I'd like to take a moment to celebrate solder pots. I got a $30 Tenma one in the mail today from MCM electronics. Along with $25 worth of bar solder (a pound). After heating it up for about 10 minutes i put in the solder bar, end first. It merrily chewed away at it until it was full of solder and gave off a menacing stink.
I don't really have a use for solder pots, but friends have sent me magnet and litz wire to tinker with and I was tired of having no way to terminate it and have fun. Anyone who's worked with this wire has known how futile it is to try to get it well tinned with anything other than a real solder pot. I was amazed at how well it did. A few seconds in the pot made the end completely covered in a shiny coat of solder with no drama at all. The Litz wire took up the solder just as well with a louder hiss than the magnet wire.
Moral of the story? If you're working with enameled wire, don't keep suffering without a solder pot. Buy one, they're not that scary, and they're the only way to make a really good connection. They are more effective seemingly than using a razor blade, sandpaper, liquid flux, and then solder to tin the ends, in terms of how well they tin the end.
After turning off the solder pot, it was hot for about 45 minutes as the solder resolidified. I haven't fired it up again, but I look forward to having more solder pot fun in the future.
