# Soldering Pots



## Wardo (Feb 5, 2010)

I need to solder some wires onto some pots but only have a low power iron. I have an old Weller gun somewhere but can’t find it.

I don’t want to cook the guts in the pot while it waits to heat up from a low power iron so I was thinking of taking the covers off the pots to solder them.

Looks like there’s four tabs holding the covers on.

So my question is do these things come apart easily and go back together or is taking them apart to solder the cover a dumb idea.

Thanks


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## Alan Small (Dec 30, 2019)

Canadian tire trip suggested


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

Wardo said:


> ...low power iron.


How many watts is your iron? 

My 40 watt iron has worked fine for soldering grounds to pots.


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## Wardo (Feb 5, 2010)

greco said:


> How many watts is your iron?
> 
> My 40 watt iron has worked fine for soldering grounds to pots.


It says 30 watts.


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## player99 (Sep 5, 2019)

Get some liquid flux in the bottle. One bottle will last your life. Dab some onto the pot where you want to solder. Then put a blob of solder on the pot and let it cool. Then solder the wire into the blob. If you are better at it then the blob step and the wire step can be combined.


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## player99 (Sep 5, 2019)

30 watts is pretty low. Princess auto has some decent stations. One is on sale but it's $200.



https://www.princessauto.com/en/searchresults?Nr=product.active%3A1&Ntt=solder%20station*&Nty=1&No=0&Nrpp=50&Rdm=918&searchType=simple&type=search


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## player99 (Sep 5, 2019)

60 watts for $8



https://www.princessauto.com/en/60w-soldering-iron/product/PA0008871428


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## Wardo (Feb 5, 2010)

I


player99 said:


> 60 watts for $8
> 
> 
> 
> https://www.princessauto.com/en/60w-soldering-iron/product/PA0008871428


Yeah, I saw that one. It's not like I'm going to be doing this every day so $8 is OK.

I have some flux paste but it's with the 40 year old Weller gun that's buried somewhere .. lol


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## Always12AM (Sep 2, 2018)

If you have needle nosed pliers, you can carefully pull the tabs and remove the helmet, just try not to lose track of the guts.

I do this all the time when I’m using flux and steel wool to clean ugly solder or past ground puddles off of pots.

It’s a good way to clean pots as well.


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## Wardo (Feb 5, 2010)

Always12AM said:


> just try not to lose track of the guts.


Thanks, do they sort of fall apart when you remove the pot ?

I can get a jewellers screwdriver under the tab to raise it a bit and then pull the rest of it with a needle nose. Also have some impact guns that’ll spin the son of a bitch into the next galaxy if it doesn’t wanna come off .. lol


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## player99 (Sep 5, 2019)

Wardo said:


> Thanks, do they sort of fall apart when you remove the pot ?
> 
> I Also have some impact guns that’ll spin the son of a bitch into the next galaxy if it doesn’t wanna come off .. lol


Pawn your impact guns and buy a nice soldering station.


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## Always12AM (Sep 2, 2018)

Wardo said:


> Thanks, do they sort of fall apart when you remove the pot ?
> 
> I can get a jewellers screwdriver under the tab to raise it a bit and then pull the rest of it with a needle nose. Also have some impact guns that’ll spin the son of a bitch into the next galaxy if it doesn’t wanna come off .. lol


If it’s a CTS it’ll be a small black plastic majiggy that holds a little gold metal Tiara thing in place. That sits on what I believe to be the black resistor ring.

It’s really worth while doing just to quell your curiosity. It’s nothing that you can’t put back together. Just don’t want the guts to get dirty or dusty. The actual black ring attacked to the bass of the potentiometer wants to remain clean. You could also deoxit the guts while your at it for a smoother taper.

Pop that multimeter on the outside lugs first to check it’s resistance and then pop the red weener on the middle lug and spin the nipple to see what it’s taper is alike as well as to confirm that it goes from 0 to its full outside lug reading. That way when you put it back together, you’ll know if you broke it lol. That’s my whole life when it comes with this stuff.

