Potting Tank

[automan]

OK, all. I told you I would report back with how it works. It works awesome! I ended up going with a different one than in the first post. The one I am using is a GiGi that holds 8lbs of wax. I am using about 6lbs right now 80% paraffin 20% purified bees wax. I can fit about 20 single coils in at a time in one layer. I will definitely be getting another one soon. Use one with clean wax for new pickups and another to reheat pickups that are in for repair so as not to contaminate my known wax with whatever might be in an older one..

[David Schwab]

Epoxy credo: Keep mass small, hardening rate slow and avoid shapes approaching a sphere (min SA:vol ratio)

[copperheadroads]

i was eyeing a 2 quart crock pot at walmart for 11 bucks for potting pickups it has high ,low and a warm setting anybody ever try this

[Sweetfinger]

I use a crock pot double boiler setup. It isn't very fast, but I only need to dip pickups every few weeks. I got mine at a thrift store for 3 bucks.

The nice thing about wax vs. CA or epoxy is that the wax is reversible- you can easily disassemble a solidified pickup and unwind a wax coil. The other methods...not so much.

CA curing on a coil won't get hot unless you accelerate it. CA does aggressively cure with cellulose...especially paper towels! Many times I've blobbed a bunch of thin CA on my hand and not been zippy quick when wiping it off, so the towel bonds to my skin, then it gets smokin'(really) hot causing me to howl like a monkey at feeding time! Also-
Wood is cellulose.

"Tell me a story Unca Jim" .....

I had an old Giannini guitar in the shop for repair a couple years back. The back and sides of the guitar were hogged from a single rosewood log and the wood had dried and split open in a radiating pattern on the butt-end of the guitar. Just like....an old log. The splits were large enough to see through
I came up with an ingenious solution. I sprayed accelerator on the exterior of the guitar and then taped over the split area with packing tape. Then poured a good amount of thin CA into the guitar through the soundhole and rolled it around the split area on the inside. I made smoke! A surprising amount. That horrible choking super glue smoke which is not so much bad for you as it is irritating. I didn't see flames, so I knew I was ok.
The upside- it worked just like I hoped. The CA wicked into all the small splits
and solidified all the wood in the area into a solid piece. It also filled the larger gaps. When I pulled the packing tape from the exterior, the glue was flush with the finish surface and you'd never know from looking what had happened. Well there's my CA "hot" glue story. Sorry for digressing.

[David Schwab]

CA and cotton is supposed to react violently... I tried it once on a Q-Tip and nothing happened though.

For some safe fun, take two pennies and put some CA on one of them, and they spray some accelerator, and then clamp them together very hard in a vice. You see a puff of smoke and then a lot of hard white foam.

At least when my friend used to do it.

I recently "potted" a few coils with CA. It worked fine, until one developed a short, and of course I couldn't cleanly strip the wire off... But it wasn't so bad either.

[David Schwab]

Just thought I'd drag up this old thread to mention I just got one of these:

[ame=http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002HEHNC0/ref=ox_ya_oh_product]Amazon.com: HoMedics ParaSpa Plus Paraffin Bath - PAR-300: Health & Personal Care[/ame]

This was my first foray into wax potting, and I have to say this thing works very well.

[Scott S.]

I checked out the multiwoodprime website, that looks like a very useful product, thanks Bruce.

I am currently using Q Dope, which is basically polystyrene dissolved in MEK.

It penetrates a good distance into the coil, plenty to control microphonics and prevent coil damage.

The multiwoodprime is similar in concept, but looks like an even better product for this use.

I do thin the Q Dope some to better absorption, but its still higher viscosity than water.

[mkat]

I bought a parafin wax bath too a couple of months back.

[Zhangliqun]

I just went with the glue pot Stewmac sells. Works great.

[David Schwab]

I just went with the glue pot Stewmac sells. Works great.

You can get that, but the paraffin warmer I just got is a lot bigger. It holds 3-4 pounds of wax, and is a lot cheaper too. It comes with 4 pounds of wax. I put three in. The instructions saw you can leave it running 24 hours a day, if you wanted to. I think it was a great deal for $24. I just wound 20 bobbins this weekend, so wax is a lot faster, and I can fit a bunch in at once!

[automan]

I got a GiGi I leave on 24 hours a day. I can pot 20 single coils at a time and it works flawlessly.

[David Schwab]

I leave mine on all day, but I shut it down at night, or when I'm not winding. It only takes about an hour to melt the wax.

[automan]

I leave mine on all day, but I shut it down at night, or when I'm not winding. It only takes about an hour to melt the wax.

I've got to where I pot first thing in the morning. I can pretty easily make about 24 single coils a day now. I finish putting the leads on right before I go home in the evening, then the next morning I turn on the shop lights and drop them in the pot. I know this isnt a good excuse for leaving my pot on all the time, but it's all I got

[David Schwab]

I've got to where I pot first thing in the morning. I can pretty easily make about 24 single coils a day now. I finish putting the leads on right before I go home in the evening, then the next morning I turn on the shop lights and drop them in the pot. I know this isnt a good excuse for leaving my pot on all the time, but it's all I got

See I turn mine on in the morning, and then wind. After I have them wax potted I start assembling the pickups, and then do the epoxy, usually in the evening, though I did 12 pickups in the middle of the day yesterday.

I avoided wax for a long time, but this warmer is making it fast and easy.

[Joe Gwinn]

I've got to where I pot first thing in the morning. I can pretty easily make about 24 single coils a day now. I finish putting the leads on right before I go home in the evening, then the next morning I turn on the shop lights and drop them in the pot. I know this isn't a good excuse for leaving my pot on all the time, but it's all I got

I would be nervous about leaving a wax pot on all night. I would get a timer and set it to apply power to the pot an hour before you usually arrive.