I have one of those mini torches, and it is sweet! Comes in handy for all sorts of things, specifically removing good parts from old circuit boards…

Posted at 1:18 pm on May 24th, 2009 by Hitek146

if you take a small metal tray , put a blob of solder in it and use a variable temp soldering iron at 300 degrees C , then metl the blob of solder and pass the wire through it slowly it takes the coating off it and tins the wire

Posted at 1:28 pm on May 24th, 2009 by StephenCIRL

Soldering audio cables is in general always tricky First thing I’m always doing is burning the coating of then solder them work like a charm :D

Posted at 1:28 pm on May 24th, 2009 by TerreurBV

I usually just candle-lighter my headphone wires.
+1 for post.

Posted at 2:30 pm on May 24th, 2009 by anon

Am I the only one that just solders over the coating? It melts while you heat the solder

Posted at 3:14 pm on May 24th, 2009 by St.Jimmy

Yeah just solder over the coating, it’ll melt!

Posted at 3:25 pm on May 24th, 2009 by Drew G

Yeah, headphone wires are evil.

Posted at 3:48 pm on May 24th, 2009 by Tim

the what? i just put a blob of solder on my soldering iron, tin the enameled wire (usually with some nylon fibers and whatnot in there), and burn the whole thing off. this is typically how these wires are meant to be used, and almost certainly how they do the joints during manufacture. The stuff that burns off just kinda floats on top of the solder blob on your iron, and you wipe the iron off easy, and the enamel gets tinned with solder. After that, solder the wire as you normally would. I wouldn’t be concerned at all about organics damaging your soldering iron (more concerned about breathing it, but that’s another issue)–hell, there’s burnt flux on it most of the time, anyway, and it tends to float to the surface.

I see no point to the whole pencil torch nonsense, unless your iron isn’t high enough power, in which case it is possible to melt the rest of the insulation since you won’t be able to do it fast enough. the thin tiny wires they use aren’t very good thermal conductors, and don’t melt the rest of the cable that quickly. i’ve fixed quite a few headphones without that extra nonsense.

there’s always also the possibility that non-solderable enamel was used (basically the burning/melting temperature of the enamel is too high for the soldering iron), but i haven’t encountered that in headphone wires at all. in that case, using a pencil iron makes sense.

Posted at 5:01 pm on May 24th, 2009 by threepointone

step 1: touch headphone wire to hot soldering iron
step 2: you’re done.

why do we need an entire article for that? i do this stuff all the time and never gave it a second thought. you don’t need a torch, and you don’t need to read that article.

Posted at 5:48 pm on May 24th, 2009 by andrew

I agree with andrew. I just turn up my iron a little and solder it. The coating and fibers inside just burn off while you make the joint.

Posted at 6:02 pm on May 24th, 2009 by Mosheen

I think it depends, I found it quite hard to repair a friends iPhone cable because the wires disintegrated so easily. I ended up doing it with a sratch from a knife followed by running it through molten solder. It surprised me how tough the enamel was and maybe using my butane torch would have helped things along.

Posted at 6:14 pm on May 24th, 2009 by Chris

I’ve recabled and reterminated a few pairs of headphones. The coating comes off easily with a lighter.

Posted at 7:12 pm on May 24th, 2009 by kanamin

Wait why modify Skullcandy headphones? Why not just throw them away?

Posted at 7:12 pm on May 24th, 2009 by kanamin

@kanamin:
also, why buy them in the first place?

Posted at 7:27 pm on May 24th, 2009 by octelcogopod

just hit it with a lighter and wrap it. easily done.

Posted at 11:27 pm on May 24th, 2009 by arthur

I used a torch like that on thicker wires so when I had a need to solder some wires as described I tried it, and no that didn’t work, it carbonised the insulation AND the wires instantly, even a lighter did, they were too thin and there’s too much insulation vs material to use a torch.
I guess some get lucky though.

Posted at 2:21 am on May 25th, 2009 by Wwhat

with high temperature enamel (not usually found in headphones, and usually clear instead of red or green from my suppliers), you can’t really use the soldering iron. Your two options are basically a really expensive specialized (motorized) stripper for the job, chemical stripping, or a torch. The chemical stripping uses some nasty chemicals, and I don’t think they sell it as a stripping product anymore.

A torch does leave the burnt insulation on the wire, but usually it’s easily removable with sandpaper or the green scotchbrite stuff they have on sponges for cleaning metal surfaces. I’ve successfully soldered high temperature enameled wire using this method.

Posted at 3:13 am on May 25th, 2009 by threepointone

This is exactly the trick I would use when I was building custom surveillance gear back a few years ago.
Interfacing different audio gear brough me right up against this stuff, and i handled it the same way.

(it helps when you’re already using a butane-fired iron too)

Great how to!

Posted at 5:31 am on May 25th, 2009 by strider_mt2k

I have to replace or shorten the wire on my headphones 3-4 times a year because it gets stiff right near the buds, must be something to do with cycling a lot with them on. You just can’t buy the buds I use anymore & all the other cheapie ones I’ve tried suck, so I managed to hoard 4 pairs of the ones I specifically use in case mine get broken/stolen.

I use a cigarette lighter every time to burn the coating off, doesn’t have to be one of those ones that does an impression of a miniature after burner either.

BTW if you want to talk fine soldering: http://www.haku.co.uk/pics/CasioThermoscanner.jpg
Broken miniature ribbon cable meant having to solder 5 individual strands of wire, and that was back when I had a crappy soldering iron.
The watch & thermoscanner still works, but the strap disintegrated long ago.

