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Third hand for soldering

We've been using this for temporary holding-of-things for a couple of years, and find it endlessly useful. We buy it at the office supply. I think it's intended for sticking posters to bulletin boards and such, but it works great for soldering. Kind of like a third hand, or maybe a third (first?) pseudopod.

It has very little spring-back. When you align something it pretty much stays that way. Great for holding wires to tin. Gets soft if heated though.

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ChesterW

Reply to
ChesterW
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Make your own!

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John Larkin         Highland Technology, Inc 
picosecond timing   precision measurement  

jlarkin att highlandtechnology dott com 
http://www.highlandtechnology.com
Reply to
John Larkin

On a sunny day (Mon, 06 Oct 2014 18:58:23 -0500) it happened ChesterW wrote in :

I have used it, things fall of the wall after a while. I still use it to glue felt pads on the table (for under coffee cups), so the pad sticks to the table, not the cup.

Reply to
Jan Panteltje

Thanks for the suggestion. I have one of those alligator-clips-on-a-rod gadgets, but it's a lot trickier to use than one might think on first look. I really like the pictures of this one:

SparkFun Third Hand Kit

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but the $35 price tag feels a bit steep.

Frank McKenney

--
  ...I am convinced that scientists have an obligation to communicate 
  with the public, people who do not know the difference between an 
  anaysis of variance and a factor analysis but who are eager to read 
  about current research findings and the hot controversies in our field. 
  The trick is to inform readers about the latest results in a way that 
  is interesting, but at the same time respect the complexity of the 
  issues and be honest about what we know and what we don't. 
            -- Hal Herzog / Some We Love, Some We Hate, Some We Eat
Reply to
Frnak McKenney

On a sunny day (Tue, 07 Oct 2014 08:31:43 -0500) it happened Frnak McKenney wrote in :

I have one of these:

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That is about 15 USD.

Quite useful. Maybe ebay has cheaper ones?

Reply to
Jan Panteltje

I expect one could duplicate that using bits of bare copper wire soldered i nto a piece of pcb - put the wire through the hole, loop it underneath and back up through another hole, soldering all, else the solder would give way . Weight the pcb, or maybe better to just screw the wires to a lump of meta l. Haven't tried it though, apply 400v at your own risk.

NT

Reply to
meow2222

I sometimes use bus wire to hold a scope probe in position on a board. I run it up over the board with the ends twisted around the board support screws (legs) and it has a loop in the middle. I slip the probe through the loop and position the tip on the point to be probed. Gravity does the rest.

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Rick
Reply to
rickman

Indeed. I use one of these

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Not as flexible, and the base is too light,

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umop apisdn
Reply to
Jasen Betts

I have a couple of those. My major use for it is to hold oscilloscope probes.I put a small binder clip on the probe and clip the alligator clips to that.

Reply to
Wanderer

Yes. They are/were available here (USA) for much less from Harbor Freight.

The very best thing about them is the glass magnifier. Mine does not have distortion near the edges. I love that part of it at least.

Reply to
John S

I found several at Harbor Freight. But I can't tell which have decent magnifiers and which don't.

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Rick
Reply to
rickman

In the UK its generically called the trade-name Blu-Tac. Is it any good for , non-production, ie one-off SMD repair, component placement before hand soldering? I'll give it a go next time , I usually use a dot of hotmelt glue, but sometimes I'm too tardy in the soldering and it remelts before I'd like it to

Reply to
N_Cook

Yes, I've used it for that. I take a couple of pea-sized lumps and stick down the part from two sides, and then nudge the part until the pads line up. The original tac is picked up by pressing down a larger piece. It sticks to itself better than it sticks to the board.

ChesterW

Reply to
ChesterW

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