Hey all
Quick question. Im trying to solder onto a tone pot on a guitar. The pot never gets hots enough so the solder melts onto to make a good connection. Im using a Rothenburger gas pen. The last thing I want to do is ruin the pot. The obvious question here is do I need a mains-powered soldering iron as the Rothenburg isn't hot enough?
thank you
A Rothenburger gas pen is not a suitable tool for electronics soldering as it is not temperature controlled. It is listed as 800 degrees C tip temperature which will simply burn the flux off before a joint will properly flow. Those temperatures can and will damage pots and other similar components.
An appropriate soldering iron and solder is a must for anything electronic.
Is it not melting or not sticking? For a good solder joint the solder needs to "flow" to get good thermal conduction between the soldering iron and the wire & terminals.
If you're not using flux that might be the problem. Or, maybe you're using the "wrong" solder. Most "electronic" solder is OK and it usually has a flux core but sometimes not enough flux for every situation. And the terminals & wire needs to be clean. If the pot is old, sometimes it helps to scrape the terminals with an Exacto knife, or use sandpaper, etc., to remove any corrosion. Old wires can corrode too, making them difficult to solder (and difficult to clean).
The solder tip needs to be clean too. If the solder "balls-up" instead of flowing smoothly onto and sticking-to the solder tip, it needs to be cleaned (or replaced).
Too much heat usually isn't a problem unless you leave the heat applied for too long, and it would take awhile before the heat gets transferred to the "active" part of the pot. Hotter is probably better if you can get it soldered quickly before the whole pot heats-up.
I'm not familiar with the Rothenburger gas pen.
However I know with a proper soldering iron your should need to heat the pot tab for less that 5 seconds to make a good solder joint.
You also must have a bit of solder on the tip of the iron, this already molten solder will speed conduction of heat to the pot solder tab.
A controlled soldering iron is a nice thing to have, however a simple plug in iron will do if you only have a few connections and you are careful not to keep the iron on the joint more than 5 seconds, 6 at the most.
The Rothenburger gas pen according to this:-
is rubbish for soldering and is not safe.
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