Dumb soldering question

[nickt]

I spent about 10years of my life soldering for a living but..

are Alpha pots solderable with a 40W iron - I'm having no luck - do I need a big ass iron to solder ground bus wires to these guys.

Thanks!

[mlp-mx6]

Did you scrape/sand the back of the pot first? Make sure you're at bare metal.

[nickt]

Yep - scraped to bare metal.

Problem is my trusty Adcola iron died after 25 years - it used to have a button you press to make it "go to 11" when you needed it. Seems soldering irons have all gone to pot some time in the last 1/4 century - I've had one die straight out of the box and now this 46watter seems more like 25.

[statorvane]

I have had no problem soldering to the back of Alpha brand pots. I'm wondering if it is the solder you are using? I have a hard time with the ROHS stuff. I'm using an old Archer (Radio Shack) 45 watt iron.

[klingo]

+1
I'm stocking some non-ROHS solder for the same reason.
no problem with my JBC 40watter (Weller 60w magnasat great for that).

now this 46watter seems more like 25.

fortunately our tube amps have the opposite behaviour

[skyboltone]

I really don't want to get a pot that hot. Especially one with conductive plastic inside. I've suspended the #14 ground buss with #14 leads back to the input jack and pot grounds. It's not going anywhere. When I tried, my 40 watt weller I couldn't get to do the job, but I didn't have my soldering gun with me. I don't remember what the rating is on that thing but it's pretty hot and handy if you don't have one.

[nickt]

Thanks guys, from what you're saying the iron's the problem. I'll have to find out where you get a real one these days (which is harder than you might think in Oz - all I've seen so far are cheap look-alikes!)

[WholeToneMusic]

I usually do not recommend solder guns and do not use one myself but they work fast for soldering ground wires and only ground wires. I use alot of patience when soldering ground wires and have had success with a 35 watt weller. One of my electronic teachers who was in the Navy (Never Again Volunteer Yourself) showed me how to move the iron back and forth in the puddle of solder rapidly (not too fast because the solder will fly everywhere!!) however this helps disperse the heat more evenly in wet puddle of solder. Solder tends to get cold spots when doing a large surface area.

Brian