# Soldering thin wires



## Bwells (Mar 30, 2014)

I am going to need to solder and heat shrink a lot of wires that are 30-32 gauge. They need to be a straight splice and not a butt splice. I tried the old "rat tail" I learned 50 years ago and it wasn't going to happen with this fine of wire. I consider these to be hair like and was wondering if anyone has a way of accomplishing this. Thanks


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## gregc (Apr 25, 2015)

by rat tail, I assume you mean twisted, and by butt splice I assume you mean end-to-end. Neither sound good to me. 

I would just align the wires side-by-side and solder them. The image shows stranded wire. your wire is a single strand.

presumably 1/16 shrink wrap is needed. But for think wire, I've also tried putting multiple wires on a single piece of electrical tape with an overlapping 2nd piece, instead of individually wrapping each wire.


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

That's exactly how I do them. I just tin both wires first, then hold them as shown and touch a soldering iron to them. I use really small heat-shrink to cover them, I'm not remotely a fan of electrical tape.


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## DonR (Oct 18, 2012)

The key words in GRJ's post are TIN BOTH WIRES FIRST.
An absolute. Then, I take a tiny dab of solder on the
tip of the iron. A deft touch will then make the 'weld'.
Pause, then test for mechanical 'hold'.

Don


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## Ml-toys (Dec 19, 2013)

DonR said:


> The key words in GRJ's post are TIN BOTH WIRES FIRST.
> An absolute. Then, I take a tiny dab of solder on the
> tip of the iron. A deft touch will then make the 'weld'.
> Pause, then test for mechanical 'hold'.
> ...


After doing electronics assembly for roughly 20 years total the above is the best way of doing it.
A set of helping hands is a nice thing to have too.


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## Bwells (Mar 30, 2014)

I do have a set of helping hands so I'll give your idea a shot. Thanks for the help.


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