What potting wax mix?

[DoctorX]

Paraffin
carnauba wax
beeswax.

sometimes microcrystalline wax

M.Argueso Co. bought by Paramelt co. (www.paramelt.com)

[Chuck H]

That's the Vaseline. Microcrystalline wax. Soft with a high melting point. Very useful for potting. I add a little bees wax and Vaseline to paraffin. I don't measure, but I could guess the ratio at 1:bees, 1:Vaseline, 9 paraffin. It's not at all critical. You just don't want the wax to be brittle or delaminate. The melting point is an important part. Some guys add lamp oil to their paraffin and I think that may be a mistake. One sitting in a hot car and your pickups bleed all over and then squeal later.

[jvin248]

.

I used about 20% beeswax to paraffin the last time I potted pickups. One thing I noticed was after the wax pot cooled down, it had a much larger shrinkage cavity in the center after the mix than I did with straight paraffin. I did the beeswax addition hoping everyone else mixed the two to reduce how much the wax shrunk and might pull away or create voids.

I'll have to remember to try Vaseline in the mix next time and see what that does.

.

[big_teee]

If you want to do some additional reading, there are bunches of threads on wax potting.
Here's a couple.
T
http://music-electronics-forum.com/t31683/
http://music-electronics-forum.com/t36769/

[Steve A.]

If you want to do some additional reading, there are bunches of threads on wax potting.
Here's a couple.
T
http://music-electronics-forum.com/t31683/
http://music-electronics-forum.com/t36769/

Thanks! Post #4 from your first link sounds very interesting!

Chuck,

Another alternative is to do your potting with epoxy. I use a special epoxy called CPES, made by Smith & Co. (Clear Penetrating Epoxy Sealer)

The CPES epoxy has a viscosity like water. It's made for sealing up rotted wood, but it works beautifully for potting pickup coils. No cooking or vacuum tanks required. I hang a group of coils on a wire rod over a drip pan, and dab the CPES on with wool dauber. Or, you can dunk the coils in it if you want. The CPES immediately soaks completely through the coil, gluing all of the turns together. It dries in about 4 hours. It doesn't dry brittle-hard like superglue; it stays slightly rubbery. It's permanent, though. There's no way you're going to un-pot it.

I've been potting all of my pickups with CPES for about seven years, and I've never had any failures or microphonics issues. Test coils that I cut apart were completely bonded solid, all through. That's what you want with potting.

The only downside to the CPES is the fumes. It has a nasty solvent. You need some good ventilation while applying it, and while the coils are drying. Once they are dry, they don't smell.

I've been buying the Smith's CPES online from Star Distributing (http://star-distributing.com/shopsit...tml/page9.html)
CPES is also sold under the name of MultiWoodPrime; it's the same stuff. I bought a 2 quart kit and it's lasted me at least 5 years so far.

Here's a link to a current source of the product with many details about it:

http://www.vintagetrailersupply.com/...-p/vts-592.htm

Steve A.

P.S. If you are going use CPES on a covered humbucker I think that you might want to do the two coils individually, use a heat gun to wax pot the magnet to the base plate and put Scotch 33+ electrical tape over the slug coil before putting the cover on.

P.P.S. A reminder to any n00bies reading this: the fumes from liquid paraffin are flammable so don't heat it up on a gas range in your kitchen!

Note to self: it is probably not a bad idea to get a single electric burner so that I can wax pot on my work bench in the garage.

[David King]

CPES stinks. You'll want to use it in a garage or outdoors.