jujisque Posted July 9, 2005 Posted July 9, 2005 Ok, so I got a new pickup to put in my Phantom Custom, but I'm having some trouble. Everything is out and ready to go, but I can't, for some reason, desolder the old pickup from the casing of the tone pot. It almost looks like there is wax(dark brown crap) or something like that melted around the solder joint as an insulator, so when I put my soldering iron up next to it the solder doesn't heat up. The connection at the rotary switch came off in a jiffy, so I know that the iron works. What do I do so that I can finish this project?
tafkathundernotes Posted July 9, 2005 Posted July 9, 2005 The dark brown stuff is dried flux residue from the original solder. It probably came off the switch easily because there is less mass to heat up to cause the solder to flow. What are you using for a soldering iron? You may not have enough heat, or you may not be waiting long enough. Those pot casings just suck all the heat away pretty quick.
jujisque Posted July 10, 2005 Author Posted July 10, 2005 It's only a 30 watt pencil. I figured that I would just be doing small work and wouldn't want to damage something. I looked at it again and the flux doesn't coat the solder like I thought at first (should have looked harder before asking). I was woried about keeping the iron there too long as I don't want to damage the pot. Should I keep it there till it melts? or should I just add more solder to make my connection in lieu of not damaging the pot?
kurtsstuff Posted July 10, 2005 Posted July 10, 2005 Just add a smidge of solder and make your connection...the melting of the new solder should break the old stuff loose
BadgerDave Posted July 10, 2005 Posted July 10, 2005 Clean and re-tin your soldering iron tip, then, lay it on the back of the pot with as much of the tip making contact as possible. If you're using a pointed tip, and you're just touching the point to the pot, you're not going to transfer enough heat to melt the solder or get a good connection. The surface of the pot has to be hot enough to melt the solder.Don't worry about damaging the pot, it's not going to happen - just be careful around sensitive parts like resistors and capacitors.I juse a spade tip to get better heat transfer and a big-assed soldering station. Then again, I'm impatient.
jujisque Posted July 10, 2005 Author Posted July 10, 2005 Thanks for the advice, I got it to work. Tone report later when the new set of strings actually stays in tune for any period of time. Initial (though out of tune) impression is good.
Rock City Guitars Posted July 11, 2005 Posted July 11, 2005 As soon as my iron develops the "pot de-soldering" issue, I replace the tip. It's usually an indication that it's time when even cleaning and tinning don't work. I buy tips in 100 lots and they're cheap. Radio Shack is probably a couple bucks.Just don't leave the heat on the pot case too long. You can burn the trace inside and have a scratchy or dead pot.Corey
jujisque Posted July 11, 2005 Author Posted July 11, 2005 As soon as my iron develops the "pot de-soldering" issue, I replace the tip. You can burn the trace inside and have a scratchy or dead pot. The iron is actually brand new. I think that I just got an underpowered one. I kept it there for a bit after some good tinning and it worked. I think that I was just doing it wrong as it was my first solder ever. The scratchy pot issue is another question that I have. I just bought a Czech Dean EVO and one of the pots is a little bit scratchy (not everytime, but often enough to annoy me). Is there anyway I can clean it to fix that, or do I just need a new one?Thanks for the help everybody. I appreciate that I can get good advice here on stuff like this.
kurtsstuff Posted July 11, 2005 Posted July 11, 2005 As soon as my iron develops the "pot de-soldering" issue, I replace the tip. You can burn the trace inside and have a scratchy or dead pot. The iron is actually brand new. I think that I just got an underpowered one. I kept it there for a bit after some good tinning and it worked. I think that I was just doing it wrong as it was my first solder ever. The scratchy pot issue is another question that I have. I just bought a Czech Dean EVO and one of the pots is a little bit scratchy (not everytime, but often enough to annoy me). Is there anyway I can clean it to fix that, or do I just need a new one?Thanks for the help everybody. I appreciate that I can get good advice here on stuff like this. get yourself a can of DE-OXIT...Radio shack...spritz a little inside the pot opening and spin the knob back and forth a few times....should take care of it
tgoss Posted July 11, 2005 Posted July 11, 2005 I picked up an old 60 watt iron which makes doing wiring on pots a breeze.
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