[CBMC]

I had ordered some quadstar wire and some connectors from Markertech. Anyway, I have made a few wires in the past and my problem always is that the wire moves on me alot when soldering to the terminals, which alot will cause me cold joints. I was wondering if anyone out there knows of any good tricks to remedy this, or of any tools that make this job easier. Anyways, thanks in advance.

 

[mikey]

hi, try helping hands - its a device that looks like something out of star wars - with two arms on a bar at the end of which are alligator clips - on the bar a magnifying glass - attached to a relatively weighty stand. i tried looking for a pic of this over the net but no luck. another useful item is a portable plastic vise. these will usually be found in hardware or component shops. a simple tool - blutak - this holds the wires to be worked on in place - position the blutak below and over the wires - perhaps an inch away from the part to be soldered. and once soldered - let it cool down thoroughly or you will have a tough time removing the blutak which would be warm and gooey - but once cooled, it comes off very easily. you will have to use enough blutak below the wires to raise it off the table of course.

 

[CBMC]

where do I find bluetack?

 

[tommyatkins]

craft/art stores, educational materials stores (for hanging posters, etc), and some hardware stores.

TA

 

[tommyatkins]

Also, here's a pic of the helping hands on an ebay auction.

There are cheaper ones for sale on ebay, but most are difficult to move. I have a really cheap one, and it works great, if I set it in the right position before I fill both my hands. Radio shack has one, but it's way overpriced.

TA

 

[CBMC]

what about this "helping hands" at Parts Express. http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/pshow...number=360-670

 

[tommyatkins]

Looks poor to me. The problem is that when you loosen the wingnut for ajoint, it loosens both ball joints there. Basically, you have three pieces you control with that one wingnut (base arm, arm with clip, and the wingnut join assembly). What would be better is one with one joint per tension device.

Something like this functions just fine, but a better one would be easier to use. Both hold boards, wires and more just fine.

TA

 

[rickcr42]

option 1 : get yourself a 1/2 inch thick pine board of about 10X6 in and drill holes in it of the diameter of the jacks

clamp the sucker to your workbench stick the jack in the hole and solder away

option 2 :same board but with mating jacks instead of holes.

you would not beleive how easy it is to solder to an rca plug when it is plugged into a jack (or hole) with no wiggle and standing upright

 

[hottyson]

Quote:

Originally posted by rickcr42 option 2 :same board but with mating jacks instead of holes.

That's friggin briliant! Simple yet briliant. How come I never come up with simple solutions like that?

 

[Steve Eddy]

Also use a good eutectic solder which doesn't have that long plastic phase to it as some do. Sometimes good ol' 63/37 is hard to beat.

se