JM wiring problem - i've bodged something

SGJarrod · Post by **SGJarrod** » Mon Nov 08, 2010 8:54 pm

50watts will work fine on guitar parts, It actually would be better for soldering to the back of pots, would be quicker than 30..... but it can melt your wires if you do not know what ur doing...... 30watts will take a bit of time to melt the solder on the back of a pot, 50watts may do it instantly, I would only go for the 50w if adjustable, if you ever decide to give building pedals or wiring in pick-ups a go you can do more damage than good with 50w, if you are not expeirenced....

its all personal preference.... I would rather spend more time with a 30w than fn shit up with a 50w..... just my opinion

fyi... I think 30watts is like 750-850 degrees

GreenKnee · Post by **GreenKnee** » Mon Nov 08, 2010 9:15 pm

Thats the soldering iron I use, pinched it from my school a few years ago

Its served me well, I always crank it up to full at first cause I'm too impatient to wait for it to heat up. I've never been soldering for extended periods so I whack it up to full, wait until its hot enough to melt solder, and just take out 2 pickups, and put two in, 5 min job so it never reaches its maximum temp. I'd be interested where to set it for 30 degrees as I have no thermometer.

Jack

NickS · Post by **NickS** » Mon Nov 08, 2010 11:32 pm

johnnyseven wrote:Thanks NickS, that's the very same one in my post above. The other chap thought it might be too hot for my purposes, how do you/your son find it?

There's a control on it

I'm not sure whether the control on it is really temperature or power; either way you can stop it being too hot. Matt used it to do his final year project, building drum triggers from piezo transducers and that's relatively thin wiring, so I would have no qualms about using it for pots 'n' stuff.

Personally I use an old Weller Magnstat TCP 45W iron. That can be a bit hairy if the thermostat fails.

johnnyseven · Post by **johnnyseven** » Tue Nov 09, 2010 12:04 am

I think i've been persuaded to give that one a try. The iron I have at the moment has a real job melting solder so something that does it with ease sounds good. I'm also unlikely to start building pedals, i'll probably only use it for wiring pickups etc. Plus there are loads of Maplins around London so I should be able to go and get one and not wait for the postie.