soldering iron for heavy duty. 60W is enough?

[pietro_moog]

hi guys!
i need a soldering iron for heavy duty like soldering on the back of the pots or soldering ground the the brass plate or grounding my guitar bridge.

i have a 30W sold. iron which i use for pcbs and various electronics.

would a 60W iron have enough power to do heavy jobs in a good way?

thanks

[goober]

I use a cheap Weller 40 watt iron from Lowes home center. It has a huge chisel tip. Works good for pots and brass plate, I don't know about a guitar bridge. I also just got a Hakko variable temp soldering station and that's all I used on my last build. I was able to solder a piece of #14 copper wire across the back of my pots instead of a brass plate with no problem.

[Rich]

Soldering Commmercial Guitar and Amp Pot Bodies

This chore does not require sanding or a huge iron, and it can be done without unduly heating the pot. I did use a Weller SP-23 25W iron and sometimes still do, but my favorite is a 30W NexxTech I got at Radio Shack; not because of the extra 5W, but because of the coated tip which works better than the copper tip on the Weller. There are probably better irons out there, I'm just showing the size.

I prepare the pot before trying to solder a wire to the body. The preparation consists of getting a thin layer of solder in the target area, really just tinning a spot, using a slightly different method than that often recommended. When building an amp, I'll prepare all the pots on the bench before hand.

The iron tip is applied briefly to the target area to preheat it, a miniscule drop of solder flux is applied to the target area and then the iron returned to that postion. The solder is touched to the iron tip so the smallest amount of solder possible is on the tip, barely 'tinning' the tip and then the tip is moved slightly about the heated area until the solder spreads out on the pot forming a thin layer as the iron is moved. Once there is a thin layer of solder bond to the pot body, an appropriately sized puddle of solder can be applied and left to harden.

The object is to get a small amount of solder to bind to the pot, when this is done, it is easy to get solder to bind to solder.

Where I differ with some people (for this particular application) is in the application of solder to the iron instead of the work piece, the reverse of how electrical soldering is commonly done.

This is an application of techniques learned in grade school where we made projects such as storage tins and cookie cutters with galvanized iron joined using old fashioned irons heated in a forge and bar solder with paste flux. It is more akin to sheet metal soldering than the making of electrical joints.

The process takes longer to explain than to do.

When the pot is in place ready for the solder, the iron is placed against the hardened puddle of solder. When the puddle is softened the wire is pressed into place with a tool and then the iron is used to briefly heat the wire, the tool then returned to the wire to hold it in place while the puddle hardens. More solder could be applied at this stage if necessary, but with solder, just use what you need to form the joint, no extra.

Because the job is done in steps of 10 or less seconds, the pot doesn't get as hot as it would if I tried to do it in one step.

In the case of pots such as CTS which have a lot of information stamped on the back, you might want to consider soldering to the edge of the pot so the imformation of the back remains available for future reference.

When there a lot of grounds to go to one spot, I'll make a ground tab out of copper flashing. Before soldering it to the pot, I'll drill a small hole for each wire plus a couple extra just in case. This tab allows the wires to be attached one at a time with just a touch of the iron so the there is no chance of over heating the pot.

[loudthud]

60W should be ok but there might be an issue because of ROHS (lead free) solder.

[m-fine]

Where I differ with some people (for this particular application) is in the application of solder to the iron instead of the work piece, the reverse of how electrical soldering is commonly done.

I do the same thing to pre-tin wire ends. If the wires are all tinned on the bench, it is much easier to solder them in places where you have less than ideal access.

[Rich]

Good catch, I should have mentioned that point.