Soldering Nichrome?

[McKailas Dad]

I have got the "Ruby Flux", and I am having a heck of a time... I even had one of the 'professional' solder ladies try it at work, with an industrial duty machine. Rohs, meant for soldering lead free=very hot.

I'm trying to solder ~30 gauge nichrome bridge wire to solid copper shooter wire ~26 gauge. I've scraped/sanded the nichrome, to try to clean it, and as the lady said, "I can't even touch it..."

Cleaned the wires, using ruby flux, what else can I do? :blush:

 

[cwbullet]

I have never had that problem. Is ti not sticking to the copper or Nichrome? It might be the type of solder.

 

[JordanT]

I think when I tried mine, I "wire wrapped" the nichrome around the copper, then soldered, effectively encasing the wrapped nichrome in the solder. I don't really know whether the nichrome bonded to the solder or not, but it worked because I had metal to metal contact.

FWIW, I tried an alternate method last weekend for firing charges: took two conductor, 20 (22? 24?) ga bell wire, slit the top and bottom of the insulation abouve 1/4" from the end and slid the insulation up above 1/16", exposing the two wires. Then I wrapped 40ga onto the bar conductors - three times around, then twisted the ends to tighten it up. It fired 6 out of 6 BP charges from .1g to 1.5g with no failures off of a 3.7V LiPO used in a Raven altimeter (note: I fired by direct short, not through the raven, but the resistance of the assembly was between 0.3 and 0.5 ohms, so within the capacity of the altimeter).

If I can get out and fly soon, I want to run some test fires on the spare outputs in flight to see how the assembly holds up after a launch/deploy shock.

 

[McKailas Dad]

Not sticking to the Nichrome...What type/brand of solder would you recommend? I've tried Kester brand at home.

 

[GregGleason]

I have successfully done what you are trying to do using Ruby Flux. If you make your own igniter/bridge wire combo it is one of the best things you can do to have a solid connection.

I use a rather pedestrian soldering iron from Radio Shack. So, like cwbullet has noted, it may be the solder. Maybe I can look later this evening on what kind of solder I use.

Greg

 

[shreadvector]

What type of nichrome do you have? "A" or "C"? "A" has no iron and behaves like stainless steel when soldering. "C" contains iron and can rust and is easier to solder.

When soldering stainless (like the NAR stainless steel micro clips), I use a hydrochloric acid based liquid flux. here is one brand I did not try: https://rubyfluidflux.com/Stainless_Steel_Flux.html

If the "Ruby Flux" you mentioned is the paste, then it is not HCl acid based liquid. If it is the liquid, then I will guess that it does not work on nichrome wire. Most folks either twist, or wire wrap or spot weld nichrome to other lead wires.

I have got the "Ruby Flux", and I am having a heck of a time... I even had one of the 'professional' solder ladies try it at work, with an industrial duty machine. Rohs, meant for soldering lead free=very hot.

I'm trying to solder ~30 gauge nichrome bridge wire to solid copper shooter wire ~26 gauge. I've scraped/sanded the nichrome, to try to clean it, and as the lady said, "I can't even touch it..."

Cleaned the wires, using ruby flux, what else can I do? :blush:

 

[cavecentral]

I use a cheap iron, rosin core solder, and the ruby red liquid.

Wrap nichome on one end, dip in the flux, place a bead of solder on the iron, swipe the wrapped wire through the bead. This should coat it well. Wrap around the insulation. Repeat on the other copper end.

I used shooters wire and Cat 5 solid. No issues.

 

[shreadvector]

Exactly which version of the nichrome do you use: "A" or "C" ???

I use a cheap iron, rosin core solder, and the ruby red liquid.

Wrap nichome on one end, dip in the flux, place a bead of solder on the iron, swipe the wrapped wire through the bead. This should coat it well. Wrap around the insulation. Repeat on the other copper end.

I used shooters wire and Cat 5 solid. No issues.

