What is the best order to mounting washers/lock washers and nut on a pot when attaching said pot to a pickguard in the most secure manner?
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Lock washer-pickguard-flat washer-nut.
Assuming you mean POT->lock washer-pickguard-flat washer-nut, that sounds about right.
Anyone else? Just want get a small consensus if I can.
I'll go with that with the addition that, if I have them and if how the tall the pot sits in the pickguard needs to be adjusted, I'll go: pot, nut, lock washer, pickguard. washer, nut.
But to answer what I think you might be asking, I almost always put the star or toothed washer against the pot to help keep it from twisting. I know that's what the tab, if it's there, is for. Still use a lock washer. Same with output jacks.
It depends what you want to lock with respect to what...
Assuming you want to stop the pot moving when you over-turn the knob, then the lock goes between the pot and pickguard with no additional washers. If you want to discourage the nut from coming loose, then pickguard - washer - lockwasher - nut. This won't prevent the pot from turning if you over-turn the knob.
There is nothing wrong with having two lockwashers, but if I only had one I would put it between pot and pickguard and be sure to give the nut plenty of torque against a washer between nut and pickguard.
YMMV.
Assuming you want to stop the pot moving when you over-turn the knob, then the lock goes between the pot and pickguard with no additional washers. If you want to discourage the nut from coming loose, then pickguard - washer - lockwasher - nut. This won't prevent the pot from turning if you over-turn the knob.
There is nothing wrong with having two lockwashers, but if I only had one I would put it between pot and pickguard and be sure to give the nut plenty of torque against a washer between nut and pickguard.
YMMV.
Good assumption. If you don't have a pot or other device that needs attachment, why do you need mounting hardware at all?
This order has been the consensus since this method was invented. The lockwasher should always go between the part to be attached and the panel it's mounted to so it prevents rotation and is hidden from view.
Ok, Thanks a bunch everybody. That's all along the lines of what I was thinking, but I wanted to see what the most commonly accepted sequence was. I recently had to install a EMG GZR P bass wiring harness in a Squier, and I'd forgotten to make note of the washer/nut sequence that was on the bass, and having a couple of extra washers in the original factory setup didn't help either!. One pot had 2 flat washers, and the other had three!
With one washer, lockwasher and nut, yes, I'm sure this is the way I'm doing it. No matter how many lock washers you put between the POT and the pickguard, if the nut becomes loose the POT IS going to rotate.
But the nut will eventually loosen under that method, especially if the knob is continually hitting the CW/Max endstop, precisely because the pot will turn in the nut, which cannot move.
There's a hole in my bucket...
If you place the lock washer against the guard you will gouge chunks out of the guard. Once and never remove it would most likely not be a big deal, but a couple (or more) times of remove and replace and you could have a decent mess on yout hands.
If i were mounting a pot on thin plastic i drop a lock washer on the pot shaft, followed by a thin plain washer. Shove the pot shaft through the guard, then the dress washer followed by the nut.
Naturally, if the pot needed to be jacked down a bit, start with a nut on the pot shaft and adjust to taste then finish as described.
Last of all, in thin plastic, to minimize tear out of the plastic use an internal toothed star washer for your locker if you decide to not place a thin washer between the locker and the plastic.
If i were mounting a pot on thin plastic i drop a lock washer on the pot shaft, followed by a thin plain washer. Shove the pot shaft through the guard, then the dress washer followed by the nut.
Naturally, if the pot needed to be jacked down a bit, start with a nut on the pot shaft and adjust to taste then finish as described.
Last of all, in thin plastic, to minimize tear out of the plastic use an internal toothed star washer for your locker if you decide to not place a thin washer between the locker and the plastic.
I want to prevent the nut from coming loose because I think this is why pots move in the first place and not because someone hits so hard the endstop.
But the nut WON'T come loose if you go pot, lock washer, pick guard, flat washer, nut, because the pot won't be able to rotate with it this way. Seriously, this is the way they come from the factory, and there's a reason for that.
Yes this is how they install it in the factory and if I have two lock-washers I put one below the pickguard too. I perfectly understand the reason why it's good to have a lock-washer over there but in my view it is a semi-solution. All loose pots I've come across they had this factory assembly. So why do they come loose? Nuts tend to come loose and particularly POT nuts which have the smallest threaded surface of all nuts out there and especially the thread quality and the pot’s soft alloy are not anything like in other applications. Generally nut loosening highly depends on the thread quality and the material so these nuts are most likely that they will loosen with the body vibrations. My solution is semi-solution too obviously, but all pots I have installed this way they have not moved until now. I think the friction between pot and plastic is already enough to withstand normal knob endstop hits. Hey, I'm not trying to convince anybody that my arrangement is better, this is just my input.
