Soldering Flexweave Products

The directions below apply to bare copper flexweave products but also can be valuable in dealing with protecting solder joints, cleaning aged flexweave and insulated products. Please note all safety warnings on the materials you will use. You should always wear safety glasses and work in a well ventilated space.

Most hardware retailers and plumbing supply stores carry some type of “plumbers acid” or acid based soldering flux. This product is a diluted acid (typically hydrochloric, sulfuric or muriatic) and is available under many brand names including but not limited to: Copper Glo Liquid, Stay-Clean Flux and C-Flux.

The first step is to soak the end of the wire to be cleaned in the acid solution for approximately ten minutes. Then using a small wire brush moving in one direction (toward the end of the wire) carefully remove any oxidation on the wire. Next the brushed wire should dipped several times in the acid solution then rinsed with hot water dip. Dry the flexweave by pulling the wire through a dry, clan rag. Allow the flexweave to dry for an hour or use a hair dryer to speed up the process. Once the flexweave is fully dry, form the wire with your fingers and tin with your solder iron. Please note that whenever soldering new, old or cleaned flexweave

that you should always apply some silicone grease over the entire solder joint and an inch or so on the wire either side of the solder joint. Then put any waterproof (not water resistant), UV resistant tape over the solder joint (see our amp fusion or coaxseal tapes). This will allow you to deal with the joint in the future without any oxidation build up.

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