potting without pro setup?

[Durrant Pickups]

i use a soup kettle very durable and works well

[Chuck H]

Interesting. It seems like a lot of wax to get it started!!! The smallest soup kettle I've seen was about six inches across, and quite deep. I don't suppose the depth is needed but how does the temp regulate if it's run shallow? Maybe four pounds of wax? And what is the stable wax temperature?

[Durrant Pickups]

yes it is abit overkill haha the reason i use it is because it was just lying around from a while ago forget where i found it. its 10 litres and i just filled it to half not sure how much wax i used in weight but it has a temperature dial and holds it quite well doesnt really fluctuate much. i set it to 65 degrees celcius which is the melt point of the wax i used. It has a built in water tank so it is a wet heat. I should probably use something smaller but the wax was cheaper than buying something else.

[kayakerca]

Chuck:
. . . Pete at Vintage Vibe has a great wax rig: it is a full-sized crock pot plugged into a variac with the temperature monitored closely. He replaced the crock pot lid with one fabricated from acrylic plastic with an o-ring to seal it and a scrader valve (like the valve on a bicycle tire) on the top to hook up to a HVAC vacuum pump. As I recall he could get complete penetration of a strat coil in 10 seconds.

So you pot pickups only when necessary- I think that is way to go.

Steve Ahola

Exactly my rig Steve. And yes, under 30 seconds. When you only take 10-30 seconds to pot, temperature control really isn't much of an issue once you reach it. That said, I do use a variac on the pot.

Vacuum Wax Potting Pickups - YouTube

I've now reinforced the lid based on cautions from forum members.

[Durrant Pickups]

Would you consider the variac to be necessary? I like that setup looks very neat

[kayakerca]

Would you consider the variac to be necessary? I like that setup looks very neat

If you were doing more than a couple sets at a time, definitely. But you can put together a home made variac with the lightbulb setup which has been discussed a fair bit in the forum here. I'm sure that would make a very good substitute for the $65 unit I use. (Variac Output 0 130V 3A | eBay)

[Durrant Pickups]

Exactly my rig Steve. And yes, under 30 seconds. When you only take 10-30 seconds to pot, temperature control really isn't much of an issue once you reach it. That said, I do use a variac on the pot.

Vacuum Wax Potting Pickups - YouTube

I've now reinforced the lid based on cautions from forum members.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]21678[/ATTACH]

what vacuum pump do you use?

[kayakerca]

what vacuum pump do you use?

I bought it off ebay, but they have similar pumps at Harbor Freight. Here is the type I bought:

R410A 1 Stage 3CFM 1 4HP Rotary Vane Vacuum Pump HVAC Air Condition Refrigerant | eBay

[rjb]

Waking a zombie thread

Is there any reason not to use a light dimmer (vs. variac or light bulb limiter) to limit the heat of an electric potpourri pot?

I think it would work, but figure I should ask before destroying a $4 investment....

[big_teee]

Is there any reason not to use a light dimmer (vs. variac or light bulb limiter) to limit the heat of an electric potpourri pot?

I think it would work, but figure I should ask before destroying a $4 investment....

The main thing is that it handle the load.
Some of the little crock pots pull quite a bit of current.
I use the dim light tester, cause I had it on the bench for working on amps.
A handy tool.
T

[davos]

I've had wax on a stovetop doubleboiler catch fire. It wasn't on a gas stove (no open flame anywhere), I think what happened is I accidentally turned the stove up instead of down at some point. Second mistake I made was leaving the room, I was only gone for about 2 minutes until I smelled the smoke. Full on inferno coming out of the pan, splitting molten wax everywhere. My third mistake was panicking and for some reason my instinct was to grab the pan and run outside with it to let it burn out on the patio (rather than just putting a lid on it or just using one of the many fire extinguishers close by ). Anyways, I opened the door to get outside and a gust of wind greeted me blowing some of the wax onto my hand. I had pretty bad second degree burns from it, fine and scar free now though, no damage to the house either thankfully!

So yeh, be careful and pay attention!

[Steve A.]

I use the dim light tester, cause I had it on the bench for working on amps.

I seem to remember that you can use different wattage bulbs to get different voltage drops, which makes a rig like that even more versatile. As I recall it was used with an ac ammeter to measure capacitors in appliances back in the olde days.

Steve Ahola

[big_teee]

I seem to remember that you can use different wattage bulbs to get different voltage drops, which makes a rig like that even more versatile. As I recall it was used with an ac ammeter to measure capacitors in appliances back in the olde days.

Steve Ahola

Mine is a two bulb unit.
You can either or both bulbs.
In Phone office applications, we used the bulbs to charge large filter capacitors.
If you didn't use the bulb it would blow fuses, so you charged the cap then put the fuse in.
I did that installing electronic phone offices for many years.
T

[Rodent]

They probably use an epoxy potting compound, like the CPES or some of the MG Chemicals products. You can pot the coil with the CPES at any time in the process, without really affecting other parts nearby. Dunking the whole assembly isn't needed. I dab it on the coils, and it soaks into them thoroughly without really harming the bobbins or the magnets. It's thin, like water or superglue. It doesn't leave any real blobs or lumps. But the magnet wire is glued together into one solid mass. That's what potting is supposed to do, right?

Add me to the list of those who have given CPES a try and adopted it as their standard method for potting pickups.

I utilized the Cold Weather formula this past week without a hitch. it measured and mixed easy, and application with a cotton tipped swab was clean, simple, and quick. the coils look sharp and the lead wires aren't waxy

all the best,

R

[Steve A.]

Add me to the list of those who have given CPES a try and adopted it as their standard method for potting pickups.

Did you find a source that cost less that $45 (including shipping and tax)? Unless you had other uses for it 2 pints would be a lifetime supply for Methuselah if he was a pickup maker. Any reason why you bought the Cold Weather formula? I guess it would be thinner than the Warm Weather formula which would make it better for pickups- right?
It sounds like a good idea- at least if you don't plan on rewinding the pickup later. I think it has already been said here but heavy potting is usually needed only for high gain applications. I used to wax pot new pickups before installing them thinking that there was no downside to it... For low gain applications I think that unpotted pickups can be more sensitive to nuances- the finger English in your playing technique. As one person mentioned wrapping a loose coil with teflon tape can be all that is needed- I've also thought of wrapping a coil with teflon first before using copper foil tape so that it can be removed later without damaging the pickup.

Thanks for your post!

Steve Ahola