[HN Gopher] Check Out These Self-Soldering Sleeves from World Wa...
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Check Out These Self-Soldering Sleeves from World War II
Author : rcarmo
Score : 172 points
Date : 2024-02-01 08:11 UTC (1 days ago)
(HTM) web link (hackaday.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (hackaday.com)
| philip1209 wrote:
| Interesting - so it's not thermite? That's what I expected.
| jebarker wrote:
| Wouldn't thermite destroy the wires rather than soldering them?
| bmulcahy wrote:
| So, a weld instead of solder!
| philip1209 wrote:
| Depends. It's used for welding, and the output is iron
| (magnetic):
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uxsFglz2ig
|
| I assume it would be too difficult to trigger the thermite
| reaction in the field with WWII tech, among other problems.
| fullspectrumdev wrote:
| The pyrotechnic compound on the outside only has to get hot
| enough to melt the solder and flux inside the copper fitting.
|
| I have no idea what the composition on the outside actually is
| - it's pretty slow burning at least.
| amelius wrote:
| So, today, what is the most practical way to solder two wires in
| a straight line?
|
| I've tried the sleeves, but they are bulky, and it is difficult
| to see if a good connection is made.
|
| I've also tried manual soldering but it is always difficult to
| align the wires with grippers, and the temperature causes the
| grippers to go through the insulation. And you need shrink
| tubing.
| phito wrote:
| Not sure if that's what you meant, but there are small heat
| shrink plastic sleeves with low melting point solder in the
| middle. You can heat it with a heat gun and the solder will
| melt, joining the two wire together. They're often used to fix
| lawnmower robot perimeter cables. I find them very useful,
| reliable, waterproof and they are barely wider than the wire
| itself.
| amelius wrote:
| Yeah, that's what I meant, but I don't think they work well
| if you have to solder more then a few parallel wires because
| then it gets really bulky. Not really good for production
| work, imho.
| night862 wrote:
| Techniques like these are typically for in-situ repair.
| alanbernstein wrote:
| I've tried to make a thinner splice on a four-wire cable,
| by staggering the joints. But I found it was too difficult
| to cut, strip, pre-load heat shrink, twist wires, and
| solder without melting the adjacent heat shrink. I think
| it's doable if you really need it, but I was just
| experimenting, so I gave up on it.
| ganzsz wrote:
| The NASA Workmanship's guide linked in a sibling instructs
| to stagger multiple splices. I think that would help with
| this problem.
| JshWright wrote:
| I recently used those to repair a friends scooter (a cheap
| knock off of the Xiamomi M365). Water ingress through the
| charge port seems like a foregone conclusion and it shorted
| some wires running from the motor controller to the dashboard
| PCB, frying both. I swapped out all the JST connectors for
| marine grade solder sleeves. It's less "repairable" now, but
| hopefully a lot less likely to need repair in the first
| place.
| lupusreal wrote:
| Skip the solder and use some of those inline push-in wire
| splices instead? E.g. "spicelines".
| pbhjpbhj wrote:
| I think you meant Splicelines?
|
| Eg https://www.toolstation.com/ideal-industries-in-line-push-
| in...
| CyberDildonics wrote:
| I think you meant Slicesplines?
| yetanotherloser wrote:
| Not to solder, but to use a crimped connector - the good ones
| come with hot-glue-lined heat shrink so you crimp the wires for
| a great connection, then heat the connector and the shrink
| glues itself down, making a totally sealed connection.
|
| If it's just low volt, low current, low mechanical stress stuff
| indoors - just twist and solder and wrap a bit of elec tape
| around it. But if it matters, break out the crimp tool.
| londons_explore wrote:
| I use these: https://www.amazon.co.uk/-/dp/B073RMRCC3/
|
| Far less bulky than they appear because they shrink while being
| heated so they're barely thicker than the wire. They can also
| be bent while hot which lets you get joints into tiny places.
|
| So far, haven't had a single one fail, although I'm still
| dubious at using them on corroded or non-copper wires.
| cuSetanta wrote:
| The NASA workmanship guides provide a great set of options for
| various methods:
| https://workmanship.nasa.gov/lib/insp/2%20books/links/sectio...
| Brian_K_White wrote:
| those guides are awesome
| sritchie wrote:
| I used tons of lash splices while building an RV-10 airplane
| but didn't know the name until now. Thank you!
| zokier wrote:
| That is very old reference, and afaik not used at NASA
| anymore. More current ref would be
| https://s3vi.ndc.nasa.gov/ssri-kb/static/resources/nasa-
| std-... but also note that NASA has been moving away from
| having their own standards and instead adopting industry
| standards: https://nepp.nasa.gov/index.cfm/26139
| cuSetanta wrote:
| Agreed its quite old now, and for work I have to use the up
| to date standards as specified by the customer.
|
| However, as a pictoral reference the newer documents arent
| as clear for me, so this online database is still very
| useful.
| solardev wrote:
| It's so amazing seeing nice, single-page explanations
| like this instead of an hour-long video with HEY GUYS.
| Thanks for sharing!
| dghughes wrote:
| Just use a Wago connector no soldering needed. Not everything
| has to be or should be soldered so maybe the question should be
| what to use for which situation?
