HAD soldering technique on the back of pots

[ToneMerc]

Concerning soldering the braid to the back of the pots; anyone have any tips on how get the solder so thin, yet uniform across the braid surface area? I can't get it quite so neat. I'm wondering if he covered the braid with flux prior to wetting it.

TM

[Kregg]

Pre-tin the braid and the pot back first, then, heat the parts together. A third hand or a clamp would help.

[ToneMerc]

Pre-tin the braid and the pot back first, then, heat the parts together. A third hand or a clamp would help.

That's what I'm doing, but maybe I need to use a hotter iron to put more heat in the pot housing.

TM

[dreric]

I just discovered something and I'm not sure if it was luck or a consistent technique.

Normally I would scratch the back of the pot lightly with a screwdriver or some other sharp point. The solder would stick never as fast as I wanted it to or without being a blob with a fluxy edge. It also seemed to take a lot of heat.

I am working on a build with some old components and I've been using soctchbrite (green pad) to clean the leads. I tried that in the back of the pot and achieved a HAD worthy result. In addition, I pulled the pot and soldered on the back while it was in a nylon jawed vise ( less heat sink) Thin solder, no crusty edge took the tinned leads very well.

[ToneMerc]

The bigger iron worked much better, that 15W wasn't cutting it.

thanks guys

TM

[BobW]

I pre-tinned each pot and used flux to increase the wetting of the braid. Teflon coax makes for a neat job.

[heisthl]

careful with the plumber type liquid flux around garolite, it seems that it leaves some conductive residue even if you can't see it.