Subject: Re: tying and soldering Posted by: dave farmer on January 20, 2003 at 17:57:36: In Reply to: Re: tying and soldering posted by Cyco on December 28, 2002 at 16:48:36:

Message: >>I am a wheel builder who feels the need to learn the art of tying and soldering spokes. Has anybody got any tips on where to start? What soldering iron i need, specs etc? >>What wire to use. >>What solder to use. >>Cheers guys >DT has all the parts available in their proline range. >These are >-instructions "The art of wheelbuilding" by Gerd Schraner. >-Wire 0.4mm pre-tinned iron wire >-Solder 1mm multicore >Have yet to do it the tradtional way yet but am about to try one with fishing line and araldite. Once I have perfected both methods I will see if I can get a failure out of either and post the results. I have purchased and tried using DT's products. Thanks all for your advice. I feel that I can manage to tye the spokes, and have done quite successfully. However when trying to solder the joint i cannot seem to get the solder to run into the wire smoothly and look good. Also the solder does not seem to adhere to the spokes well at all, this seems the more crucial thing as the joint can be broken quite easily. All is clean, new in fact. I have been suggested a flux called easi-flo by a local hardware store. White powder and mixed with water to form a paste. This seems to make the solder run-in easier but still not very smoothly and evenly. I am thinking that i do not have enough heat, any thoughts? I am using a 75 watt iron, when holding the iron against the under side of the joint there is not enough heat transfer to draw the solder on the other side through the wrap of wire. So i am getting an uneven coating of solder. Any more advise/suggestions would be greatly appreciated as i really want to learn this art properly. DAVE