Problem: Vibes have crappy wires

The vibration motors that you can buy online often come with short, weak wires. We need to extend these wires to embed them into silicone dildos. We also need to transfer any stress from bending or squeezing the vibrator to our stronger wires, otherwise the toy may break.

Soldering is a process used to connect pieces of metal together so that electricity can flow through them. The solder acts as the filler material which binds the metals when applied with a soldering iron. For our purposes, we apply this process while fabricating our Vibe Motor’s wire length. We extend the original wire length by soldering leads to the motor. We also use different techniques for securing these weak wires and protecting these motors while ensuring they still transfer solid vibration through the toy.

To do this you will need a few materials on hand and follow this How-To Guide on soldering

Tools & materials

• Soldering Iron
• Solder
• Solder Iron Holder and Cleaning Sponge
• Wire Cutters
• Wire Stripper
• Clips to Hold Work/Wires
• Fan (For ventilation)
• Positive & Negative Lead Wires (Black & White)
• 3V Lithium Coin Cell Battery (To Test That You Made A True Connection)
• 9mm Encapsulated Vibe Motor with Flying Leads
• Silicone Tape

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Using your wire cutters, cut your positive & negative (black & white) wire from spools, at about 2 to 2.5 inches. These wires are called your leads. Next, you will take the leads and strip them of their plastic encasing with your wire stripper. Do this to all leads and set aside for future use.

With your 9mm Encapsulated Vibe Motor, you will also need to strip the flying leads attached to the motor. To do this, you will need to take your wire strippers again, removing the plastic encasing.

After prepping your wires, stripping them of their plastic encasing, you will then be ready to power on your soldering iron to heat up. You will need your soldering iron to reach a temperature of at least 400 degrees Fahrenheit, allowing for your solder to melt when in contact with soldering iron. While your soldering iron heats up, turn your fan on. We use a fan because some solder has both tin and lead in its composition, so we must activate air flow to minimize breathing in toxic fumes. This is a highly recommended safety precaution. It is always best to avoid inhaling metal fumes.

In order to work safely and efficiently, we use clips to stabilize our wires while soldering our flying leads from the 9mm encased motor to our newly cut leads that we wish to bind together. After stabilizing your motor’s wires and your lead wires, you will then be ready to solder each positive and negative wires to the leads. Remember to use your clips to position your motor’s flying leads, so that they come in contact with you newly cut leads. This allows for an easy, safe, and accessible way to solder your wires together. Before picking up your soldering iron, make sure to take this step.

After positioning your wires, take your soldering iron and make sure the tip is clean. We use coils of brass to dip the soldering iron into, cleaning oxidation and excess solder from the tip of our iron. Next, grab either one of your wire leads, your solder, and your soldering iron. You will begin by touching your solder to your soldering iron. Almost immediately, you should notice that your solder becomes a liquid like substance upon contact with the soldering iron. You will then take your soldering iron and the newly melted solder to bind your wires.

Apply your solder to your soldering iron, taking the newly melted solder to adhere one set of the wires together. Make sure you allow enough of the solder to be melted onto the wires, we want a secure connection so that we can ensure functionality in the motor. If you find that you need to apply more solder, simply take your solder and apply it yet again to your soldering iron, melting more of the solder onto your wires to reenforce our endeavor. Almost immediately after applying the solder, binding the your leads to your motor’s flying leads, you can blow on the connection to cool solder down. You will perform the steps above for each set of wires, cleaning the tip of your soldering iron in between each bind with your coil of brass. When not using your soldering iron, make sure to place the iron back in it’s holder. When finished soldering altogether, make sure to power off your soldering iron.

When you are finished with making your connections, you can test that your connection was successfully soldered together by lightly tugging on the two wires connected, in addition to taking your coin cell battery and applying your wires to either side. If a successful connection was made, you will notice that your motor will power on upon contact of your wires to battery cell.

After testing that successful a successful connection was made between the wire leads and the motors flying leads, creating distinct extensions of both positive and negative wires, you will notice that there may be excess wire beyond the point of fusion. We want to trim the excess wires. To do this, take your wire cutters and simply cut the excess from your newly bound leads.

You will then prepare your motor to be utilized in the future by taking either positive or negative wire, wrapping it around your motor cell. Make sure that you do not allow your wires to cross, this will ensure that a short out will not occur. Repeat the step above with your remaining wire, making sure to hold your wrapped wires in place to secure them in the next step.

Upon finishing wrapping your leads around the motor, you will want to cut about 4-5 inch strips of silicone tape. You will use one strip by wrapping it around your motor that has your newly wrapped leads. Make sure to firmly wrap the silicone tape around the motor, securing the positioning of your leads to the motor. Again, make sure that your positive and negative wires do not touch to avoid a short. Wrap once around the thick strong wires, and then fold them back and finish wrapping. This makes sure any tugging is transferred to the strong wires.

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