Wax melting pot...

[Justwannano]

Trying to get my act together with this new venture
I was surprised at the trouble I had finding what I
thought was the best way for me to handle "potting".

I received this and it performed perfectly and is exactly
what I wanted.

I melted 5lbs of wax ( 80/20) at 250 and lowered
the dial to a place between warm and off and it
held 145°f .
I could have got it lower but it was late/sleep time.

Just excited to have one more step resolved and thought I'd share it.

[rjb]

...I received this and it performed perfectly and is exactly what I wanted.

...Just excited to have one more step resolved and thought I'd share it.

Thanks for sharing that.
I just Googled around and found that, if you don't want/need the spigot, you can get the same thing for le$$.
Presto 06006 Steamer - Walmart.com

[big_teee]

Trying to get my act together with this new venture
I was surprised at the trouble I had finding what I
thought was the best way for me to handle "potting".

I received this and it performed perfectly and is exactly
what I wanted.

I melted 5lbs of wax ( 80/20) at 250 and lowered
the dial to a place between warm and off and it
held 145°f .
I could have got it lower but it was late/sleep time.

Just excited to have one more step resolved and thought I'd share it.

Sounds good.
As you have figured out, IMO the Key is a good Thermometer.
145 IMO is perfect, In an imperfect world, I pot between 140-160 degrees.
I don't do plastic bobbins at 160, but I have done Forbon SCs, at that temp.
Usually the cooker is off, and when you put the P/Us, it will drop pretty fast.
I use lamp oil or Mineral oil to thin the wax.
Some use Bees Wax, but it is hard to find here and expensive.
The pure paraffin Lamp oil works great.
T

[Justwannano]

rjb- excellent.
I wanted the drain as it will also be used by other family members
and didn't want them pouring. ( although I didn't know about the one you linked to..
big money difference)

T- Thank you for the great info. I marked the controller for 145 as the lowest reading is 200°f.
I wasn't aware of the wax needing to be thinned. Paraffin and beeswax at 80/20.


edit...I do have and use a thermometer to check temp.

[big_teee]

rjb- excellent.
I wanted the drain as it will also be used by other family members
and didn't want them pouring. ( although I didn't know about the one you linked to..
big money difference)

T- Thank you for the great info. I marked the controller for 145 as the lowest reading is 200°f.
I wasn't aware of the wax needing to be thinned. Paraffin and beeswax at 80/20.


edit...I do have and use a thermometer to check temp.

If the wax is not thinned it is real hard and flaky when it's cold.
It also takes more temperature to melt the harder wax.
The Banjo Line is a rural thing!
Dueling Banjos Deliverance - YouTube

[Justwannano]

T, man I'm glad you told me. I've mixed 5lbs, how much thinner should I add?
I know exactly what you mean too. (flakey) I thought it was just part of it.

Yeah...know about that and had a good laugh...removed my acknowledment..wasn't sure
you'd take it that I loved the humor.

[Stratz]

T, man I'm glad you told me. I've mixed 5lbs, how much thinner should I add?
I know exactly what you mean too. (flakey) I thought it was just part of it.

80/20 is fine and pretty much standard. I don't see the need to go any thinner but you can always experiment. Maybe T was referring to using mineral oil in place of bees wax ?????

If you heat your bobbins first you can pot them for less time if you desire. In my opinion potting for a long period (more than 5-7 minutes for a Strat single coil depending on the wind) will kill off some of the trademark highs. I use a heat lamp which warms the alnico rod up so the wax doesn't start to solidify on the cold alnico when you first drop them in the pot.

If the bobbins are cold and the wax solidifies the pickups will require more time in the pot because the wax needs to re-melt.
IMO, during this extra time the wax still saturates the coil which I don't believe is necessary. I give them just enough time in the pot until I see the tiny bubbles from the coils slowing down.

I use a wax pot for my clear wax which I use very often but when I use wax mixed with lamp black for vintage correct Fender pickups I use the double boiler method because I rarely use it and it's only a small amount (about 1lb).

When I heat the wax in the double boiler I just tape the the pickups to the hood of the stove while the wax is melting. This warms the bobbins up just fine. They'll stick to a steel hood but you can tape them down if your stove has a stainless hood.

Good luck.

[copperheadroads]

Did you see that stew mac article? Lindy fralin don't use bees wax & stated it darkens the tone
STEWMAC.COM : Issue 168, None of your beeswax? Potting pickups with paraffin.

[big_teee]

Yes, I sub the beeswax with Lamp oil, for thinning.
Not that there is anything wrong with beeswax.
It is expensive, and hard to find here.
I like the gulf wax you buy for canning in the grocery store.
Then I keep adding a little lamp oil along.
I preheat my pickups also.
I have a Soldering Iron cage, that is warm, but not hot on top.
I sit them on top of it, for a few minutes.
I always try to completely pot the pickups.
If you don't, players that play with lots of gain will complain.
Potting is one of those things, that IMO is no right or wrong way.
With the exception, of heat.
If you get the wax too hot, it can destroy a good plastic Bobbin!
I know, I've done it!
Good Luck,
T

[Justwannano]

I'm glad that was set straight.
I did misunderstand.

Well I'm not one to question Mr Fralins hearing abilities but I feel safe
saying that my hearing is probably not as good and beeswax must have been
used long before his determination.
If I run out of it I'll use the oil and know it's all good.

Things are slow anyway...trying to get counter up to speed and waiting on electronic
parts but good to know the potting part seems squared away.

