will solder stick to the outside of BNC connector?

Ruk

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Jul 6, 2021, 5:06:44 PM7/6/21

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In a pinch and don't have anything except the BNC like here:

https://media.digikey.com/Photos/Amphenol%20Photos/031-10-RFXG1.jpg

In other words, I don't have the nut, lock washer or solder lug. Is it
possible for solder to stick to the outside of the BNC, like the
threads, etc?

Thank you.

Ralph Mowery

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Jul 6, 2021, 5:22:52 PM7/6/21

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In article <sc2gl0$sr2$1...@dont-email.me>, rthek...@zed.net says...

It probaly will but you may melt out the insulator first. Take a file
and file off the plating unless it is silver to get to the brass for
easier soldering.

Ruk

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Jul 6, 2021, 5:58:03 PM7/6/21

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I think these are silver plated. I did try one as an experiment. Using
a 60 watt iron, I allowed the solder blob to stay in place both on the
BNC and the surrounding surface. After a while, it seemed like the
solder started sticking. Took about 5 min though and I believe the
plastic inside of these is Teflon so no melting.

Peter W.

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Jul 7, 2021, 7:44:17 AM7/7/21

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> I think these are silver plated. I did try one as an experiment. Using
> a 60 watt iron, I allowed the solder blob to stay in place both on the
> BNC and the surrounding surface. After a while, it seemed like the
> solder started sticking. Took about 5 min though and I believe the
> plastic inside of these is Teflon so no melting.

Solder will stick nicely to silver plating. But the heat required is significant.

Peter Wieck
Melrose Park, PA

Jeff Liebermann

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Jul 7, 2021, 1:05:13 PM7/7/21

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I suspect your connector looks more like this:
<https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/amphenol-rf-division/31-221-RFX/100648>

Yes, you can solder to the threads in order to get a ground
connection. Most are silve or nickel plated. However, you might run
into a bright chrome plated abomination that can't be soldered.
Scraping it off won't work because the underlying metal is probably
zinc instead of the more common brass. You mentioned that the
insulator is Teflon, which is the mark of a quality connector, so I
don't think you'll have the bright chome plating problem.

It will take a large chisel tip and preferably a temperature
controlled iron to do a decent job of soldering. Try cleaning the
threads with a brass wire brush and using some activated flux. I'm
partial to 63/37 lead/tin, but the Rohs stuff will work at a slightly
higher temperature.

<https://www.ebay.com/itm/224041048219?epid=10046829860>
Seems a bit expensive. If you need a few nuts, I have a fairly large
collection. Sorry, no lock washers or lugs. I just hate thinking
about you ruining a perfectly good BNC panel jack. Email to address
below.

--
Jeff Liebermann je...@cruzio.com
PO Box 272 http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Ben Lomond CA 95005-0272
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

Jeff Liebermann

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Jul 7, 2021, 1:12:22 PM7/7/21

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On Wed, 07 Jul 2021 10:05:05 -0700, Jeff Liebermann <je...@cruzio.com>
wrote:

>On Tue, 6 Jul 2021 17:06:38 -0400, Ruk <rthek...@zed.net> wrote:
>
>>In a pinch and don't have anything except the BNC like here:
>>
>>https://media.digikey.com/Photos/Amphenol%20Photos/031-10-RFXG1.jpg
>>
>>In other words, I don't have the nut, lock washer or solder lug. Is it
>>possible for solder to stick to the outside of the BNC, like the
>>threads, etc?
>
>I suspect your connector looks more like this:
><https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/amphenol-rf-division/31-221-RFX/100648>
>
>Yes, you can solder to the threads in order to get a ground

>connection. Most are silver or nickel plated.

Correction. You can solder to nickel plating but only if you first
remove the oxide layer with some acid flux and apply more heat:
<https://forum.caswellplating.com/forum/other-metal-finishing-questions/10134-soldering-to-nickel-plated-connectors>
Be sure to clean/wash off the acid flux from the connector and wire
when done.

bilou

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Jul 7, 2021, 1:13:31 PM7/7/21

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It seems to me that the connector of your link is the insulated ground
kind.Those were mainly used for coaxial Ethernet.
On a normal one with PTFE insulation it is possible to solder.
In a cheap Chinese TAP and DIE set I found one that was perfect.
Very handy to replace F type connectors on SAT devices.

HW

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Jul 7, 2021, 1:21:00 PM7/7/21

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On Tue, 6 Jul 2021 17:58:00 -0400, Ruk <rthek...@zed.net> wrote:

>Teflon so no melting.

Be careful with PTFE and heat. It will start degrading at around 235
C, and will give off some nasty gases while doing so.

Ruk

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Jul 7, 2021, 1:43:38 PM7/7/21

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No problem. It was all done outdoors with the wind blowing everything
away from me.

Ruk

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Jul 7, 2021, 1:48:35 PM7/7/21

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All four were soldered yesterday. Outdoors. I used a 60 watt iron. I
initially tried a 230 watt gun, but I can never seem to get those to
apply heat where it should be. I didn't solder the entire connector,
just a couple of spots, more like a "spot solder".

In retrospect, I probably should have used some steel wool around the
threads first and some flux. However, although it took quite a while to
get the solder to stick, the job was done. If the chassis had been
something other than tin and much thicker, I'd have simply drilled and
tapped holes.

Jeff Liebermann

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Jul 7, 2021, 2:35:25 PM7/7/21

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The problem with a soldering gun is that while it burns many more
watts than a pencil style iron, the tip is rather small or rather less
massive. What happens is the small gun tip will get hot enough to
melt solder, but as soon as it touches something big, the BNC
connector sucks away all the heat and the tip temperature soon drops
below the point where it will melt solder. That's why I suggested a
more massive tip and a temperature controlled iron. I'm really
surprised that you were able to solder anything outdoors with the wind
blowing. I used to do radio tower climbing and ocassionally had to do
soldering. My iron of choice was a big heavy copper tip heated by a
plumbers propane torch.

>In retrospect, I probably should have used some steel wool around the
>threads first and some flux.

Nope. Notice that I suggested using a brass wire brush. Steel wool
likes to leave tiny piece of steel imbedded in the metal. They're
almost invisible but will make their presence known after they begin
to rust.

>However, although it took quite a while to
>get the solder to stick, the job was done. If the chassis had been
>something other than tin and much thicker, I'd have simply drilled and
>tapped holes.

You'll need a 3/8-32 tap wrench.
<https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=3%2F8-32+tap>

Ruk

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Jul 8, 2021, 6:04:23 PM7/8/21

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On 7/7/21 2:35 PM, Jeff Liebermann wrote:

I'm really
> surprised that you were able to solder anything outdoors with the wind
> blowing.

Two things helped: what wind there was was very little and also it was
more than 95F outside that day.

> Nope. Notice that I suggested using a brass wire brush. Steel wool
> likes to leave tiny piece of steel imbedded in the metal. They're
> almost invisible but will make their presence known after they begin
> to rust.

Thanks, I wasn't aware of this. I'll avoid steel wool for something
like this in the future.

> You'll need a 3/8-32 tap wrench.
> <https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=3%2F8-32+tap>

Thanks. I do have a tap and die set with the right sized ones. I don't
use it often, but when I do it sure helps with certain situations.

>
>

Bob Engelhardt

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Jul 9, 2021, 8:19:57 AM7/9/21

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On 7/8/2021 6:04 PM, Ruk wrote:
...
> Thanks. I do have a tap and die set with the right sized ones. ...

Well, you could have made nuts. Much less problematic than soldering.