LF: Re: Soldering enamelled copper wire

["James Moritz" <james.moritz@btopenworld.com>]

Dear John, LF Group,

I have a reel of wire from this company, and it is definitely of the 
solderable, "self-fluxing" polyurethane enamel variety, as is most enamelled 
wire you buy nowadays, which is usually a yellow to orange or pink colour, 
but can be other colours too. The older type of enamel is usually a much 
darker brown and has to be scraped, burned or chemically removed. There are 
also various kinds of high temperature enamel for motor winding, etc., but 
these are less common. Uwe's technique works very well with fine wires, but 
for thicker wire like 0.7mm you might need quite a big soldering iron, or a 
solder pot, to get it hot enough to make the enamel melt and bubble off. If 
you only have a small iron, it is easier to scrape the enamel in the 
traditional way.
I think the "toxic fumes" warning is relevant for people working on a 
transformer production line all day, but for soldering the occasional wire 
the quantities are too tiny to cause a problem. I have never found the fumes 
significantly irritating - but use common sense!
Cheers, Jim Moritz
73 de M0BMU

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "John Rabson" <john.rabson@numeo.fr>
To: <rsgb_lf_group@blacksheep.org>
Sent: Wednesday, February 23, 2011 10:23 AM
Subject: LF: Soldering enamelled copper wire


LF,

I have a reel of such wire labelled as follows:

"Wire copper enamelled
Part 1230983 0.71 mm 1/2 kg
Solder only in well ventilated area. Fumes are toxic"