Early Content #10: Enameled Bodge Wire With UV Solder Mask | In The Lab With Jay Jay

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In this video I solder three different sized bodge wires onto some perfboard for practice and for the purpose of exposition. After attaching the three bodge wires I cover them with UV solder mask.

If you haven’t heard of the expression “bodge wire” before, ChatGPT will explain.

I want to thank my mate Bruce from Branchus Creations for recommending the enameled wire of various sizes, the Swann Morton blades, and the Amtech flux.

I got three rolls of this enameled copper wire from AliExpress:

The diameters of the various rolls I got were:

Size mm inches
Small 0.07mm 0.003″
Medium 0.16mm 0.006″
Large 0.31mm 0.012″

I got the “coppery” colour, not the red stuff.

The Swann Morton blade handles I got were these:

I got three types of blades in #15C, #15, and #10 sizes:

The #15C Swann Morton blade is the smallest and is so far my favourite. The #15C is the blade I use in this video.

My flux is:

The industrial/precision tweezers I mention in the video are these:

The solder lugs I refer to are these:

The perfboard I used in this video was a 2x8cm board which I picked up from AliExpress:

I use two microscopes in this video:

In the video I reference my thermal imager:

My gloves are:

My head-mounted magnifying glasses are:

The soldering iron I use in this video is a part of my Horusdy soldering station:

My desoldering pump came in this kit:

The solder mask I ordered was this green stuff, but the stuff they actually sent me was red:

The solder I use in this video is:

My paint brush is the 5/0 sized brush from this set:

The blow torch I mention in this video is this one:

My Kapton tape and tape dispenser are these:

The bench multimeter I use in the video is a:

  • OWON XDM1041 Bench Multimeter

The isopropyl (IPA) alcohol I use in this video is this stuff:

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Bodge wire like a pro

I just finished recording a video for In The Lab With Jay Jay wherein I install some bodge wires using my recently learned techniques. Below is the finished result. It’s actually three bodge wires joined together. A small one (0.07mm, 0.003″) from 28A to 21B, a medium one (0.16mm, 0.006″) from 21B to 17A, and a big one (0.31mm, 0.012″) from 17A to 14B. The job was finished with some red solder mask. I will have the video up shortly!
John's bodge wires installed in circuit board

Bodge wire

Thanks to my mate Bruce from Branchus Creations and his wire size suggestions I got a bunch of bodge wire for doing PCB repairs, being 1KG Enameled Copper Winding Wire 0.05 0.06 0.1 0.13 0.2 0.4 0.8 0.5mm 0.65 1.0 1.4 1.3mm Cable Magnet Wire Winding Wire Coil red. I got:

  • 0.07mm (back)
  • 0.16mm (front left)
  • 0.31mm (front right)

It would have been more convenient for me if the 0.07mm wire had have been on a smaller roll like the other two, but we can’t have everything. I’ve been thinking I might get some sort of wire rack, but I’m not sure where I would keep it.

I wasn’t sure exactly how I would go about cleaning enamel off the wire for soldering, so I asked ChatGPT, which gave me a number of options:

  1. Mechanical stripping
  2. Thermal stripping
  3. Chemical stripping

I think what I will actually try is just tinning the ends with my soldering iron and some fresh solder and see if that will burn off just a little bit of enamel on the tips, leaving me with a tinned wire I can easily solder into place.

John's three rolls of bodge wire