|
| From what I have read high current connections shouldn't be
| soldered (heat may melt solder) so you crimp not solder.
| SAI_Peregrinus wrote:
| Put heat shrink on first. Then make a lineman's splice. If
| appropriate (solder can cause a stress riser in some cases
| making vibration problematic) solder. Then slide the heat
| shrink tube up & shrink it.
|
| Alternatively, use self-vulcanizing silicone tape instead of
| heat shrink. That stuff doesn't need to be put on first, and
| doesn't need a heat gun, but is harder to apply on small wires
| due to the need to stretch it as it's applied.
|
| Don't use the shitty metal alligator grippers you get on
| "helping hands", they're terrible even when not heating the
| wire much. A small smooth-jawed vice or two is far better for
| small work, e.g. a PanaVise model 201.
| zokier wrote:
| I don't think you can do much better than these style of crimp
| sleeves.
| https://www.icrimptools.com/cdn/shop/files/IWS-1226DCrimping...
| lupusreal wrote:
| Our Own Devices is a really neat channel, I knew it would show up
| on HN before too long.
| consumer451 wrote:
| I was also hoping it would at some point. It's a good fit. The
| creator has a serious and delightfully nerdy vibe. I wish him
| all the best.
| nickcw wrote:
| We used to use these in the 1980s on our combined cadet force
| field days.
|
| I was in the signals division of our school CCF (less drill and
| more playing with radios!) and it was our job to lay
| communications lines on field day. I have vivid memories of
| laying (what seemed like) miles of field telephone wires over
| heathlands and through woods and soldering them together with
| these self soldering sleeves.
|
| They had a part on them like a match head which you could strike
| to set them off. They would get very hot and melt the solder
| inside the copper tube allowing you to push the two bared ends of
| wire in which hopefully you'd manage before burning yourself or
| the solder solidified again! I think they were something like
| thermite - they certainly smelt like it.
|
| The CCF had lots of WWII surplus stuff, like massive radios with
| valves in and really leaky canvas tents!
| tetris11 wrote:
| CCF, what a fever dream that was. Give a bunch of teenagers
| guns once or twice and they will march in formation every
| Tuesday after school for reasons unclear even to the teacher-
| organizers.
|
| I chose RAF over Army or Navy, thinking I'd get to fly at some
| point. Nope, just a co-flight in a glider once a year. Lame.
|
| The army kids got to go to action camps, do paintballing, and
| regularly go to firing ranges. Again, all kids (~14yrs old) in
| the UK, in the middle of a London offshoot town with the rifles
| locked behind a rickety door.
| KineticLensman wrote:
| My school had the option of the Duke of Edinburgh's scheme
| instead. I chose this because I didn't want to wear itchy
| uniforms once a week and be shouted out by teachers who
| seemed to have fond memories of National Service. I
| eventually got to meet Prince Phillip, who asked me whose
| heavenly bodies I looked at using the telescope I'd made on a
| D of E project.
| tetris11 wrote:
| We had DofE too! Did my Gold in the Black Mountains. Didn't
| bother to meet Prince Philip as I was/am staunchly
| antimonarchist, much to the dismay of my mother.
| mewse-hn wrote:
| Classic Prince Phillip.
| joncrocks wrote:
| I think this must have been dependent on the school/location
| as I was also in an RAF section and we flew in (small) planes
| maybe once a term.
|
| For maybe 30 minutes, and lots of waiting around, but was
| fun. Got to do a fair bit of aerobatics as well. Obviously we
| weren't flying solo (although there were a handful that did a
| course that culminated in a solo flight)
|
| Also went gliding once.
| rolph wrote:
| i had my days like that too, every 2weeks the big boys would
| arrive in a couple deuces full of thier own toys, so they
| would go on maneuvers and we had more to polish and clean up.
| zerkten wrote:
| My cousin chose RAF and got some single-engine flight
| training. This was early-90s. I don't recall exactly how much
| of his private licence it helped with, but it was a fair bit.
| julian_t wrote:
| That brings back a lot of memories. I too laid a lot of cable,
| and as well as field telephones we had 18, 19 and 88 sets. My
| first introduction to radio communication.
|
| What now seems completely surreal is that we also had all sorts
| of weaponry: rifles, Sten and Sterling sub-machine guns, Bren
| guns and even a couple of mortars. These were locked away in
| gun safes and anything automatic was supposed to be disabled,
| but anyone could have got in using an angle grinder and I'm
| sure that many of the guns could have been activated again. A
| more innocent age, I suppose.
| nonrandomstring wrote:
| Wow, a mystery solved 40 years later!! Found some of these in a
| box of bits on an RAF base when I was a kid. They were on some
| signalling gear with headphones made of electromagnets and thin
| circular iron plates in the ear-pieces. The cotton braided wires
| had been joined with these weird copper pipes and then wrapped
| around with electrical tape. Obviously a field repair thinking
| about it now. They were surely the same tech.
