Which Iron tip for soldering to pots

breadfan

Hi all,

Could you recommend a soldering iron tip for soldering to the back of guitar potentiometers?

My iron should be up to the task - it’s an Atten AT938D - but I’ve damaged two pots trying to solder braided ground wire to their casings using the stock tip.  

This is the iron

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Atten-AT938-Soldering-Station-Ceramic/dp/B07SQCXXDG

elstoof

The tip doesn’t really matter, you can melt a blob of solder and use that to transfer the heat to the case. It’ll flow once you’ve heated it up enough

Keefy

I have the same soldering station (badged as Maplin) and for maximum heat transfer I would use the flat side of the largest chisel tip. As elstoof said, a melted solder blob will help to form a ‘heat bridge’.

Jonathangus

One of these: https://www.switchelectronics.co.uk/4mm-sloped-conical-soldering-tip-atten-t900-4c

I got one recently and it made soldering to pots sooo much easier than with the pointy tip you get as stock.

breadfan

It’s very possible that my technique is the problem.

I can attach solid wire no problem but I haven’t managed to successfully attach a braided wire - & I’ve made a few attempts. I’ll post a pic of the evidence this evening!

I thought a bigger tip might help.

@Keefy It just came with the one tip. Could you post a link to a similar one?

elstoof

Are you trying to solder the braid to the case in one go, or are you pre tinning a blob of solder to the case? Get some solder on the case where you want to put the braid, position the braid, melt some solder and it should all flow together

FelineGuitars

I always recommend a cheap Antex XS withthe large #52 chisel tip (you'll need to buy that separately)

It holds enough heat in that big tip to easily AND QUICKLY solder to the backs of pots
Silver content solder helps too

https://www.rapidonline.com/antex-s5844h8-xs25w-soldering-iron-230v-with-silicone-cable-without-plug-85-0527

https://www.rapidonline.com/antex-b0052h8-52-4-7mm-soldering-bit-for-xs-25w-iron-85-0545

https://www.rapidonline.com/r-tech-856871-premium-lead-free-solder-wire-22swg-0-7mm-0-5kg-reel-85-6871

breadfan

@elstoof I’m pre tinning, it’s just not flowing together. I’m definitely not ruling out bad technique but it’s just not working out for me.

Jonathangus said: One of these: https://www.switchelectronics.co.uk/4mm-sloped-conical-soldering-tip-atten-t900-4c

I got one recently and it made soldering to pots sooo much easier than with the pointy tip you get as stock. Perfect, thank you. I’m going to order one of those.

Keefy

breadfan said:

It’s very possible that my technique is the problem.

I can attach solid wire no problem but I haven’t managed to successfully attach a braided wire - & I’ve made a few attempts. I’ll post a pic of the evidence this evening!

I thought a bigger tip might help.

@Keefy It just came with the one tip. Could you post a link to a similar one?

I got my spare tips from Maplin (RIP) but if you look where it says ‘Frequently bought together’ on the Amazon page you linked, you’ll see a set of 10 tips for £6.89, including a large chisel tip and a sloped conical one.

Supportact

I don't know the answers but I'm about to do some similar work so following with interest. I've soldered things before (fairly basic jobs) but obviously with soldering onto pots the main cause of worry is damaging the pot. 

Keefy

Also, you could try brushing some flux paste onto the braided screen before soldering it.

elstoof

Toy could try some 60/40 solder as it’s got a lower melting point than lead free

LastMantra

Jonathangus said:

One of these: https://www.switchelectronics.co.uk/4mm-sloped-conical-soldering-tip-atten-t900-4c

I got one recently and it made soldering to pots sooo much easier than with the pointy tip you get as stock.

That's the type I use, for pretty much everything. 

I really don't like the pointy ones like in the op. 

LastMantra

Keefy said:

Also, you could try brushing some flux paste onto the braided screen before soldering it.

And I put plenty flux on everything. 

Keefy

LastMantra said:

Jonathangus said:

One of these: https://www.switchelectronics.co.uk/4mm-sloped-conical-soldering-tip-atten-t900-4c

I got one recently and it made soldering to pots sooo much easier than with the pointy tip you get as stock.

That's the type I use, for pretty much everything. 

I really don't like the pointy ones like in the op. 

I recently built a phaser pedal kit which had over 200 solder joins to make on a PCB that was about 5cm x 6cm. I used my pointiest tip for that job!

breadfan

Cheers all for the replies.

I've ordered a new tip, some 60/40 solder & some flux. 

I'll be cutting my losses & passing the work to a tech if I can't manage it with that!