potting without pro setup?

[big_teee]

The CPES sounds like a good alternative to wax, if you need one.
I wax pot everything. I don't over pot humbuckers, I pot them after being taped, and with the covers on.
Very little wax gets in the coils, but it does quieten down the covers and baseplates, IMO.
Strat Single coils, I pot to the Max.
Like to add, glad there are several different methods to pot pickups.
You can pick the method you like.
For me wax potting, is just too easy to fool with other methods.
Wax combined with tape is hard to beat, IMO.
T

[Steve A.]

For me wax potting, is just too easy to fool with other methods.
Wax combined with tape is hard to beat, IMO.

If you are making pickups for customers I think it makes a lot of sense to pot them unless requested otherwise. If you are a customer buying an unpotted pickup you might want to see how it sounds before potting it yourself.

Do you use beeswax? I got a 2lb chunk from Amazon which would last me at least 50 years. I think that it does add elasticity to paraffin which can crack if flexed. If you want some I can send you a chunk for testing.

Steve Ahola

[Chuck H]

I tried harvesting my own beeswax. But I ended up spending more on gauze, ointments and NAISD's than I would have on the wax! The honey was good though

Beeswax is the bomb for all kinds of things. But for pickups I don't know that it's really needed. I've read here that some guys soften with lamp oil. I used Vaseline. Pure paraffin can be hard enough to chip flakes off of when it's cold. I do think it needs tempering. But beeswax seems like an expensive way to do it. There was one report here about a guitar left in a hot car that melted the potting wax out of the pickups!!! Beeswax does have the advantage of not lowering the melting point of the wax. But if you leave your guitar in a car when it's that damn hot, you probably don't care about the finer points of how the pickups were potted.

[kayakerca]

I tried harvesting my own beeswax. But I ended up spending more on gauze, ointments and NAISD's than I would have on the wax! The honey was good though

We kept bees when I was a kid back in the 60's. As I look back, I also would seriously question the effort you would have to go through to get something you can buy for $7.00 - $9.00 per lb., were $50 worth would last you 2 lifetimes.

Busy Bee Beeswax - Supplier of Canadian Beeswax , Candle Making Supplies , & Encaustic Art Supplies

[Regis]

I've only done it a few times but I potted my pickups using a Dazey pot with a variable temp control. I used a combination of beeswax and paraffin.

Water in the Dazey pot, wax in a coffee can in the water, then set to 150 degrees. When hot hang the pickups from a coathanger or whatever so they don't touch the bottom.

I like the idea of the pressure pump.

[Chuck H]

Actually. I have harvested wild honey. Where I lived in Ca. there were abundant bee hives on the edges of suburbia at the foot of the Santa Cruz mountains. As young teenagers, my brother and I would locate hives that were more accessible (bigger hole or a large gash in a tree trunk). Then on cool mornings, before the bees are more active, we would smoke the bees off a piece of hive and hack off a chunk of honey comb. We never took more than about 1/4 to 1/3 of the total comb. Which was our young boys version of respect. We did it maybe ten times over a couple of summers and were only caught in an angry swarm once. Between us we took seventeen stings (we counted to see who took more). We would squeeze out the honey for use and then chew on the wax until it lost it's flavor. We didn't actually save the wax though. At that time we didn't see the value in it if it didn't taste good.

Not thread related. But it's Saturday morning and I just had a sentimental memory.

[kayakerca]

I've only done it a few times but I potted my pickups using a Dazey pot with a variable temp control. I used a combination of beeswax and paraffin.

Water in the Dazey pot, wax in a coffee can in the water, then set to 150 degrees. When hot hang the pickups from a coathanger or whatever so they don't touch the bottom.

I like the idea of the pressure pump.

Be you a vacuum potting believer or detractor, it's a perfect opportunity to spend about another $150 or so on the winding process. Gotta love it!

