Potentiometer Repair

[Nick]

Think the wire might spring apart and it would simply go from bad to worse.

Didn't spring apart for me - it was simple & quick - I used a bit of masking tape to hold down the ends of the wire whilst cleaning out the broken and installing the new wire.

Soldering NiCr wire is not tricky if you do it right but ordinary SnPb solder and fluxes rarely make a good connection - you have to use acid flux or acid core lead-based solder and then tin the end of the NiCr with a HOT iron and lead-based solder.

Some folk etch/Cu-plate the end of the NiCr wire using a Cu tinning bath (easy enough to do) before soldering...

Personally, I've always wanted an excuse to build a small spot-welder (I have a bunch of suitable capacitors etc. waiting for a good project) and joining bits of NiCr would be an ideal excuse!

Once its tinned, you can use lead-free/Ag-loaded solder etc.

Repair took about 1 hour start to finish... like new...