Also, you deserve a 100watt weller.
My iron is way overpowered because I don’t have time to wait to see how badly I broke what I’m aiming to improve.


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## Latole (Aug 11, 2020)

Don't use Weller gun around guitar pickups; magnetic field from the Weller gun may ham pickups.

Iron solder power ( watts ) is one thing, the size of the tip is also very important.
Too small, tip won't keep the heat to solder 'big " part like pot body.

It's sad to read very often that people learn to solder (or to equip themselves) when there is a job to do. It's before that you have to do these steps


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## Paul Running (Apr 12, 2020)

Wardo said:


> don’t want to cook the guts in the pot


Princess Auto sells a 60W iron, the one I use for medium jobs...they are less than $10 when they are on sale. You won't burn the guts out. The heat transfer will be low: phenolic is a poor heat conductor and most of the vital parts are insulated by air.


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## Paul Running (Apr 12, 2020)

On the lighter side, this is what they call a solder pot:


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## CathodeRay (Jan 12, 2018)

Paul Running said:


> On the lighter side, this is what they call a solder pot:
> View attachment 393781


Lead fondue, my favourite


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## Latole (Aug 11, 2020)

player99 said:


> 60 watts for $8
> 
> 
> 
> https://www.princessauto.com/en/60w-soldering-iron/product/PA0008871428


I read $23

This cheap solder iron may work not so bad for few jobs. Heat transfer to the tip is bad and can you find new tips when needed ? 
The less you are used to solde the better the tool should be.


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## player99 (Sep 5, 2019)

Latole said:


> I read $23
> 
> This cheap solder iron may work not so bad for few jobs. Heat transfer to the tip is bad and can you find new tips when needed ?
> The less you are used to solde the better the tool should be.
> ...


Me too now, sale is over. BUT! Princess Auto honours sale prices for at least a month after the sale's over.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

1) I have one of those $8 irons from Princess Auto. For the job to be done, I suppose it's a lot cheaper than bringing it to a repair bench and paying someone else. But It's not a great iron. You could even have mine, because it sits unused on a shelf.

2) The issue with soldering to the back of pots is that a) the material itself is usually plated and not especially solder-friendly, and b) that amount of metal dissipates heat faster than it accumulates it, so one would need a VERY hot iron, indeed, to solder to it. This is one of those instances where the old-fashioned solder "gun", with the pistol grip, is most effective.

But since your gun is absent, we'll default to plan B. First, gently pry the tabs of the back of the pot up...just enough to be able to jiggle the back off; so something like a 60-degree angle, rather than straight up. The tabs can really only be fully bent 2, maybe 3, times before they snap off, so one needs to be careful. Second, scrape off a bit of the spot where you wish to attach the wire. What remains should be shiny. That's where you want the liquid flux to go. Having removed the back, and thermally decoupling it from the rest of the pot, you'll get less heat dissipation, so more heat contained within the back and better solder flow as a result. The wire you want to solder to it is also going somewhere else, that is probably easier to solder to, so for the moment treat the back of the pot as a distinct and separate structure, by soldering a strand of wire to it,, and figure out how you need to trim it back, once the pot structure is reassembled and in place.

Richard/player99 is correct that one of those little bottles of flux will last you the rest of your life. But it comes in REALLY handy. One normally applies it with Q-tip-like swabs. Good luck, and make sure the inside of the pots remains unsullied..


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## Rollin Hand (Jul 12, 2012)

Latole said:


> Don't use Weller gun around guitar pickups; magnetic field from the Weller gun may ham pickups.
> 
> Iron solder power ( watts ) is one thing, the size of the tip is also very important.
> Too small, tip won't keep the heat to solder 'big " part like pot body.
> ...


Others are of a different opinion.





Soldering guns demagnetize pickups???


They do not. It's been said on the Internet "don't use soldering guns around guitar pickups", the idea being that if a soldering gun can demagnetize an old CRT monitor, it might also demagnetize a guitar pickup. But I did an test with an old Weller soldering gun with a rather chunky transformer...




www.strat-talk.com





I always believe that is is better to be cautious and wrong than incautious and wrong, but in my somewhat limiter experience, using my late father's Weller gun didn't do anything to my pickups. It just made soldering easier/more efficient.


