[020Assassin]

I have 4 arms coming with mine, I don't need a magnifying glass. 2 big clamps and 2 small clamps. I solder a couple days a week

Indeed, so for you the investment (40-50$?) makes sense. For me, not so much. Maybe, if the modding/cabling bug catches me too, I might upgrade, but (like you) I think I would uprgrade my third hands before I would upgrade the soldering iron.

It's like with all tools. For working on my motorcycle. My tools are pretty good for an amateur, but not as good as the Snap-On my mechanic uses. He uses them every day, though, and I use my tools maybe once every two months. For that, they are more than sufficient.

 

[PETEREK]

I totally understand that. It doesn't make sense to upgrade something that works just fine when you use them occasionally. Obviously if you use an OK tool everyday it would make sense to upgrade and save yourself some hassle. 

 

[020Assassin]

Indeed, I can imagine you will enjoy your work even more with that Sparkfun.

 

[Armaegis]

For those who can't justify buying a good helping hands (skip the cheap ones; not worth it), a small drill press vice is a decent alternative. It's heavy and clamps hard enough for anything you'd need to do (put a layer of hot glue on the edges if you don't want to scratch your projects), and if you stick a couple bricks or books underneath then you can even run lengths of wire up from the bottom for better placement and access.

 

[sfo1972]

For those who can't justify buying a good helping hands (skip the cheap ones; not worth it), a small drill press vice is a decent alternative. It's heavy and clamps hard enough for anything you'd need to do (put a layer of hot glue on the edges if you don't want to scratch your projects), and if you stick a couple bricks or books underneath then you can even run lengths of wire up from the bottom for better placement and access.

Do you have a link for the vice you are recommending?

I have this mounted at the short end of my workbench, mind you its for woodworking projects:
http://www.rockler.com/9-quick-release-workbench-vise

 

[020Assassin]

  For those who can't justify buying a good helping hands (skip the cheap ones; not worth it), a small drill press vice is a decent alternative. It's heavy and clamps hard enough for anything you'd need to do (put a layer of hot glue on the edges if you don't want to scratch your projects), and if you stick a couple bricks or books underneath then you can even run lengths of wire up from the bottom for better placement and access.

Or you could go to the Sparkfun website, buy 'extra arms', take a piece of wood, drill some holes, stick the arms in...

 

[Armaegis]

Do you have a link for the vice you are recommending?

I have this mounted at the short end of my workbench, mind you its for woodworking projects:
http://www.rockler.com/9-quick-release-workbench-vise

 
Something much much smaller, like this:
http://www.homedepot.com/p/BESSEY-4-in-Drill-Press-Vise-BV-DP40/205023096
http://www.harborfreight.com/4-inch-jaw-capacity-drill-press-vise-30999.html
 
You can usually find them on sale for <$10.

 

[sfo1972]

Something much much smaller, like this:
http://www.homedepot.com/p/BESSEY-4-in-Drill-Press-Vise-BV-DP40/205023096
http://www.harborfreight.com/4-inch-jaw-capacity-drill-press-vise-30999.html

You can usually find them on sale for <$10.

I love harborfreight tools
I get lost in there for hours...lol

Thanks for the link.

 

[Honkytime]

  Just bought one of these Sparkfun Third Hands. I'm pretty excited about the upgrade, it's long overdue.
 
 
Anyone else using one of these? How do you like it? 
 

that thing is the schiit i can see me having one in the near future

 

[Edwii]

Can someone reccomend a US or Canada West coast supplier of Canare or Mogami?  All I can find is east coast sellers, which means a good chunk of shipping costs.   
 
I'm specifcly looking for " Canare L-4E6S  " but the Mogami equivelnt might be fine if cost effective.

 

[PETEREK]

Redco sells Canare and Mogami pretty cheaply, they ship from CT I think which is the East coast, but their prices on the actual product make up for the shipping costs you'll have to pay if you buy enough.

 

[theodoro]

Hello. I want to make a custom cable for my HD600 and i will use the quad mogami cable (can't remember number)
Questions:
1) I should "destroy" the cable just to get the 4 main cables, right?
2) Will the 3/16" sleeving be ok for all (4) cables? Is it going to be tight/loose? Should i use paracord instead?

 

[Groundzero]

Hi everyone,
I'm looking to make some RCA ICs to replace the store bought ones I have now. I picked out cable, but can't decide on the connectors. I looked at Viablue and Furutech, but their lowest price copper connectors are still $60 for 2 pair. Since I'll be making 3 sets of ICs, the cost adds up quickly. Can anyone suggest some less expensive connectors without going to brass cores? Thank you.

 

[scizzro]

  Hi everyone,
I'm looking to make some RCA ICs to replace the store bought ones I have now. I picked out cable, but can't decide on the connectors. I looked at Viablue and Furutech, but their lowest price copper connectors are still $60 for 2 pair. Since I'll be making 3 sets of ICs, the cost adds up quickly. Can anyone suggest some less expensive connectors without going to brass cores? Thank you.

Soniccraft has the Furutech OCC Gold plated RCA's at $21.50 a pair.. Slightly better than the price you quoted, if you want to stick with the Furutech. 
 
http://www.soniccraft.com/product_info.php/furutech-fp-126-rca-p-1771

 

[020Assassin]

Mine is a discarded iron from my younger brother (who is the technical wizard in our house), when he upgraded to something you seem to have. The soldering station I bought is a 48W adjustable with tempartures of 150-450 Celsius. And the third hands are the usual version. I checked out the Sparkfun website. Very nice. So you buy a baseplate with two arms and you can buy extra amrs and a fan and a maginfier, et cetera, separately? Good concept. A bit expensive for my modest soldering (I don't think I will solder more than once a month or so), but for you I can see that it's pretty much mandatory.

 
Pictures: