soldering extensions onto a potentiometer

[Adam Funk]

I have a potentiometer that I unsoldered from an old circuit board
(from a junked appliance) & I'd like to play with it in circuits on my
breadboard. The potentiometer has leads bent at 90°, with holes at
the top, & looks close to this picture:

http://www.newoldsounds.com/images/EFF-D-ECB231.jpg

The leads are spaced almost exactly 1.5 times the spacing of the holes
in my breadboard, so I can't quite wedge it into them. I'm thinking
of soldering a piece of hook-up wire to each lead, but I'm not sure
how to make a mechanically sound connection, especially to the middle
one, before soldering. Suggestions?


--
When Elaine turned 11, her mother sent her to train under
Donald Knuth in his mountain hideaway. [XKCD 342]

 

[Jim Thompson]

On Fri, 30 Mar 2012 21:09:20 +0100, Adam Funk <a24061@ducksburg.com>
wrote:

I have a potentiometer that I unsoldered from an old circuit board
(from a junked appliance) & I'd like to play with it in circuits on my
breadboard. The potentiometer has leads bent at 90°, with holes at
the top, & looks close to this picture:

http://www.newoldsounds.com/images/EFF-D-ECB231.jpg

The leads are spaced almost exactly 1.5 times the spacing of the holes
in my breadboard, so I can't quite wedge it into them. I'm thinking
of soldering a piece of hook-up wire to each lead, but I'm not sure
how to make a mechanically sound connection, especially to the middle
one, before soldering. Suggestions?

I'd probably take two pair of needle-nose pliers and carefully rotate
the outer two leads by 90°, then you can bend them inward to make the
spacing.

(Or drill two extra holes, plus some small bus wire to close the gap


...Jim Thompson
--
| James E.Thompson, CTO | mens |
| Analog Innovations, Inc. | et |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems | manus |
| Phoenix, Arizona 85048 Skype: Contacts Only | |
| Voice480)460-2350 Fax: Available upon request | Brass Rat |
| E-mail Icon at http://www.analog-innovations.com | 1962 |

I love to cook with wine. Sometimes I even put it in the food.

 

[John Fields]

On Fri, 30 Mar 2012 21:09:20 +0100, Adam Funk <a24061@ducksburg.com>
wrote:

I have a potentiometer that I unsoldered from an old circuit board
(from a junked appliance) & I'd like to play with it in circuits on my
breadboard. The potentiometer has leads bent at 90°, with holes at
the top, & looks close to this picture:

http://www.newoldsounds.com/images/EFF-D-ECB231.jpg

The leads are spaced almost exactly 1.5 times the spacing of the holes
in my breadboard, so I can't quite wedge it into them. I'm thinking
of soldering a piece of hook-up wire to each lead, but I'm not sure
how to make a mechanically sound connection, especially to the middle
one, before soldering. Suggestions?

---
If you can solder properly, the solder joint will be strong enough to
use in a breadboard.

What I'd do would be to cut off the narrowed part of each lead, then
tin the pot leads and the wires and use a pair of long nose pliers to
squeeze the tinned end of the wire against the length of the lead
while I reflowed the solder.

Afterwards, I'd bend the free ends of the wires so they'd plug into
the breadboard nicely.

--
JF

 

[Sjouke Burry]

Adam Funk <a24061@ducksburg.com> wrote in news:gggh49xmlm.ln2
@news.ducksburg.com:

http://www.newoldsounds.com/images/EFF-D-ECB231.jpg

use a piece of an old IC plugin adapter.

 

[Adam Funk]

On 2012-03-30, Jim Thompson wrote:

On Fri, 30 Mar 2012 21:09:20 +0100, Adam Funk <a24061@ducksburg.com
wrote:

I have a potentiometer that I unsoldered from an old circuit board
(from a junked appliance) & I'd like to play with it in circuits on my
breadboard. The potentiometer has leads bent at 90°, with holes at
the top, & looks close to this picture:

http://www.newoldsounds.com/images/EFF-D-ECB231.jpg

The leads are spaced almost exactly 1.5 times the spacing of the holes
in my breadboard, so I can't quite wedge it into them. I'm thinking
of soldering a piece of hook-up wire to each lead, but I'm not sure
how to make a mechanically sound connection, especially to the middle
one, before soldering. Suggestions?

I'd probably take two pair of needle-nose pliers and carefully rotate
the outer two leads by 90°, then you can bend them inward to make the
spacing.

That works! I was thinking inside the box.


