Houston, I have a problem..........

Posted by Charlotte Henry on January 7, 2012 at 10:44am

I'm really, really new to soldering.  My first soldering ever was on my cigar box guitars I made for Christmas.  I'm having trouble getting the solder to stick on the case of the pots.  I have no problem elsewhere other than getting globs and it not being pretty, but for some reason the solder just resists bonding firmly to the body where the grounds meet.  I'm using Radio Shack 62/36/2 rosin core and a 15 watt soldering iron.  I eventually get a bond but I don't know why I did and why I didn't.

You need to be a member of Cigar Box Nation to add comments!

Join Cigar Box Nation

Email me when people reply –
Follow

Replies

  • Lonman February 11, 2012 at 11:55pm

    great thread. I am going to be doing my first soldering job using 2 P90's and a les paul kit.

  • The Phrygian Kid January 8, 2012 at 1:54pm
    Yeah u don't actually 'need' to solder to the back of the pot at all! It's just a convention. The key is that there is one common earth to avoid ground loops. Try sticking in a little nail and using that, or if you must use a pot casing just kiss it with ur dremel that sure helps. Good luck
  • James McGinnis January 8, 2012 at 1:09pm

    I never solder to the back of the casing I strip the wire about an inch from where it's soldered to the neg terminal and bend the closest tab that holds the pot together and slip the wire under it and bend it back over. some say it won't be as good but I'm on my 97th cbg and even the ones I made ten years ago with chinese pots ( Before I started buying the good ones from CBGitty), work well with no buzz at all. If you want you can put a little solder on both sides of the tab to help conductivity. without having to be strong enough to actually hold the wire to the back of the pot.  good luck,

    • Silverback > James McGinnis January 22, 2012 at 2:52pm

      Do you have a picture of this? I'm sick of the issues of soldering to the case and would like to try your alternate method. I'm looking at building stomp boxes and don't believe the back of the case connections can last. 

  • Mike Bingham January 7, 2012 at 11:24am

    It's me again Charlotte - Check this out:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHA4SLN4qeA

  • Charlotte Henry January 7, 2012 at 11:19am

    Wow!! Thanks for the help guys!  I did figure that I needed to clean the area with sandpaper but was still having trouble so I guess the surface I was soldering to wasn't hot enough.  I'll give that a try.  As soon as I get through with this current instrument I'm doing an amp with a CBGitty kit.  This current instrument, btw, is a 4 string with a 20 inch scale length and a neck that is pitched back about 1 1/2 degrees.  I embedded the piezos in the bridge earlier this morning and will have the wiring finsihed shortly and can then string it up and work on the action.  This is so much fun!!!

  • Mike Bingham January 7, 2012 at 11:16am

    Hey Charlotte,

    Here's something to try - use a sharp knife blade or fine grit sandpaper to scrape the area on the pot where you want to solder to stick. Don't wipe it off with your finger after scraping so you don't get oil onto the pot's surface.  Just brighten it up a little. Be sure your soldering iron tip is clean.  I use a wet sponge in a sardine can to wipe the tip through to clean it.  Put the tip of the iron in one area only and let it get hot.  Apply solder and let it melt.  Cool the potentiometer down quickly by blowing on it.  This process is called "tinning the pot". Prep your wires and solder them onto the tinned area.  A 40-watt iron would make it MUCH  easier, especially if you're just learning, but it can be done with a 15w.  As you know you can't let the pot get too hot or you can ruin it.  I hope this helps!  There are many ways to do this but the steps above could get you going with the least trouble IMHO.

  • Michael Fred Johnson January 7, 2012 at 11:07am

    Have you cleaned the surface you are trying to solder with an abrasive paper before you start ?

    Is the tip of the iron clean and "tinned" with solder ?

    The pot case will take a while to get to temperature, be patient and keep the iron on one spot until it heats up then try feeding  in the end of your solder on the case close to the iron tip, if the solder doesn't flow wait a little longer then try again.

    Hope this is of help  

  • Dan Sleep January 7, 2012 at 11:05am

    Charlotte, if you have Skype, I can talk you through some soldering stuff.

This reply was deleted.