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Soldering Iron Stand (Made Out Of Wire)

Soldering Iron Stand (Made Out Of Wire)
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Hello, I have a couple soldering irons, but no stand; I occasionally solder various stuff and i seem to always be using a make-shift, unsafe items to hold the iron.... When I saw this challenge it prompted me to build a stand out of wire. This is my first instructable, so any constructive critisism who be appreciated! Thanks!

This is a Soldering iron stand made out of 18 AWG wire.

Items you will need

- Soldering iron
- Solder
- Saftey glasses
- 18 AWG wire or larger.... it needs to be uninsulated wire!
- Ruler or alternate measuring devise
- A couple of heavy duty pliers
- optional ... a handy vise with alligator clips
- Wire cutters
 
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Step 1How to straighten the wire!

How to straighten the wire!
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First off the wire needs to be straight. Do the following in order to achieve this!

- Cut off a couple feet of wire
- Grip one end of the wire with pliers, then wrap the wire around the pliers a couple times
- Then do the same thing with the other end of the wire and other set of pliers
- Put one end on the ground and stand on it
- Grab the other end with both hands and pull hard
- You will actually feel the wire stretch a little bit
- At this point you now have made the wire straight
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8 comments
Mar 20, 2012. 7:59 PMchris james says:
this is very useful for me and good project
Dec 4, 2011. 9:14 AMFrozenIce says:
wow... if only i had a soldering iron stand while making this..
Dec 1, 2011. 8:30 AMkill-a-watt says:
Nice. This reminds me of my high-school electronics course. Our first project was to make a cube 3" on a side with just 14 gauge copper wire. Our teacher stressed that normally you would twist the wires together to make a sound mechanical joint, but this was a test of measuring and soldering.

He did show us how to straighten the wire. One end went in a vice and the other went into a hand powered drill. You would stretch the wire taut and then twist it with the drill a bit.

He did tell us how much each length had to be made, but give us rulers and told us we would have to measure wire thickness.

He also gave us a demo on how much solder a corner joint should have, and our grade was based on the measurements. He expected far less solder at the joints, but yours are not excessive.
Dec 1, 2011. 7:53 AMme says:
wow nice project, so simple yet effective
and this is like a textbook example of what an 'ible should look like
neat photos and clear step by step instructions!
Nov 30, 2011. 10:21 PMpfred2 says:
Commercial stands look like the one on the right. The one on the left I made before I got my stand, but I made it to resemble a commercial model. Works just like one too.
Dec 1, 2011. 3:44 AMpfred2 says:
I think I can see the resemblance.
Nov 30, 2011. 11:43 PMsusanrm says:
Nice job! I guess now the key is not to let the hot part of the iron touch any of the soldered joins!

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