--
....the reason why so many professional artists drink a lot is not
necessarily very much to do with the artistic temperament, etc. It is
simply that they can afford to, because they can normally take a large
part of a day off to deal with the ravages. [Amis _On Drink_]

 

[Jim Thompson]

On Sun, 01 Apr 2012 21:50:21 +0100, Adam Funk <a24061@ducksburg.com>
wrote:

On 2012-03-30, Jim Thompson wrote:

On Fri, 30 Mar 2012 21:09:20 +0100, Adam Funk <a24061@ducksburg.com
wrote:

I have a potentiometer that I unsoldered from an old circuit board
(from a junked appliance) & I'd like to play with it in circuits on my
breadboard. The potentiometer has leads bent at 90°, with holes at
the top, & looks close to this picture:

http://www.newoldsounds.com/images/EFF-D-ECB231.jpg

The leads are spaced almost exactly 1.5 times the spacing of the holes
in my breadboard, so I can't quite wedge it into them. I'm thinking
of soldering a piece of hook-up wire to each lead, but I'm not sure
how to make a mechanically sound connection, especially to the middle
one, before soldering. Suggestions?

I'd probably take two pair of needle-nose pliers and carefully rotate
the outer two leads by 90°, then you can bend them inward to make the
spacing.

That works! I was thinking inside the box.

Great! Glad it worked for you! (I've done it before

...Jim Thompson
--
| James E.Thompson, CTO | mens |
| Analog Innovations, Inc. | et |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems | manus |
| Phoenix, Arizona 85048 Skype: Contacts Only | |
| Voice480)460-2350 Fax: Available upon request | Brass Rat |
| E-mail Icon at http://www.analog-innovations.com | 1962 |

I love to cook with wine. Sometimes I even put it in the food.

 

[Adam Funk]

On 2012-04-01, Jim Thompson wrote:

On Sun, 01 Apr 2012 21:50:21 +0100, Adam Funk <a24061@ducksburg.com
wrote:

On 2012-03-30, Jim Thompson wrote:
....
I'd probably take two pair of needle-nose pliers and carefully rotate
the outer two leads by 90°, then you can bend them inward to make the
spacing.

That works! I was thinking inside the box.

Great! Glad it worked for you! (I've done it before

And it sits reasonably firmly in the breadboard so it's easy to turn
the knob. Thanks again!


--
I used to be better at logic problems, before I just dumped
them all into TeX and let Knuth pick out the survivors.
-- plorkwort

 

[Adam Funk]

On 2012-03-30, Michael Black wrote:

It's for breadboarding, if/when the wire eventually breaks off (and wire
thin enough to fit breadboards is likely to break when stressed before the
joint breaks, you just resolder a new wire to the pot. It's not like it
will be in a box where access is difficult.

Fair point.

....

SInce semiconductors took over, wire is thinner (since generally it isn't
carrying much current or voltage) and components are lighter. IN some
circumstances, like something used in a car or carried around a lot, it
probably makes sense to worry somewhat about being "mechanically sound".
But for the average home made piece of equipment solder is good enough, as
long as it's a good solder joint.

I suppose that's true, but I was taught (not in the golden age of
valves, though) that it was important to make a mechanically sound
joint first, & it's hard to get out of that thinking even in the face
of convincing arguments.

Anyway, the idea about turning & re-bending the pins worked
brilliantly.


--
The internet is quite simply a glorious place. Where else can you find
bootlegged music and films, questionable women, deep seated xenophobia
and amusing cats all together in the same place? [Tom Belshaw]

 

[krw@att.bizzzzzzzzzzzz]

On Tue, 03 Apr 2012 20:30:58 +0100, Adam Funk <a24061@ducksburg.com> wrote:

On 2012-03-30, Michael Black wrote:

It's for breadboarding, if/when the wire eventually breaks off (and wire
thin enough to fit breadboards is likely to break when stressed before the
joint breaks, you just resolder a new wire to the pot. It's not like it
will be in a box where access is difficult.

Fair point.

...
SInce semiconductors took over, wire is thinner (since generally it isn't
carrying much current or voltage) and components are lighter. IN some
circumstances, like something used in a car or carried around a lot, it
probably makes sense to worry somewhat about being "mechanically sound".
But for the average home made piece of equipment solder is good enough, as
long as it's a good solder joint.

I suppose that's true, but I was taught (not in the golden age of
valves, though) that it was important to make a mechanically sound
joint first, & it's hard to get out of that thinking even in the face
of convincing arguments.

It wasn't useful then, either. A proper solder joint is stronger than the
component lead. The only thing it accomplished was to make sure the component
didn't move while the solder was fluid, causing a cold joint.

Anyway, the idea about turning & re-bending the pins worked
brilliantly.