SOUND ON SOUND

[Arpangel]

I’m sorting out a few things, and need to rewire some cables to custom lengths, years ago I used to get cable, plugs, from Studiospares, all was fine, 50m drums of twin foil screened cable, and packs of plain, cheap, mono/stereo metal jacks.
Now these things seem hard to come by, I can’t seem to locate any drums of thin cable, or those plain metal jacks, which I like as they are easy to label, and don’t take up much space.
Before I do any of this, I need a new soldering iron, I currently have a 15w Antex, which seems to struggle sometimes, any recommendations for a new iron would be very welcome.

[Bob Bickerton]

On the advice of a friend who was a technician for Airways Corporation I finally bought myself a half-decent soldering station - well worth it!!!!

I bought a Hakko fx-888 , which is available in the UK here: https://www.hakko.co.uk/hakko-fx-888d-digital-soldering-station.html

Bob

[Luke W]

I tend to get a lot of my bits from a combination of Studiospares, Rapid Electronics or RS Components, just depending on who has what available at the time. It looks like CPC do cheap TS/TRS plugs, their website is down at the moment though when I follow any links.

I've also heard good things about the Hakko stations, no personal experience with them though.

[Arpangel]

Thanks Bob, Luke, I’ll check out those irons.

[Arpangel]

Just checked them out.....

https://www.hakko.co.uk/hakko-fx-888d-digital-soldering-station.html

Looks great, but it’ll be a bit OTT for me, as a lot of you know, I’m not a regular user, occasional leads and that’s about it.
Having trouble finding drums of thin foil cable, and straight plugs.

[Sam Spoons]

I bought a drum of FST cable from Canford a couple of years ago, they were the cheapest at the time. Currently 59p/m for a 100 m drum.

https://www.canford.co.uk/Products/31-001_CANFORD-FST-CABLE-1-pair-Black

+1 for a temp controlled soldering station. Mine came from Maplin though so no longer available...

[Arpangel]

I bought a drum of FST cable from Canford a couple of years ago, they were the cheapest at the time. Currently 59p/m for a 100 m drum.

https://www.canford.co.uk/Products/31-001_CANFORD-FST-CABLE-1-pair-Black

+1 for a temp controlled soldering station. Mine came from Maplin though so no longer available...

I did see that cable, looks like it might do, what’s the deal with Canford?, do you have to have an account?

PS

All sorted, at least for the cable, Canford are very nice to deal with.

[Sam Spoons]

No, no account necessary IIRC and easy to deal with.

[James Perrett]

This is the closest I could find to the kind of iron that I've always used

https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/soldering-irons/1626760/

While 60W may seem excessive, it is temperature controlled which means that it won't overheat the small joints while keeping plenty of heat in reserve for the larger joints.

[pk.roberts]

I've used these connectors for 'non-road' use and they've been fine. Handy to have the variety of coloured chucks and the lighter colours are easy to label up with a fine Sharpy. T/S version in stock - T/R/S due in next week.

https://cpc.farnell.com/pulse/pls00209/ ... ack%20plug

[James Perrett]

As far as connectors are concerned, I can't get onto the CPC website at the moment but Rapid have a selection...

https://www.rapidonline.com/truconnect- ... ug-20-0070

or Neutrik

https://www.rapidonline.com/neutrik-ag- ... ug-20-2183

If you need TRS

https://www.rapidonline.com/neutrik-ag- ... ug-20-2185

[Arpangel]

This is the closest I could find to the kind of iron that I've always used

https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/soldering-irons/1626760/" target="phpbbpopup

While 60W may seem excessive, it is temperature controlled which means that it won't overheat the small joints while keeping plenty of heat in reserve for the larger joints.

I can go to that James, seems fine.

I've used these connectors for 'non-road' use and they've been fine. Handy to have the variety of coloured chucks and the lighter colours are easy to label up with a fine Sharpy. T/S version in stock - T/R/S due in next week.

https://cpc.farnell.com/pulse/pls00209/ ... ack%20plug" target="phpbbpopup

These are cool, colour coding will be useful.

[James Perrett]

I realised that the Weller iron I linked to was the European version. CPC has a slightly cheaper price for the UK version...

https://cpc.farnell.com/weller/w61-uk/s ... ller%20w61

Some people are happy with the cheaper temperature controlled irons but I've not used them whereas I used those Wellers (or their predecessors) for nearly 40 years.

[ef37a]

https://uk.farnell.com/alpha-wire/5471c ... price=true

That looks promising for a 4mm OD foil screened cable? I have a few remnants of a red cable I bought years ago, lovely stuff, so easy to work with. The only legend on it is "Regal Wealth" and I have not been able to track it down since.

Cheap jack plugs abound I have bought shedloads from Amazon in the past but there are many other suppliers. Gold is good. SO easy to solder.

I have a Yihua 9370 solder station, about £30 iirc off'web. Not as good as my Weller Magnastat and those Hakko irons are superb but the 30 quid station does the job.

Also! Get in a goodly supply of heat shrink and some silicone sleeving.

Dave.

[Arpangel]

Also! Get in a goodly supply of heat shrink and some silicone sleeving.

Dave.

Good point, now I’ll need a heat gun!

:crazy: