MOTM

Just finished a 440 late last night. Sweet.
 
Thought I'd pass along a simple tip possibly already discussed.  I noted this 
in a nice module built by Don  Ojeman. I obtained a heat gun with a low power 
setting ($9 at the  local Harbor Freight), and 1/4" and 1/8" heat shrinkable 
tubing. For the triple  twisted stranded going to outer pots, be sure the 
strand is twisted tight,  then shrink 1/4" long collars of 1/4" diameter tubing 
near the ends. Leave  enough individual wire length at the ends with longer  
stripping (for the pot connections) to slip a 1/2" length of 1/8"  tubing over 
each, and still have the bare wire end  exposed for soldering. If you need more 
separate wire length  to push the 1/8" tubing farther away from the joint when 
 soldering, I suppose you could put the unshrunk segment  of 1/4" tubing on 
the cable just before finishing the pot connections, then  shrink it last. 
 
I also put shorter 1/8" long collars of 1/4" tubing on the twisted pairs to  
the switch and jacks, leaving the twists tight all the way up to  the 
connections. Use a low heat setting, and wave the gun around starting  far away, then 
moving closer while rotating the wires. The  gun gets really hot (even on low) 
and can melt things or burn your fingers  if you get too aggressive. 
 
The use of 1/8" tubing is mentioned in the module directions. Just before  
soldering the pots, put a 3/8"-1/2" length of 1/8" diameter  tubing over the end 
of each wire. If you didn't already collar  the pot end of the wire twist, 
put a segment of 1/4" tubing on the bundle  before you solder the pots. When 
soldering the connections, be careful not  to let your soldering iron get too 
close parallel to the tubing, or let  heat rise from underneath, as the tubing 
may start shrinking  prematurely (I hate it when that happens ;). Before 
mounting the pots to the  panel, be sure you have good joints (you'll never see them 
again), push the  tubing over the joint and up against the pots, then shrink 
it. Don't get carried  away with the heat gun, it doesn't take much heat for 
very long. Stop when  you see the contours of the joint appear from beneath the 
tubing. Keep the  heat away from the PCB. I didn't put tubing over the switch 
connections because  I wanted the twisted pair to remain tightly twisted all 
the way up to the switch  (no room for tubing).
 
Just a little added extra touch worth an extra 15 minutes. You're  going to 
build the thing only once.
 
-Karl.