| fullspectrumdev wrote:
| I actually have some of these kicking around in a parts drawer
| for the last couple of years! I picked them up as a curiosity,
| need to get around to trying one out on camera, see how strong
| the joints are, if they are still viable, etc
| Hnrobert42 wrote:
| I don't understand why you would need to join lines in this
| situation. Why not run the line from the explosive all the way to
| the firing device?
| IggleSniggle wrote:
| Not necessarily for explosives, or you might want to wire your
| explosive into eg a switch to ensure it triggers under the
| correct conditions. From TFV, they are an invention of a
| saboteur division.
|
| I guess you could use them for a number of other options, like
| tapping a line, although you'd probably be better off just
| twisting the wires in that scenario.
| alt227 wrote:
| Maybe you only have several pieces of wire which are all
| shorter than the distance you need to run it?
| mewse-hn wrote:
| You are a saboteur trying to blow up nazi assets in occupied
| territory. The only equipment you're able to bring to the site
| of detonation is stuff that will be unobtrusive under your
| street clothes, since the enemy and collaborators are
| everywhere. Wire itself is considered war materiel and not
| readily available.
|
| Your question kind of answers itself - if they could run the
| wire all the way between detonator and blasting cap then they
| wouldn't have to splice it.
| doodlebugging wrote:
| I've used a similar technique I learned in the oilfield to join
| or repair solid conductor and stranded wire breaks.
|
| Just strip an identical length of insulation from the wires to be
| joined then form a U in each by bending them halfway thru the
| stripped section. Join the bent ends and give them a twist for a
| mechanical connection as you would in forming a Western Union
| twisted splice. You should put a heat shrink sleeve on one wire
| if you have one with you.
|
| Take your ordinary solid core solder strip about 3X longer than
| your splice and use a hammer, the side of some pliers, a rock,
| etc to pound it flat so that it is then enough to bend easily.
|
| Wrap the splice with this thin strip of solder across the whole
| splice and trim so that it doesn't overlap the insulated ends.
| Take a strike-anywhere match, a camper's match, a small butane
| torch, cigarette lighter, etc and hold it close to the solder
| until it melts into the splice. Then pull the heat shrink tubing
| over the splice if you have it and shrink it with your heat
| source. If you have no heat shrink tubing coat it with some 3M
| waterproof sealant, some rubber tape insulation, or plain
| electrical tape if that is all you have.
|
| This works great and requires ordinary tools like a pocketknife,
| matches, and some sort of sealant.
| MawKKe wrote:
| Next up: self-sealing stem bolts
| caycep0llard wrote:
| I'll trade you for some yamok sauce.
| rrr_oh_man wrote:
| The best memories
| Animats wrote:
| Neat.
|
| Watch 30 seconds from here and skip 6 minutes of useless
| chattering.[1]
|
| The instructions say that the last step is "Insulate", so you
| need a roll of tape, too. Not like modern insulated splices.
|
| [1] https://youtu.be/05wL-zf1wbo?t=155
| toss1 wrote:
| For the time- or patience-challenged, the live demonstration
| starts at 3:15 into the video.
| mbfg wrote:
| OG Crimp and Seals
| xtiansimon wrote:
| I dig any type of quick fix or patch or solution that you
| implement in the field, and away from the shop.
| rollcat wrote:
| Pardon my ignorance, but how would this fare against a simple,
| purely mechanical connection, like wiring terminals, like the
| ones used for home electrical installations? (Or more specialized
| ones, since we're talking Military Grade.)
|
| I'd imagine the terminals to be more reliable under difficult
| weather conditions, slightly less likely to set off any
| explosives you might have right next to you, do not produce any
| sound/sparks/smoke when you might want to stay undetected,
| recoverable/reusable if the non-blown-up parts could be recovered
| (exercises, guerilla warfare), longer shelf-life, the only tool
| you need is a pocket knife, etc.
| slow_typist wrote:
| Resistance of the soldered connection will be consistently
| lower compared to terminals, also terminals with screws,
| especially in WW II quality, will oxidise quickly in a wet
| environment and thus the resistance will go up over time. Plus
| you get a very nice visual feedback by the self-soldering
| joints. Terminals look all the same - you need tools to control
| the quality of the electrical connection. So for longer lines
| with several joints that are needed for more than a few days,
| I'll definitely put my money on the soldering team.
| mmastrac wrote:
| For modern folks that aren't in a warzone, these heat-shrink
| self-soldering connectors are super useful for automotive or
| household work:
|
| https://www.amazon.ca/Kuject-Connectors-Waterproof-Electrica...
|
| You do need to provide external heat though.
| solardev wrote:
| What about modern folks who ARE in a warzone? What do they do
| these days to splice wires in the battlefield?
| fortran77 wrote:
| Sir Martyn Poliakoff had these on "Periodic Videos" some years
| ago:
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXZscASelkc&t=165s
| metaphor wrote:
| Reminds me of SAE AS83519/1 series shield terminators, which
| contain a Sn63 solder ring preform and flux in the middle of a
| translucent PVDF heat shrink insulation that seals on both ends
| on application.
|
| For conductors with robust enough insulation (i.e. at least 105
| degC rated), and assuming you're not beholden to RoHS, they make
| for quick, permanent, production-worthy splicing with just a heat
| gun...and you can actually buy them today.
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