Tinning the wires (melting some solder into the filaments with your soldering iron) before joining them will make the next step of soldering of the splice much easier. It helps distribute the heat quickly, and the pieces require heat for a much shorter time, since you don't have to spread as much solder around later. This reduces the likelihood that you'll melt through the wire shielding near the splice, or damage nearby components if soldering to a circuit board or to a component itself.
You want even distribution of the solder between the filaments, but not so much that the solder starts to swallow the filaments. The top wire in the picture is just about right, but the bottom one has too much solder. Too much solder will make the wires quite stiff, and they still need to be fairly pliable for the next step.
I am trying to wire three hot wires together with a pigtail which means I need to twist four 14-gage wires into a nut (I am using a tan nut which I believe is suitable for this).
The problem I'm having is holding them all steady so I can twist them together real good before capping them off. Is there a tool designed for this? It's a problem I've always had and it seems like someone would have come up with a solution.
The company is the world’s best ribbed galvanized sheet metal, how to bend corrugated metal, coil rolled steel supplier. We are your one-stop shop for all needs. Our staff are highly-specialized and will help you find the product you need.