Some soldering help needed.......

[fw190d]

Hi guys,

I am going to install some new binding Posts into my vintage JBL speakers and have a question.....The posts in question are Vampire solid copper with gold plating. Where to solder? There is a 1/2 crescent area at the bottom of the shaft that has a hole that I could insert the wire and solder there or a solder tab......I currently have a Weller WES51 50-Watt station, adjustable from 350 to 850 degrees....will this be hot enough to have a proper solder at the post end or should I just use the tab? If so....approx. what temp should I keep it at and for how long with the surface contact?....I have been a hobbyist for a long time and never really had to solder any solid copper pieces before. I don't want to mess this up.

Thanks!

[Elysarian]

Re: Some soldering help needed.......

The most electrically sound connection would be via the solder pot (what you refer to as a "1/2 crescent area") in my view - that tab looks in the image to be a tabbed washer so would be reliant on a mechanical connection.

[budm]

Re: Some soldering help needed.......

When I solder this kind of terminal, I would put it in a wise and preheat it with hair dryer, then I would tin the wire and the 1/2 circle with solder first before soldering the wire in place. I use wide tip on my Weller.

[redwire]

Re: Some soldering help needed.......

The challenge is, because you need a lot of heat, you can't do it with the post bolted in, as you loose heat via conduction. The plastic washers can melt too.
I just put some flux and then a fair bit of solder in the 1/2 cup. You could put some solder there, then tin the wire end and then try put it all together. Crank the WES51 past 800 helps with a fat tip too.
Another method I would do:
You could also remove the xover wire, bench solder it onto the banana (minus the washers so nothing's damaged by heat) and then mount it and stuff, then finally connect the wire end to the xover. Don't forget the nuts.