/diy/ - Do It Yourself

How much hotter than the contraction temperature of heatshrink do you want your hot air gun to be, is +50C good?

I just had an idea... you know how solder joints to stranded (and unstranded) cable can become weak it they are moved a lot because the point where the copper flexes is right on the edge of the solder... it just occurred to me, instead of soldering lengths of stranded copper wire together why not twist each of them and then tie them in a reef knot? If you tie a reef knot which is two granny knots then the left strand will come out of it and lay back on itself, as will the right strand, but if you make a triple reef knot with three granny knots then the left strand will come out of it to the right and visa versa, you could even twist the strands coming out of the knot around the incoming wire a little to make sure there's lot of surface for conduction, then heatshrink. Mechanically and electrically sound, maybe more sound than a solder joint that may weaken if it is flexed.

A double fisherman's knot might be good too, pic related

Anyone know where you can buy heatshrink that is conductive on the inside, I might wanna use it for making such tied connections, but can't find it in New Zealand. Although you could maybe cover such a connection with foil before applying the heatshrink for a similar effect.