-------- Original Message --------

From: Gary Hall <gary.chris@comcast.net>

Hi Guy's,

I am an A&P and have avoided soldering ANYTHING that is connected to an
engine - that said, a previous post eloquently stated other
possibilities where solder can be used. For me each connection is a case
by case decision.

I believe Fred has presented a very good guideline to keep in mind when
deciding what to do.

I do have one suggestion to make. You can avoid the "big" bulge a bit by
overlapping the wire ends (horizontally), hold wire in the middle of the
splice with narrow needle-nose pliers.

Then twist the wire on the right side clockwise and the wire on the left
side of the pliers twist in a counter clockwise direction. O.K. to
reverse directions if you are left-handed. <grin>

Remove pliers, solder twisted wires and slip the shrink that you placed
over one of the wires BEFORE you twisted the wires together. Now you
have a smaller "bump" to contend with.

This method is used everyday in the electric industry. Typically this
type of connection is crimped and not soldered.

Sorry no pretty pictures and drawings.

Call me if you don't quite have a grasp on my shaky description here
(954.979.9494).  Glad to to talk you.

Warm regards,

Gary
Fort Lauderdale Executive
http://www.uslan.com/hinge-kit.html



Fred Moreno <tom.gourley@verizon.net> wrote:

The most common crimp connection for wires is with the little tube.  Put
a stripped wire end into the tube, then crimp.  But you are not done.
Now you need to stop relative motion between wire and crimp.  Shrink
tubing over the entire thing helps, but frequently shrink tubing that
fits over the tube is too large to close tightly over the wire to stop
the relative motion.  And the shrink tubing is not as rigid as a cable
clamp.  So better is to shrink, and then tie both ends of the connection
beyond the tube crimp connector to the bundle to get some rigidity and
stop the potential relative motion.

The problem is that a bunch of these tubular crimps and shrinks can lead
to a big bulge if you are connecting a lot of wires in a bundle as from
panel to airframe.   You can end up with a bundle that looks like the
python that swallowed the rabbit.   And this normally occurs where space
is at a premium.