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## Paul Running (Apr 12, 2020)

The magnetic field generated from a Weller gun should not harm a passive component, such as a coil of wire, I would be cautious with an active component such as a MOSFET though.


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## Paul Running (Apr 12, 2020)

The older model Princess 60W iron (the blue one), is a one temperature type. It does get too hot for 60/40 soldering. I have mine hooked up to a light dimmer, to control the heat. The new model has a dual temperature setting: 30W-60W. The tips are not standard however, PA now sells replacement tips.


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## Latole (Aug 11, 2020)

Rollin Hand said:


> Others are of a different opinion.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


The Weller gun can be used if you know what you are doing and what the consequences of misuse are.
On the other hand on this forum most people don't know about electronics. So I prefer to suggest them a safer tool.


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## Granny Gremlin (Jun 3, 2016)

player99 said:


> Get some liquid flux in the bottle. One bottle will last your life. Dab some onto the pot where you want to solder. Then put a blob of solder on the pot and let it cool. Then solder the wire into the blob. If you are better at it then the blob step and the wire step can be combined.



This is a bit misleading; you don't want a blob - that's a cold joint, you want a splat or puddle looking thing. Then you can solder a wire to that.

There is a trick that works with bad/weird solder (the solder makes all the difference too - a good alloy with a good rosin core means you don't need liquid rosin, but at least clean off the pot first - e.g. Kester eutectic makes everything easier) or under powered irons. Look for the hole in the pot casing, not all pots have this but most, on the back edge a square cut was made and pushed in to make a step. Solder to that; much easier than a flat surface. Just don't get solder inside the pot.










...............................................................................................^ that thing. Acts like a solder tab


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## Wardo (Feb 5, 2010)

Granny Gremlin said:


> This is a bit misleading; you don't want a blob - that's a cold joint, you want a splat or puddle looking thing. Then you can solder a wire to that.
> 
> There is a trick that works with bad/weird solder (the solder makes all the difference too - a good alloy with a good rosin core means you don't need liquid rosin, but at least clean off the pot first - e.g. Kester eutectic makes everything easier). Anyway the trick is this, look for the hole in the pot casing, not all pots have this but most, on the back edge a square cut was made and pushed in to make a step. Solder to that; much easier than a flat surface. Just don't get solder inside the pot.
> 
> ...


They are Fender CTS pots and have the hole in the casing but it lines up with the middle contact so could be a bit crowded to put ground wires there. I will sand the casing, clean it with alcohol and put a splat there for the wires.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Wardo said:


> They are Fender CTS pots and have the hole in the casing but it lines up with the middle contact so could be a bit crowded to put ground wires there. I will sand the casing, clean it with alcohol and put a splat there for the wires.


That should work out okay.


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## laristotle (Aug 29, 2019)

Would a 'tab' washer work?
That would be grounded to the pot, no?


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## VHTO (Feb 19, 2016)

A few other tips:

-turn the pots down to zero before soldering - that way if they get a bit hot it’s unlikely to hurt the resistance ring

- scuff up the area that you intend to solder with a bit of fine sandpaper or a Dremel. This is to remove any oils and oxidation from the surface. The higher end CTS and Emerson Pro pots are already prepped, but it’s a good practice regardless

- pre-tin the pot before trying to attach wires to the casing. It makes soldering the wires a lot easier, and you don’t have to use as much heat all at once.

- FWIW I bought an inexpensive soldering station from Amazon a few years back for about $50, and it has worked remarkably well. Temperature is adjustable and it comes with a variety of tips

- the big Weller guns are good for soldering to anything that you need a lot of heat on for a short time, which includes pot casings. I don’t use mine anymore for that purpose because I can do it with the soldering station, however, for basic guitar work they are perfectly fine as long as you are sensible with it. (Though I would not try to repair pickups with one, other than installing covers)


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