solder vs crimp Re: MOT supply construction question

["Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>]

Original poster: "Jim Lux by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <jimlux-at-earthlink-dot-net>

A couple interesting things to note about soldering vs crimping...

crimping, properly done, produces a gas tight seal (important to prevent
corrosion) between the conductors as well as good mechanical connection.  A
good crimped connection deforms the metal sufficiently past the yield point,
but not too much, so that the "spring back" keeps the connection secure,
even under thermal cycling (the coefficient of expansion of the two metals
might be different) and vibration. I might add that casually getting the $5
crimpers out and cranking down on the connector is probably not "properly
done".. you need fairly well machined tooling, the right equipment, and raw
connectors that are consistently manufactured.

Soldering certainly does the gas tight seal (if done right), but, remember,
"solder is not structural".  It is quite brittle and work hardens.  If
you're in an environment that has lots of thermal cycling and/or vibration,
soldered joints are more likely to fail, unless efforts are made to remove
the stress from the solder joint (i.e. the wire is mechanically attached
some other way).  There is also a fair amount of art and science in the
selection of the particular solder alloy, the flux, and the cleaning
process.

One certainly can't say that, universally, solder or crimp is a better way
to go.  One can bungle either..

For the original question, I'd go with good quality crimp on spade lugs.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
To: <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
Sent: Friday, October 11, 2002 5:55 PM
Subject: Re: MOT supply construction question


> Original poster: "Jonathan Peakall by way of Terry Fritz
<twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <jpeakall-at-madlabs.info>
>
> Mike,
>
> I should have mentioned, I crimp *and* solder. Good physical connection is
> important.
>
> Regards,
>
> Jonathan Peakall
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
> To: <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
> Sent: Friday, October 11, 2002 2:55 PM
> Subject: MOT supply construction question
>
>
> > Original poster: "Michael Strube by way of Terry Fritz
> <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <mjstrube-at-earthlink-dot-net>
> >
> >
> > I m in the process of constructing a MOT-based supply that will be
> immersed in
> > oil. I ve not tried this before, so here is a naïve question do the
> connections
> > that will be under oil need to be soldered? Up to this point, all my dry
> > transformers have just used the quick connects that are available on
MOTs.
> I m
> > guessing that I need to solder those now if they will be in oil. Thanks
in
> > advance for any help.
> >
> > Mike
> >
> >