Appliance of science as my dad (and master solderer) always said...
Big joints need a big tip and hot iron, and just the right amount of solder in the right places to transfer the heat...without enough solder you won't get the contact area needed to transfer enough heat quickly.
Make sure the wire ends are well tinned first...put solder on the tip of the iron to begin with, then heat the wire end...that solder will then flow and transfer the heat onto the wire. As the solder on the tip starts to melt and flow into the strands, then feed in some more solder and just fill the bare strand end so all the wires are covered, but there aren't excessive blobs of solder hanging off. With large gauge wire this might take a fair bit of solder!
Pre tin the blade on the deans...put a good dome of solder onto each blade.
Then, heat the solder on the blade...keeping the iron tip in the solder (now moved slightly to the side) place the wire end onto it....the hot solder and heat from the tip should then be heating both the blade and wire...as it heats up it should flow together...
As it heats up and flows apply a little pressure to properly position and hold the wire in place, once in place remove the iron, and hold still until the joint has fully hardened.
If it's flowed nicely the joint should show a good smooth cover of solder over the wire and smooth blended joint all around the blade.
Once practiced it's actually a very quick action ony taking a couple of seconds, and just the right amount of solder.
Over heating the deans will melt the plastic body and move the blades within it....so doing it quickly and cleanly is essential...but may take some practice!!!
Some people might put the deans your soldering into its mating half to further hold the blades in place...although that does then need a touch more heat in the joint to solder it as the mating half will take some of the energy away!
Also...Too much solder will leave you with big blobby joints that increase the risk of shorting.
Practice is the key to good soldering (like with most things
)!
Hope it helps