Posted at 7:23 am on May 25th, 2009 by Haku

After a few projects involving audio wire, i decided to build a solder pot for myself.

I took a 15w soldering pencil from RadioCrap and mounted it vertically, tip up, in metal electrical 2-gang box as a base. i then wedged an aluminum ‘bowl’ on the pencil tip. This bowl was from my local head-shop, where they are sold as replacements for those metal screw-together pipes that seem quite ubiquitous.

it can keep a ball of solder molten that it large enough to tin any wire, esp. headphone/enamel coated wire.

Posted at 12:14 pm on May 25th, 2009 by Xeracy

I’m a radio engineer, and often fixing HP’s for careless ops. But yes, those tiny strands are a pain.
Also, that 3rd wire isn’t always expendable. Usually it’s the ground cable and is definately required.

The sure fire method:

Liquid Flux
(available at most hobby/hardware stores.. Canadian Tire for one ex, and not very expensive)

Use just a little bit on the tip of the stranded wire and it’ll absorb into the cabling.
Get some solder on your iron
Briefly touch the iron to the tip of the wire, and the solder will quickly and smoothly flow over the tip of the wire.
Once you tin both ends like this, you can then attach them.

The key is to be quick and not use too much liquid flux, so you don’t burn too much of the wire away. You’ll find that tinning wire ends with liquid flux, especially stranded cable, works excellent since it practically pulls the solder into place.
Yes, there’s solder with a flux core, but trust me when I say this works better.

WARNING
Liquid flux is an acid. Don’t get any on you. If you do a lot of work with it, keep some solder remover handy. (the remover is a skin irritant, but better than acid)

To apply, I suggest either long stemmed Q-tips, or even easier, get a small glass bottle with a plastic cap and applicator brush. (Metal lids will quickly be corroded)

Posted at 1:52 pm on May 25th, 2009 by Dave

I also melt the coating with my soldering iron then work with wires after.

Posted at 2:26 pm on May 25th, 2009 by maddnuz

i’ve revived almost a dozen sets of earbuds now just because people are so willing to hand over a set of $30-50 headphones that can be restored in about 20 minutes.

a few things that have made life much, much easier when working with earbuds/fine audio cable:

– don’t sweat the solder! its actually the least important issue when i work with earbuds. your main concern should be properly removing the stubborn coating. the problem with simply using the heat from your iron is that you will often end up with a very thin layer of acrylic coating the wire instead of burning it off. it is also resistant to displacement by normal flux and an incredibly effective insulator.

–specifically with headphones, the old burn n’ twist method works better than you would expect for an audio job. however, i realize that downplaying solder around electricians is a blasphemy.

–heat sink with needle nose or regular pliers *about halfway up on the exposed wire* (not on the outer insulation like in the article!). this means that no matter how you get the wires, the coating will never burn off where they rejoin, and that you can be as thorough as you please with your flame

–clean after you burn. no matter how hot you get your wire, you’ll still end up with carbonized coating on the wire, and it’s always made my connections crappy. i’ve gotten away with soapy water to gently remove the soot.

my way is certainly not the most ‘professional’ way to do it, but it’s the most reliable way when short on resources/skills. i think the author’s method was a tad roundabout. if you want ‘best’ i would use dave’s above.

Posted at 8:12 pm on May 25th, 2009 by Hank

some funny comments here, very entertaining, especially if you don’t own a solder iron lol

Posted at 5:58 am on May 26th, 2009 by PCB design, Printed Circuit Boards

lol i just use a lighter spin the two ends together and if im feeling generous and caring ill put some tape around it

pff shrink wrap is for non resistant people :D

god im gonna go to hell for this

Posted at 7:09 am on Jun 23rd, 2009 by lionel baden

dudes heres my method…
1. take ur headphone wire
2. put some soldering flux on the tip of the wire
3. put some solder in the tip with the flux
…the solder should automatically grab onto the headphone wire, replacing the colorful coating with solder :D

Posted at 11:32 pm on Jul 5th, 2009 by mike

This article is useless… but the advice on here is gold.

I tried to flame method – useless since it leaves so much soot behind that by the time you get rid of it, half the wires will be pulled off.

Here’s what you need to do. Set your soldering iron to 500 degrees C and just touch the tip to the insulated copper wires. The insulation will melt off in less than a sec and the connection can be easily tinned.

Posted at 7:52 pm on Aug 14th, 2009 by ben

PS: after you burn off the coating with your soldering iron (not fire), there is NO CLEANING REQUIRED unlike this crappy article.

Like other’s have said, if your iron is hot enough, dab a bit of solder on before you put it on your insulated wire and the wire should be tinned as you burn the insulation off. This is the BEST method. Please don’t waste your time with the fire.

Posted at 7:56 pm on Aug 14th, 2009 by ben

All you who have posted and said, “should work” I have to toss out. I need something from those who have had success. Rubbing the stuff off with fine emery cloth or fingernail file is a pain and way to time consuming. Acetone doesn’t work. MEK don’t work either. Burning is a crapshoot and makes a mess and how many of us have a 500 degree iron or a soldering pot.

Daves solution, Posted at 1:52 pm on May 25th, 2009, looks to be the easiest. Acids are not recommended for electronics but when you are banging your head on the wall what else can you do?. Specifically what liquid flux do you use Dave?

Posted at 10:42 am on Aug 20th, 2009 by elmer d