How about a soldering thread?

Dacostab- never new there could be a hazard from the fumes although plumbing solder has lead, yes? Anyway, many pro woodworkers and some hobbyists wear a powered mask made by Airlite, Airlite 3, about $250 which pushes overpressure air through the face shield. It's powered by a battery pak you wear like afanny pack and relatively comfortable. All the mail order tool dealers sell them. Go and solder more.

How about a recommendation for a high quality soldering iron? What about some sort of a vice? (for holding parts, not the other kind) Heatsink? Will the hairdryer I use for spot repairs of lacquer work on shrink tubing? Can I undo a bad joint? How can I tell a bad joint, other than the dope all falls out the end?

I did it! Got two pair of Homegrown Silver Solution kits and made cables. Quite easy but very repetitive/boring like making legs for chairs, if you can relate. I have some tips for other beginners: first, ignore the instruction to solder all the connectors, then shrink all the tubes; complete one cable to learn how the difference in length between hot and ground effects the neatness of the shrink, second, get a vise to hold the connector while you solder; I got a gizmo at radio shack with a weighted base and two alligator clips on gimbaled arms, $9.95. No way without it, especially as I have a tremor in my right hand; I won a shrapnel-catching contest long ago. You can dooo it! Oh yeah, the cables have one silver and two green strands, you don't need a continuity meter to find the ends but I did use it to verify a hot connection.