Tinning Tabs & Terminals

All strain gage solder tabs, terminals, and leadwires must be properly tinned before making soldered connections. This helps ensure active surface wetting and good heat transfer during the soldering operation. Tinning stranded leadwires to produce a formable solid conductor will also greatly simplify the leadwire attachment procedure.

Gage grid and upper portion of solder tabs masked with drafting tape.

Before tinning the solder tabs on open-face (unencapsulated) strain gages, the measuring grid should be protected with M-Line PDT-1 drafting tape. The drafting tape is positioned to cover the entire grid and the upper portion of the solder tabs, as shown in the accompanying figure. This not only shields the grid from soldering flux and inadvertent solder splash, but also restricts the flow of solder on the tabs. The tinned area on the solder tabs should be only large enough to easily accommodate the leadwire size in use. The latter consideration is particularly important when making installations for dynamic applications or large-strain measurement.

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