Nice little wax pot

[ScottA]

I picked up one of these for potting single coil sized pickups.

It does the job; thermostat controlled, pretty cheap too.

I haven't tried to fit anything else, but I think you could get any typical six string pickup in it. It isn't as big as it looks in the picture.

Amazon.com: The Melting Pot La Grande Wax & Sugar Warmer: Beauty

[ScottA]

Maybe this should go in "tools and coil winding gear"?

[Rick Turner]

So the wax is for hair removal...

And the sugar is for taste?

Do I have that right?

This should be on the pickup porn page...

[ScottA]

It's an inexpensive tool for melting wax at a controlled temperature.

They market it for hair removal, but it can just as easily be used to pot a pickup.

What's not to understand?

[copperheadroads]

So can you set it for 152 degrees F ?
I use a cheap crock pot ,But it is a pain if i forget about it ,It's always too hot & you have to wait 45 minutes for it to cool down = Late nights

[ScottA]

I haven't calibrated the temperature control, but it is running on a thermostat, and the heating element comes on and off intermittently to maintain what would appear to be a relatively constant temperature.

This thing is designed to melt hair removal wax and the temperature control is labeled; off - sugar - paraffin(med) - wax - high, in clockwise order. I just started using it today, and it is working out quite well. I was running it between the "wax" and "high" settings and I potted 4 pickups without incident.

I just thought I would pass along a cheap find, capable of potting a couple of pickups at a time.

[David Schwab]

How large is it? It looks small. I use one of those paraffin warmers made for sticking your hands in. I can fit about a dozen coils in if I wanted to.

[ScottA]

It's got a teflon coated bowl under the top cover that is about 3 3/4" in diameter.

Right now it's filled with a chunk of solid wax, but I'll try to get the depth later. I've got probably 2/5 of a lb of wax in it, and the level of the wax is about 3/8" below the rim of the bowl. The bowl is cylindrical, so you have the 3 3/4" diameter for the entire depth.

I could easily get two Strat single coil sized pickups in there at a time, and probably four if I wanted to stack them.

I'll probably get something more robust as I (hopefully) start to make things in greater quantity, but for prototyping, I'm pretty happy with this thing for $30 (including shipping).

[Peter Naglitsch]

I use a small GiGi wax melter originally intended to melt wax for hair removal. It was a bit more price than 30$ but still a significant upgrade from my old solution. I can do two SC or one HB at a time, but when I pot one pickup I'm busy preparing the next one or taking care of the one I potted before, so I can't really that I could put lager quantities through the potting "bottle neck".

[big_teee]

It's an inexpensive tool for melting wax at a controlled temperature.

They market it for hair removal, but it can just as easily be used to pot a pickup.

So do you use the Honey or Chocolate Flavored Wax?
Seriously how long does it take to melt the wax and be ready to go.
And I guess you can keep it around 140-150F ?
Terry

[David Schwab]

I use one of these:

Amazon.com: Homedics Paraffin Bath Par-300, Blue: Health & Personal Care: Reviews, Prices & more

Nice size for the money, but unfortunately it seems they like to leak wax out the bottom. They used some kind of glue where the two heating element wires run into the pot, and the stuff breaks down with heat.

When I get a chance I'm going to drain all the wax out and re-seal them with some RTV.

Still, it's been working like a champ.. just a leaky champ.

[ScottA]

So do you use the Honey or Chocolate Flavored Wax?

Man, rough crowd, huh?

Actually I used a 4:1 mix of paraffin and beeswax per Lindy Fralin's wax potting instructions as posted on the StewMac site. Unscented.

It was taking a while to melt at the "wax" setting, but then when I cranked it up a bit, it went pretty quick.

I've still only used it the one time, I didn't crank it up yesterday. I don't have an analog thermometer to monitor the temperature, but I need to get one. I'll check on the temperature stability and report back later in the week.

I assume it's decent, though. I mean, this thing is designed to keep wax at the appropriate temperature for contact with skin. Anecdotally, the "wax" setting must be right around 140 F or so, as the melt was existing in a 2 phase state for a good while.

Regarding David's comments about leakage; that's not an issue with this unit. The bowl appears to be steel or cast iron, and it's also teflon lined as I stated earlier.

So, yeah, if you can get past the flavored wax and fru-fru implications, it's a nice little unit.

[Lyrebird Steve]

I recently got a Slow Cooker from my local Harris Scarfe department store. I paid a princly sum of less than $30 for it.

It has a huge capacity of 6 litre (3 single coils with plenty of room ... could probably get 10 in if needed). I have 1kg of parafin + 1/4 of Beeswax and its about 4-5 cm deep.

Make sure you get one with a "Keep Warm" setting. I melt the wax and get it up to about 70C then switch it to keep warm and it hovers between 60-65C

[FunkyKikuchiyo]

L- Steve - I was wondering about that. My slow cooker is the crock pot brand and has warm, low and high. I have no idea what the actual temperatures are, and I know it takes a long time to get up to temperature (big ol' ceramic bowl) but I wonder why more people haven't tried this yet. It seems like the safest, most economic method. It cost me about $50 new (which would be worth it) but consider thrift store prices I don't doubt I could get another for a fraction of that. Or, I may forgo having stew for dinner for a while and start using mine!

David - is the leaky spot easy to spot before it starts to leak? A little epoxy before you ever fire one up might be good. At the amazon price, it could almost be considered a disposable item... and if it isn't big enough, just buy three of them and a power strip and you're on an industrial scale! Throw in a tube of epoxy and you're still under $100.

This is very exciting for someone that has messed with double boilers for way too long.

[Lyrebird Steve]

I forgot to mention that I also picked up a "Milk" thermometer (used for heating milk in jugs for your Cappuccino/Latte) . It cost about $10 but it has markings on it that correspend nicely to the temps you need your wax at.