Those insulated strands

Question

So my son broke his wired headphones recently. The strands of the left and right channel wires seem to insulated. I've read a blog and saw a video in which the recommended approach is to apply a momentary flame to get to bare strands. Is this for real? Hope someone has a better suggestion. Thanks.

Gough Lui · Accepted Answer

You could do that or the heat from the soldering iron can be sufficient, especially if you try to tin it in a bubble of solder. Much of the thinner wires and coating are considered "self fluxing enamel" and thus can just be "soldered through". Thicker enamel may require scraping by blade. - Gough

dougw · Answer

I had an Ungar soldering iron with a clip on the heater barrel that looked like a section of dull knife blade with a V notch in it. It was used to strip delicate wires without damaging the wire by melting the insulation as it was scraped off the wire. It worked on insulation that would melt. It didn't work well on Teflon or enamel insulation. You can buy better thermal wire strippers, but not likely worth buying for one repair job. If you heat up a small screw driver blade it might work. It is tough to make a small splice joint look good. If you are doing multiple wires at the joint, it is worth staggering them at different lengths so they have less chance of shorting to each other and the joint can be much slimmer. A small piece of heat shrink tube over the joint is about as clean as you will get.

colporteur · Answer

The suggestion is one method to break down the insulation to expose the conductor. If you elect to use the procedure make sure you do it in a well ventilated areas. Fumes from burning some conductor insulation can be toxic.

The wire inside a transformer looks bare but is insulated with a lacquer. Heating the coating causes it to melt exposing the conductor. You can also scrape the insulation off using a very sharp knife.

Wire can be thinner if the insulation is reduced. By the sound of your description, the wire is very small and the insulation is minimal. I have never used direct flame (i.e. lighter) to remove the insulation L-G suggestion of a soldering iron should work.

Have you found a break in the conductor that needs to be repaired. What about replacing the whole conductor end to end eliminating the need to splice. The ends of the conductor are no doubt solder exposed.