Wheelhouse #10: Wiring Edition

Wheelhouse is a newsletter for makers that covers new materials, techniques, and tools.

Crimping vs Soldering

Those that come from an electronics background are used to soldering parts. However, in high vibration environments, crimping is superior. It turns out that the stiffening of the wire due to capillary action of the solder actually can cause the connection to fail.

Posi-Lock Splices

Another way to connect two wires (as well as tap a wire to add a third connection) is via Posi-Lock splices. Posi-Lock splices are a plastic tube with screw-in ends that form a strong connection with an internal piece of metal to complete the circuit. The advantage is that they can be connected entirely by hand without tools, and they can be reused.

Heat-shrink Butt-splices

If you DO have to solder two wires together, you can use these nifty low-temperature heat-shrink tubes with a bit of solder on the inside. (Has anyone used these? Are they crap? Write us.)

Wire Better

If you are going to directly splice a wire, you can’t do better than using the NASA splice guide, briefly illustrated in this movie and this poster and much less briefly in this official document.

Join the Wheelhouse Discord

I’ve set up a place over on Discord for makers to show off projects and discuss new tools, techniques, and materials. Join us here!