All the time and effort to help has been appreciated. Thank you.

[SonnyW]

I'm glad that was set straight.
I did misunderstand.

Well I'm not one to question Mr Fralins hearing abilities but I feel safe
saying that my hearing is probably not as good and beeswax must have been
used long before his determination.
If I run out of it I'll use the oil and know it's all good.

Things are slow anyway...trying to get counter up to speed and waiting on electronic
parts but good to know the potting part seems squared away.

All the time and effort to help has been appreciated. Thank you.

I do use the beeswax in my mixture, a little less than 20%. I hadn't seen the article from Stewmac but I have noticed that the resonant peak frequency will always drop after potting. I will have to try potting one or two in pure parrafin to see if it also drops the resonant peak, and by how much. I suspect though that there won't be a lot of difference. If I get around to that I will try to post the results.

Butyrate bobbins especially are prone to warp in the potting wax. I have warped them. So I did some research on that and while the melting temperature of the butyrate plastic is higher than the wax temperature, the softening temperature is about 140 degrees. I don't care for the pure paraffin it is too brittle for one thing. I have formulated my wax with paraffin, beeswax and candle wax made with stearin to have a melting point of 136-138 degrees F. The ABS bobbins are less prone to this problem. I pot most of my pickups at 150 degrees for a full 20 minutes on a timer. My wax pot is a crockpot which I have modified with an accurate temperature controller that I got surplus off ebay. It will hold the temperature to within about 2 degrees. I have a digital thermometer with a remote probe that helps a lot.

[Justwannano]

Thank you Mr. Walton.
Not only did I enjoy the information you provided but
the tour at your site was very cool.
I can see I have a long way to go but it's been a fun start thanks to the help
provided.

The addition of stearin is interesting. I'm hesitant to ask- not wanting to request "trade secrets" or such
but if I may, is 10% stearin in the ball park?

I have not had a chance to see how low I can go with the heat but I think
I'll get a digital thermometer ordered.

As I have restored old vehicles such as a '49 Willys stakebed and a 1969 Chevelle SS
your comparison of restoration had me smiling for the tour.

[big_teee]

Speaking of Wax Pots.
Anyone got any good tricks to Clean the wax off and on.
Mine invariably gets dirty with lots of small mynute particles.
I heat it up and pour if off, sometimes more successful than others.
Was wondering what other guys did?
T

[copperheadroads]

Speaking of Wax Pots.
Anyone got any good tricks to Clean the wax off and on.
Mine invariably gets dirty with lots of small mynute particles.
I heat it up and pour if off, sometimes more successful than others.
Was wondering what other guys did?
T

If the particles settle on the bottom ,Don't stir it up
What I did was turn the pot on so it starts to liquidify around the outside of edge of the pot & wax block ,remove the block & the dirt should be right there on the bottom of the block & A little you should be in the bottom of the pot to clean up ,& you can cut some of it out of the wax .I hope that makes sense
I tried straining through a cheese cloth but it didn't go so easy as it sounds ,Might work if the wax was is super hot

[SonnyW]

Thank you Mr. Walton.
Not only did I enjoy the information you provided but
the tour at your site was very cool.
I can see I have a long way to go but it's been a fun start thanks to the help
provided.

The addition of stearin is interesting. I'm hesitant to ask- not wanting to request "trade secrets" or such
but if I may, is 10% stearin in the ball park?

I have not had a chance to see how low I can go with the heat but I think
I'll get a digital thermometer ordered.

As I have restored old vehicles such as a '49 Willys stakebed and a 1969 Chevelle SS
your comparison of restoration had me smiling for the tour.

This is the thermometer I got, I bought two of them one for my wax pot and the other one is on my workbench for checking the temp on pickups when I measure resistance. Good deal for the $.
Panel mount Remote Probe Thermometer - PanelMount Remote Probe Thermometer from Cole-Parmer


Thanks for your comments on the website, and I couldn't tell you how much stearin was in there because I am not sure. It is less than 10% though. No trade secrets on this here is all I know on it. I'm not much into the secret potting wax hype thing. I don't remember everything because it was a long time ago that I made up the wax and I made a bunch. I used about 8-9 lbs of paraffin, 2 lbs of beeswax (ordered off the internet) and several boxes of plain white emergency candles from the grocery store. I would say the candle part was maybe 2 -3 pounds. I'm not sure how much stearin that those candles contained. It could have been as much as 50% which would have been about a pound or so, the box did say they had a high stearin content. The stearin raises the melting point and makes the wax harder without making it brittle. It is basically refined tallow. I just made up a bunch of wax so it would be kind of consistent, and I wouldn't have to keep fooling around mixing it up. I checked the melting point by pouring off a little into a metal cup and checking the temperature when it just started to set up around the edges with a meat thermometer. That was before I got my digital one. The paraffin I had melted at about 120- 125 degrees. That can vary all over the place from 110 -150 degrees depending on the batch of it you get. (That's another reason not to use the pure paraffin) I didn't want it that low, it can get hotter than 125 degrees in a parked car, etc.. The beeswax melting point was higher. I just kept on adding candles until I got the melting point where I wanted it to be at around 135 degrees with the meat thermometer. Now that I have the digital one I can check it more accurately and my batch is about 136-138 degrees. I poured up the excess into wax coated dixie cups saved from fast food places, and after it had set up peeled off the paper and stored it in ziplock bags. I use that to make up with and I haven't needed to make up another batch. Here's what's left.