My preferred way of soldering deans

[mountainman43]

I’ve felt that soldering dean connectors was a real mess until I made this small tool for holding the wire in the correct position while heat is applied with the soldering iron. If pressure was applied on the wire, in particular the thicker ones, the wire tended to widen more than the connector making it difficult to get the heat shrink tube in place.
The tool is made of printed circuit board, two glued together to get the desired thickness.
I give no dimensions ‘cause those can be taken from the deans.
The connector is held in a vise, the tool holds the wire in place while heat is applied from the opposite direction. Solder is applied to both the connector and the wire in advance, of course.
As a hobbyist you are free to make your own “dean-tool”. Anyone with commercial interests should make contact.
Sorry for my limping english.

arne

PS First time posting with an image attached so I hope this works.

[mountainman43]

I hope the image below will make the use of this tool somewhat clearer. You'll see the dean connector clamped in a vise. The tool is pressed in from the left holding the wire against the + contact, while the soldering iron comes in from the right heating the contact. The elongated slit is of course for allowing the tool to slide left/right to give room for the wire and also for pressing the wire against the contact.
Same tool is also used for the minus connector by just turning the dean 90°.

When making this tool, a Dremel will be of good use.

Regards,
Arne

[monboy10]

thanks that makes it much clearer

[patmatgal]

Yeah, those little critters can be tough to solder. I have a tendancy to apply too much heat for too long and melt the plastic. The picture of your tool in use really helps, thanks much.
Happy & Safe flying.

[oblivion]

i just use a set of solder hands with magnify glass (rarely use the glass though)

if you do a bit of soldering then the $20 investment in solder hands is well worth it