 

[McKailas Dad]

What kind of nichrome? You may chuckle, but it's from my wifes dead hairdryer.

I am 10 for 10 on using it in my 'hand twisted, but not soldered', ignitors.

I haven't tried to solder it yet, but I have also used the nichrome from spent Estes ignitors for bridge wires. Also 100%.

Or maybe it's my pyrogen...:dark:


Is it feasible to just solder a straight-across bridge wire, or should it be wrapped?

I'm going for 'tiny-tipped' ignitors for AT E and F motors. Even tiny enough for a D9? (but enough oopf for a F40 bwuhahah!)



Thanks for all the replies...

Oh, I got the Ruby paste...

 

[cavecentral]

Exactly which version of the nichrome do you use: "A" or "C" ???

No clue. I bought this:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Nichrome-w...053?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item335e3cf41d

 

[JPVegh]

Zinc chloride flux.

 

[G_T]

Acid flux and silver solder.

Gerald

 

[shreadvector]

Plenty of clue there: it has Iron, so it is "C"

No clue. I bought this:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Nichrome-w...053?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item335e3cf41d

 

[BEAR]

I am wrapping nichrome around CAT 5 wires myself. I did go to Radio Shack and get a wire-wrapper that helped me a lot. You can find it on the internet as part no. 276-1570, costs $6.49, and you can check inventory at local stores online also. Once the nichrome is wrapped, it is easy to solder. I am am using electronics solder with built in flux. I hope that helps.

 

[chadrog]

Jeff,
If it is stainless steel you're dealing with, Stay-Brite silver solder and the acid flux that comes with it should work for you. It's what I've been using to solder the SS clips to the club's launch leads, have had no issues with them thus far.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0015H6JYS/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

 

[cavecentral]

Jeff,
If it is stainless steel you're dealing with, Stay-Brite silver solder and the acid flux that comes with it should work for you. It's what I've been using to solder the SS clips to the club's launch leads, have had no issues with them thus far.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0015H6JYS/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

Looks like a great price.

 

[rockets4kids]

I have been unable to solder the nichrome from Jacobs Rocketry as well. I have found that by wrapping it tightly around solid copper wire and then "crimping" with a pair of smooth pliers I get a sufficient physical and electrical connection. If you feel the need to solder, by all means, have it at, but I don't think it is necessary.

 

[karlbaum]

I use nokorode flux.

 

[cwbullet]

I do nto solder and more. I have had 100% success. I used the wire wrapper as mentioned above. It forms a tight connection and to this point after 100s of igniters, I have had no failures.

When I did solder, I also had no problem getting it to stick. I wonder if it is the nichrome.

 

[C-57D]

Wire-wrapped connections, properly done, are good enough for space hardware. And that's without solder.

 

[cwbullet]

Wire-wrapped connections, properly done, are good enough for space hardware. And that's without solder.

That is where I picked it up was from some military DOD contrators. If ti will hold in combat, it will hold in rockets.

 

[rockets4kids]

Wire-wrapped connections, properly done, are good enough for space hardware. And that's without solder.

Note that "properly done" requires a square terminal, not a round lead wire.

 

[GDJ]

I use a cheap iron, rosin core solder, and the ruby red liquid.

Wrap nichome on one end, dip in the flux, place a bead of solder on the iron, swipe the wrapped wire through the bead. This should coat it well. Wrap around the insulation. Repeat on the other copper end.

I used shooters wire and Cat 5 solid. No issues.

Zinc chloride flux.

Acid flux and silver solder.

Gerald

I use nokorode flux.

Bingo. You need flux to etch the surface of the Nichrome wire to get the solder to stick. The Rosin flux is great for Brass and Copper, but some metals or oxides it just runs off and does squat.

 

[chadrog]

Looks like a great price.

The little you get goes a long way. I've soldered no less than 40 clips so far with the first kit I bought, and there's still lots left. I would think that would translate to about 160+ igniters, since they would take much less.