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TUTORIAL on SOLDERING work upgrading CROSSOVERS?


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Does anyone know of a COMPREHENSIVE VIDEO (step by step) in the soldering of new capacitors along with any tips and nuances?  I AM AN IDIOT(they say half of being smart in knowing what you are stupid at!) and have not done this before and do not want to mess up the crossovers.  I intend doing the upgrades to 2 sets of Forte II's and a set of Chorus II. 

I am also going to use Kester 63/37 solder.  What diameter should I use?  What type?...Rosin Core?----No Clean?  Which would be best for the jobs?  I would be using a 60 watt adjustable soldering iron. (what temperature should I use?)  KLIPSCH NATION!---PLEASE SHARE YOUR UPGRADING STORIES, INSTRUCTIONAL HELP,  AND EXPERTISE WITH ME!   THANK YOU IN ADVANCE FOR ALL YOUR HELP AND INPUT!   THANK YOU---ED

 
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I would use youtube. You will be doing PCB work, and things can go badly very quickly if you don't know what you're doing. I'm here to tell you, getting the parts and solder off is harder than getting it all back together.

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Yup. If you plan on retrofitting the existing crossovers, taking them apart will be where the greatest chance of damage will happen (tearing up the copper traces on the board, damaging the rings around the mounting holes). Caps and resistors are not just soldered, they're glued. My advice, desolder as much as possible. Use a solder vacuum pen. Once you remove as much as you can, try to gently wiggle the soldered leads of the old components free from the sidewalls of the holes they're in. Then unstick the glue from the board very slowly, take your time, as you pry the old components up. Stop immediately if a lead starts snagging on the hole it's in, free it up. The next trickiest part will be planning placement of new components. Don't cut any leads or solder anything down until you have everything removed that needs removing, and everything planned out for new placement. Try not to wiggle and bend your new leads too much. And whatever you do, resist the temptation to overheat a connection that refuses to flow. Walk away then com back to it, clean your tip and put on fresh solder. Flux core solder, the thinner the better. Watch youtube vids.

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You will need a solder sucker and solder wick as well as your iron and solder. I would use rosin core but "no-clean" is acceptable. No clean is kind of a misnomer, all it means is if you leave residue it will not eat your solder joints over time. Either way I would clean up the joints with alcohol. Don't do your first practicing on the crossovers you want to keep.

Hey @Deang these are all through hole type solder connections(not surface mount) correct?

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If the old caps are glued in and soldered in, cut the leads as close to the cap as possible first. Remove the glued in cap. Then turn your attention to the lead. Hold what remains of the lead with a pair of needle nose pliers, and heat the solder where it attaches to the board. You can maneuver the lead that way, without the old cap being in your way. And don't forget to take a couple pictures before you start so that you don't have any questions about where the new caps go.

 

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"...these are all through hole type solder connections (not surface mount) correct?"

 

Right, no SMT stuff.

 

I cut the leads as close to the surface of the board as I can get, and then flip the board and use braid. What remains of the lead usually comes out as I pull the braid across the liquefied solder.

 

On the old stuff, the glue is so brittle that often times the parts have already rattled loose.  

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17 hours ago, Davecv41 said:

If the old caps are glued in and soldered in, cut the leads as close to the cap as possible first. Remove the glued in cap. Then turn your attention to the lead. Hold what remains of the lead with a pair of needle nose pliers, and heat the solder where it attaches to the board. You can maneuver the lead that way, without the old cap being in your way. And don't forget to take a couple pictures before you start so that you don't have any questions about where the new caps go.

 

Good point about cutting leads. 

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