Alpha Pots- Plastic casing?

[diablo175]

I bought an Alpha 500K for a project I'm working on and when it arrived, it had a plastic case backing. I've never had one come with a plastic casing before. Is this a protective step, meant to be removed once it arrives or is this a permanent part of the unit. Can't imagine how or why. I mean, how would you solder grounds and such on it?

Geez, I feel stupid.

[veatch]

I hadn't seen that before - pics?

[diablo175]

[cmatthes]

It is there to confound and confuse you.

[diablo175]

It's working, then.

Oh well, my buddy has a nice stock of CTS pots. He's gonna lend me a trusty, short shaft, audio taper 500k. One additional fringe benefit to having a good friend who builds guitars.

[Victor (Fret Friend)]

It's to peel off you wally! I have no idea why it's there...

[Victor (Fret Friend)]

I normally source my pots from the US as I can get CTS 450G's (my faves) and they come in 250/500k. With import duty/tax etc, they stand me at about £5.00 each ($7.50). It's still cheaper than I can buy them in the UK and I buy them in packs of 12 to save on shipping.

I no longer use Alpha pots as I think they're shit. I have just started buying Bournes 250k's in England for £5.00 each (delivered) and I like them even more than I like the CTS 450G's. The regular CTS pots are also bad IMO and they always seem to fail (for me). It has to be CTS 450G's or Bourns for me...

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http://christianguitars.co.uk/

http://ngoneseven.com/

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[Victor (Fret Friend)]

In fact, just melt through it with your soldering iron = that'll work

[velorush]

It's a condom!

Sounds funnier when said with the accent of Neil from "The Young Ones."

I'd pull it off and proceed - but be careful of the guitar you're installing it in. It's tantamount to installing it in every instrument that guitar's been with...

[veatch]

Yeah - i'm assuming that would snap off.

But, i agree with Vic - Alphas are not that great of quality. CTS are better pots, and Bournes are good as well and have that "loose" feel (good for volume swell stuff).

Overall, i like the taper of the Hamer pots about the best. BCR_Greg used to have a bunch of these in stock - worth a call.

[cmatthes]

Greg posted here a year or so ago that he was selling the last of his Hamer pots back then.

Not sure if he has any left, as that's been a long time.

If not, Alpep had some not too long ago.

[veatch]

Ah. Missed that, or i would have stocked up...

That being the case, the RS Guitarworks "Super Pot" has a nice taper as well.

http://store.rsguitarworks.net/loose-electronic-parts-potentiometers

[Harkonnen]

Agreed on the alpha = shit theory. I built a few custom pedals last summer and had roughly 30% of the pots break due to heat trying to solder ground to their back casings. I use an 11W soldering iron, I mean, come on it hardly burns your skin! In the end I had to ground the pots to the pedal casing using actual wires, what a messy mess.

[velorush]

I use an 11W soldering iron, I mean, come on it hardly burns your skin! In the end I had to ground the pots to the pedal casing using actual wires, what a messy mess.

Just an aside, I use the opposite strategy to great effect. I use a really hot iron (the 60w, Murkat-approved station from Circuit Specialists) cranked way up. The hotter iron allows the entire operation to go more quickly with less risk to the internals.

[diablo175]

Well, I opted to borrow one of my buddy's CTS 500k short shaft pots and I soldered it up this am.

I'll have an Alpha 500k short shaft with plastic condom available for PIF shortly.

[Biz Prof]

Hmmm...let's see:

If the cap was lavender, powder blue, or green, then the pot would contain watery, skim milk.

If the cap was dark blue, then the pot would contain 1% or 2% fat milk.

If the cap was red, then the pot would contain full-fat milk.

[Harkonnen]

I use an 11W soldering iron, I mean, come on it hardly burns your skin! In the end I had to ground the pots to the pedal casing using actual wires, what a messy mess.

Just an aside, I use the opposite strategy to great effect. I use a really hot iron (the 60w, Murkat-approved station from Circuit Specialists) cranked way up. The hotter iron allows the entire operation to go more quickly with less risk to the internals.

Yeah, maybe that's the trick. Me, I don't do enough electronics to sell my wife on the soldering station idea, as much as I'd love one. But it makes sense the way you put it.

[chromium]

Just a guess, but that might be a variety of the "dust covers" available for open-frame pots like those Alphas...

http://www.banzaimusic.com/Dust-Seal-Cover.html

http://smallbear-electronics.mybigcommerce.com/dust-cover-for-16mm-alpha-pots

[diablo175]

I use an 11W soldering iron, I mean, come on it hardly burns your skin! In the end I had to ground the pots to the pedal casing using actual wires, what a messy mess.

Just an aside, I use the opposite strategy to great effect. I use a really hot iron (the 60w, Murkat-approved station from Circuit Specialists) cranked way up. The hotter iron allows the entire operation to go more quickly with less risk to the internals.

Yeah, maybe that's the trick. Me, I don't do enough electronics to sell my wife on the soldering station idea, as much as I'd love one. But it makes sense the way you put it.

Trust me- as one who started out with the POS Radio Shack low-wattage iron, the higher watt iron is where it's at. Basically, from my experience, the low watt iron couldn't actually heat up the surface of the pot enough for the flux/solder to adhere. The acquisition of a decent iron and the unexpected gift of a soldering helping hands station gizmo- (think multi-point adjustable roach clips and a magnifying glass along with a soldering iron scabbard) has made a HUGE difference in my ability to successfully solder.

[Harkonnen]

I use an 11W soldering iron, I mean, come on it hardly burns your skin! In the end I had to ground the pots to the pedal casing using actual wires, what a messy mess.

Just an aside, I use the opposite strategy to great effect. I use a really hot iron (the 60w, Murkat-approved station from Circuit Specialists) cranked way up. The hotter iron allows the entire operation to go more quickly with less risk to the internals.

Yeah, maybe that's the trick. Me, I don't do enough electronics to sell my wife on the soldering station idea, as much as I'd love one. But it makes sense the way you put it.

Trust me- as one who started out with the POS Radio Shack low-wattage iron, the higher watt iron is where it's at. Basically, from my experience, the low watt iron couldn't actually heat up the surface of the pot enough for the flux/solder to adhere. The acquisition of a decent iron and the unexpected gift of a soldering helping hands station gizmo- (think multi-point adjustable roach clips and a magnifying glass along with a soldering iron scabbard) has made a HUGE difference in my ability to successfully solder.

Yeah, I have a soldering gizmo and I agree it's a must. I used to have a higher wattage solder, but I didn't like it and when it broke I replaced it with this low-wattage one. I solder basically pedals, i.e. small resistances, diodes, transistors and the like, and not so many pot backs. The high power one was dangerous near these small components (admittedly because of my lack of skill, but I'm very happy with how the low power one works for soldering these small components to perfboard). A variable power soldering station would be ideal, but its WAF is awfully low.