How to solder/tin a brushed motor tab

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abadk9420

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One of our member who asked to remain anonymous, asked me to make a video on how to tin or put solder on brushed motor tabs, so that when you go solder on the tinned motor wires it is much easier, or just a matter of heating the two solder covered surfaces together.

You will need the following:
A soldering gun or iron, if using an iron a higher wattage one that gets hotter will work better.
Solder, I prefer a nice thin rosin core solder, it melts faster and flows better, also make sure it is not that lead free crap, it does not work well.
Flux, it goes on the bare metal surface before you apply your solder and makes the solder stick much better.
A damp sponge, wet but not dripping wet, it is used to keep the tip of your gun or iron clean.

Directions:
The first thing you want to do is make sure you have every thing listed above ready. Also make sure your set screw on your soldering gun tip are tight, just a little loose will effect how hot it gets, And if you are using a Soldering Iron make sure the tip is tight and Plug it in so it can be at full heat before you start soldering, Cold solder joints do not hold well.
P1060438.jpg

Second put some Flux on each motor tab, only a light coat is needed.
P1060440Medium.jpg

Third take take your Soldering gun and heat it up, or your iron which should be fully heated up before you even try to solder any thing, and clean the tip of your soldering gun or iron on the damp sponge as you will see in the video, then apply your soldering gun or iron tip and solder as shown in the video to the brushed motor tab, melting a small amount of solder onto the motor tab. Next remove your soldering gun or iron from the tab and let it cool you are now done and the tab is ready to have a tinned power wire from your ESC soldered to it.
P1060443Medium.jpg


How to tin a motor tab video


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nice video Curtis, very helpful....and yes, i am the member who asked lol. i had it down pretty good for a while but lately just havent been able to make it stick, a good sponge to clean the tip and I'm back in effect lol.
 
nice video...where is part two, soldering the wires on?
 
nice video...where is part two, soldering the wires on?

I have one on tinning the wire, LOL!! I guess I will have to make the one soldering the wire onto the motor tab now to complete it and then I will post the other two.:D
 
Looks like you are melting the solder onto the iron? Aren't you supposed to heat the surface you want to solder until the solder melts while touching that surface, and not the iron? I'm asking because I'm a n00b when it comes to soldering, and I always melted solder on the gun and to whatever my target was...and I read somewhere that's not the way it's supposed to work so I have been heating my target surface now, and it does seem to create a better connection.....but I'm a nub.
 
If you ask most electronics guys they say to heat the target then apply the solder to that. In this application I do not know that it is the practical way to do it. That is a lot of metal to heat up fully. As long as your solder joint does not fall off it isn't too "cold" A "cold" solder joint will never hold.
 
I am actually heating up the tab and feeding the solder onto the surface and into the tip at the same time for the most part, the tab surface heats up very quickly when I use my soldering gun because it is very high heat gun. And using flux on the tab allows for a very good bond for the solder onto the tab, one other thing you can do if you would like if your tabs are a little dirty is to take a piece of very fine sand paper or emery clothe and lightly scuff the surface of the tab prior to applying the flux, this is some thing I do when I am building NiMh batteries and using battery bars, but have never had to with a new motor with clean tabs.
 
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Ahhh that makes sense. I have a 40 watt iron so it takes a bit to heat things up. lol
 
Ahhh that makes sense. I have a 40 watt iron so it takes a bit to heat things up. lol

thats what i have too but this process works perfectly and as long as you clean the tip good it doesn't take anytime to heat up and solder the leads on. i wasn't cleaning it good in the past and wasn't having any luck with it.
 

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