Practiced my soldering skills today..

[needmoney]

Like anyone cares but I thought I'd share anyway..

I always found it the biggest bitch soldering directly to the back of a potentiometer, always afraid of overheating the pot too much cause I couldn't do it quickly enough.. But I knew that I had to keep trying!

So I kept practicing today on a few different pots, and finally I got it right! Best feeling! Looks clean as hell and very little of that yellow crap that appears all over Fender electronics The secret I've found is to be sure to TIN THE TIP OF THE IRON! Makes life so much easier.

Anyway, I was just overexcited, sorry if I wasted anyones time! Here's a shotty pic (it's quite hard to photograph a single pot).

[Funky Doctor]

Right on! Congratulations. It looks like you have discovered one of the many secrets of the art of soldering. One of the few things I can brag bout and really have something to back it up with is my soldering skillz. I am quite good. *Cough*. Now, young apprentice, I will let you in on another little hint that you may not already know, but is very closely related to the one you discovered for yourself. Always keep the tip clean. By that I mean keep a piece of wet sponge or rag next to you while you are soldering and clean the tip from time to time. You will find that it even helps with tinning! I hope it helps in the future. Sure, it doesn't seem like much, but it also prolongs the life of your tip.

By the way, I'm sure you have been doing this, but I find that scraping or roughing up the point on the back of the pot you are going to solder makes life a lot easier. They are almost always coated in some kind of crap and while making your soldering job look a little messier, scraping it off makes the pot casing take to the solder better. The scrapes and scores also act as little solder magnets and suck it up nice.

There you go. I hope I haven't told you anything you already know, since that would make all this a waste of time. May your future soldering endeavours be fruitful and fulfilling. Wow. I certainly know how to crap on...

[needmoney]

Wow cool! Wasn't aware of the crap on the Pot. What do you recommend to scrape it off with?

My soldering iron has a cool little stand thing with a chunk of steel wool embedded in it which I use to clean the Tip after every joint. I also have a sponge as well but I just find it a lot easier with the Steel wool, hope I'm not wrecking the Tip

[Funky Doctor]

No I don't think you would be wrecking the tip. I scrape the crap off pots with a curved knife, not a flat bladed one. Or something else that is curved so as to not ruin your awesome sharp knife.

[needmoney]

I've got the perfect shank!

[Joeonbass]

I've found when soldering, instead of touching the solder directly onto the iron, if you touch the iron on the wire and component, then touch the solder on the other side it makes a really good connection and looks really neat.