soldering mk2a heatbed

Hi, I got a mk2a heatbed dual power red colour type, I wanna know if there's any specific cable/wire that I have to use in order to solder the wire on to the heatbed. I currently have 16ga wire but I failed to solder it on to the metal contact of the heatbed because of my solder iron tip (pointed tip/fine tip) and a max of 40w is what I have. Currently finding the flat type for this one

Is there any minimum wire that I can use to drive the heatbed such as about 18-22ga wire from the controller board to heatbed or can I simply use the mains wire that has almost 1mm of total copper diameter for this probably 18ga wire?

Thanks in advance

Hi,

It's worth staying big for this connection - it's the heaviest load in the whole printer and you don't want to drop voltage in the cable. According to this chart you would be safe down to about AWG20, but I'd recommend staying with a flexible 18 or 16 if you can. Keep the wire as short as possible to reduce losses, and maybe time to invest in a more powerful soldering iron? You know it will come in useful

Quote
sarf2k4
Hi, I got a mk2a heatbed dual power red colour type, I wanna know if there's any specific cable/wire that I have to use in order to solder the wire on to the heatbed. I currently have 16ga wire but I failed to solder it on to the metal contact of the heatbed because of my solder iron tip (pointed tip/fine tip) and a max of 40w is what I have. Currently finding the flat type for this one

Is there any minimum wire that I can use to drive the heatbed such as about 18-22ga wire from the controller board to heatbed or can I simply use the mains wire that has almost 1mm of total copper diameter for this probably 18ga wire?

Thanks in advance

Figured it out? If it is a working 40w then it should be plenty. Be sure to have both the soldering tip, wires and solder pads on the board "tinned before starting". Then leave a wire end on the relevant pad, and solder it in place you basically just reflow the tin already in the wire and on the solder pad. Make sure the tip of your welding point is tinned as well. And not a pointy version.

I just use normal household cables.

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