested. Finished cables and assemblies were all tested for continuity and high-voltage leakage, sometimes put on a shaker table, sometimes under water.

I kinda took for granted all the access I had to cool stuff and when I left I found out that gathering together a nicely stocked collection of goodies like that doesn't come cheap.

[Cybercowboy]

Originally Posted by mrvette

I never knew of any metal melting at less than lead solder...

so it makes me wonder about corrosion, but with that jacket around it, I don't suppose it would matter.....

interesting.....

They have their applications. We had some versions of these that also had some sticky stuff inside the sleeve that would make it a water proof connection all in one go. Most of the typical uses for these were for pigtails. Imagine you want to terminate the shielding of several cables to a common ground point. You'd strip the shield to expose about a 1/4" of shield braid, put one of these on the cable over the bare shield and also a 18 gauge wire (for instance) and melt the thing, and instant pigtail. IIRC you could order these special for just that very purpose - pigtail included - and it made for a very nice shield termination. Also you had to use the concentrator tips on the heat guns to melt these guys, IIRC the temps were similar to what we used in normal soldering - it was real solder, not something low-temp.

[Aerovette]

http://www.indium.com/blog/a-guide-t...der-alloys.php

[Antfarmer2]

Originally Posted by mrvette

I never knew of any metal melting at less than lead solder...

so it makes me wonder about corrosion, but with that jacket around it, I don't suppose it would matter.....

interesting.....

Doesn't mercury melt at about -40?

[Rob]

Originally Posted by Antfarmer2

Doesn't mercury melt at about -40?

Yes. Very close because it freezes somewhere close to -40