Not on your list: a good soldering iron and a quality electronic parts solder preferably with 4% or higher silver content. The only reason I make my own cables is because I can control the quality of every single item that goes into the build.
Ive purchased from Markertek and Redco a few times… great places! And i can’t stand the “fancy” cable builds that look like blingy jewelery. Simple, no braided, cord sleeved stuff for me.
I’ve got the soldering and electronics equipment thankfully. I’ll have to check my solder. Pretty sure most of mine is the standard 60/40 rosin core. I’ve never had an issue with it in other electronics (including audio components) personally.
Solders not really an issue, lead free is a pain to use, but it all conducts about the same.
You do want a good iron though, makes all the difference with big connectors and heavy gauge wire.
I bought an expensive iron years ago, and I’ve never regretted it.
Analog temperature control, but the big win is how little the temperature drops when you use it on larger connectors or wires and how fast it recovers.
Yeah i hear ya on that. No idea what brand mine is but it’s decent. Can heat up and recovery good enough for electronics work. I’m not trying to solder 0 gauge car amp cable or anything lol. I never do enough soldering (maybe 4 times a year) to make the investment in a good (few $100) station. Maybe one day.
I’d recomend https://store.rossmanngroup.com/index.php/soldering-diy/soldering-stations-hot-air-rework.html?p=1 for a soldering staion, but their out of stock of most everything right now ^^ Can’t say I blame them too much, as they are getting ready to move to a bigger location. From my understanding, everything they sell are products they recommend and use themselves.
They sell flux and solder as well.
Lots of Hakko stations i see… all the “YouTubers” seem to have one. I might check one of those out next year. Honestly if i did more soldering id fully justify a $500 station and dedicated space in my workshop/garage. With only sticking a few tiny wires together or to PCBs and connectors a few times a year… i get by with my dinosaur lol.
My iron is an older Hako, I also have a hot air solder rework station, they are only really useful for surface mount stuff and frankly at this point my biggest issue with surface mount is seeing the pins not soldering them.
60/40 lead is fine but why would you… we’re god dammed auudiophiles! I maintain that silver in the mix does something. It’s not really that expensive, You can get a 1/4 lbs roll of 4% silver for around $30 bucks. $15 if you’re willing to just get a few ounces, that should last you for dozens and dozens of cables. You don’t use much.
There’s an even cheaper one without the digital. The reason you want a quality iron is to adjust the temperature. You don’t want it hotter than it needs to be to melt the solder. Too hot and yo create all sorts of havoc with the parts around what you’re trying to solder. Sometimes those parts are made of plastic. The connectors for the Seinheiser HD series for example are a bitch if you’re not careful with temperature.
I mean, IM not an audiophile lol but i get what you’re saying. I’m a logical enthusiast I’ll pick up a few ounces of silvered when i have a “serious” project like the sets of speakers i’m planning on building this spring/summer. When im building decent crossovers… then i’ll give it a whirl.
I actually think my old analog is a Weller. I’m in that stage where it’s still kicking and i rarely solder so i’m good for now. I’ll keep that digi model in mind (as well as teh TS100 @BluJay614 recommended). Tanks!
What are some good cable recommendations for making some RCA patches? Something super flexible i can make short jumpers for the DAC/amp connections. (probably nothing solid core)