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OK, either I have lost ALL my chops, or something's amiss.
I finally got a day to myself yesterday, and I took that time to construct the 830 mixer. (Yes, it's been THAT long since I've been able to do much soldering-- I got it as a subscriber.) Got all the way up to soldering the braided ends of the coaxial to the bevelled lug on the switchcrafts, but no matter how hard I tried, I could not get a good looking joint. The solder just bubbles up around the joint, rather than really melding. All my other joints (including the core of the coaxial) look good to decent.
It feels like I couldn't get the braided wire hot enough to meld with the solder. At one point, though, one of the braids become brittle and snapped as I flexed it. Surely this isn't very good. I had my (cheap Radio Shack) soldering iron set to "high", which has consistantly worked in the past.
Any suggestions? I've never changed the tip, but that hasn't seemed to give me any trouble before. Perhaps the iron is failing? Did something change with the coaxial? Do I need to learn more patience and wait a significant amount of time (i.e., more than 15 seconds) before applying the solder to the braid?
Tonight it gets powered up to see just how badly it's turned out. :(
Thanks for any suggestions!
--PBr