[big_teee]

Be you a vacuum potting believer or detractor, it's a perfect opportunity to spend about another $150 or so on the winding process. Gotta love it!

Spending all my money right now on tractors and mowers!
$150 on a Vacuum pump would probably put me over the top, to the point of no return!
T

[kayakerca]

Spending all my money right now on tractors and mowers!
$150 on a Vacuum pump would probably put me over the top, to the point of no return!
T

Oh, but the $150 would get you the vacuum pump, the gauges, the little crock pot, the brass fittings and the heavy lid. We're talking the whole package here Terry! I mean how many tractors and mowers does one guy need anyway?

[big_teee]

Oh, but the $150 would get you the vacuum pump, the gauges, the little crock pot, the brass fittings and the heavy lid. We're talking the whole package here Terry! I mean how many tractors and mowers does one guy need anyway?

That's funny!
That's exactly what my Bride asked me?
T

[Chuck H]

She'd feel differently if she had to do the mowing and, uh, tracting.

[big_teee]

She'd feel differently if she had to do the mowing and, uh, tracting.

Yep!
This 20 Acres can get overwhelming sometimes on the mowing!
My mom has another 6 acres to mow, when I get to it.

[Chuck H]

Hoah! Twenty six total!?! That certainly puts the ache in acres! But unless your well off it's expensive to have it done. There are some large properties where I live. There are at least two guys in my area that make their entire (tidy) living just mowing big lots.

[big_teee]

Hoah! Twenty six total!?! That certainly puts the ache in acres! But unless your well off it's expensive to have it done. There are some large properties where I live. There are at least two guys in my area that make their entire (tidy) living just mowing big lots.

And on the Eight Day, The Big Guy Above Made the Kubota!
My property has a lot of open woods, and it don't all get mowed at once.
My Drive way is about 1250 ft. counting the circle drive.
I keep one tractor just setup for maintaining the road.
Then I keep the other one just for mowing and spraying roundup in the ditches and fences.
It sounds a lot worse than it really is.
The secret is the right tools for the jobs!
I make pickups the primitive ways, I'm modern when it comes to mowing and farming! lol
T

[Steve A.]

Oh, but the $150 would get you the vacuum pump, the gauges, the little crock pot, the brass fittings and the heavy lid. We're talking the whole package here Terry! I mean how many tractors and mowers does one guy need anyway?

You can save a little money if you already have an air compressor. I don't know how well it works but Harbor Freight sells a vaccuum pump that runs off compressed air for $16!

Vacuum Pump - AC Vacuum Pump w/ R134A & R12 Connectors

I was an HVAC service tech for almost 20 years and I would not trust a pump like that for HVAC work (you want a vaccuum of maybe 50-100 microns) but it should be okay for a vaccuum potting rig. Another thought- you might check around with local HVAC firms to see if they have a vaccuum pump out back that works but not very well that they would be willing to sell for, say, $20. Make sure that you do feel suction from it.

For the rig you don't need a manifold with gauges- a hose is all you need. Put the pickup or coil in the pot, put the lid on, hook up the hose and turn the pump on. I think that you only need to run it for 10 or 20 seconds.

In my plans I was going to have the local plastic fabricators make up a lid from two circles- one slightly smaller than the other which would go inside the crock pot and one a little bigger, and put an o-ring around the smaller circle to create an airtight seal. I would have the shop drill a hole in the lid for the valve since I've had bad luck drilling holes in plastic.

She'd feel differently if she had to do the mowing and, uh, tracting.

I was doing repairs on a furnace in a garage and suggested to the customer that he have a filter register grill installed because it was a real bear changing the filter in the furnace. "Oh, that doesn't bother me at all- I have my wife change it." Okay-y-y-y-y...

HVAC service techs usually try to sell you crap that you don't need (at most companies they get a commission on it!) but I would only recommend upgrades that I thought were necessary or would pay for themselves in energy savings after a few years.

Steve Ahola