This project is a basically a sleeve/glove mounted cordless soldering station I built using mostly reused materials. It has two "helping hands", a flashlight, soldering iron, a magnetic soldering spool holder, and runs off some old laptop batteries. I mounted it on a sock sewn to a glove that I had lost the other left hand, and used elastic straps from a broken pair of suspenders. Right now I'm charging the batteries off of an AC wall adapter but I'm currently working on solar charger for it and my other power tools.

Step 1: Materials and Tools

Materials Used

"Trash"/Dumpster Dived:
4 cells from Laptop Battery Pack
Assorted Switches
Electric Screwdriver with broken gearbox
A bit, 8mm to be exact, that I stripped horribly being foolish and trying it on a nut that didn't quite fit.
Remaining Right Hand Fingerless Glove from an Old Costume
Black Sock that had holes in the toe
Flexible Wire that remains in place after being positioned
Bracket that I found on road, bent it straight then bent into spool holder for Solder Roll
Coiled cord from old cell phone car charger-that kind that streches out and coils back like a corded land-line phone.
small diameter electrical wires scavenged from various things that I've dumpster dived

Purchased New:
Soldering Iron Tip
E-10 Lamp Base/Socket
Roll of Electrical Tape
Small Alligator Clips

Tools:
Small Screwdrivers
Soldering Iron
5-Minute Epoxy
Wire Strippers
Pliers

Step 2: Disassemble the Electric Screwdriver and Modifying the Circuitry

The first thing I did was dissassemble the Electric Screwdriver that I had previously attempted to make a cordless soldering iron. After removing the circuitry and parts from the case I removed the battery pack, the bulb/tip holder from previous attempt at a cordless soldering gun(or the gearbox if it had been not previously modified), and the old plate that had functioned as part of a switch to the LED

Next I added the Battery Pack I made from the cells from a laptop I had found in a dumpster-well the bottom half of a laptop at least. The Battery Pack has a can hold 8.4V, But I'll only be charging it to a little over 6V with this circuit, so I won't have to worry about overcharging the battery.

Then I attached the coiled cord from the old cell phone car charger to the leads that used to go the to drill motor. I added a toggle switch at the base of the cord so I can control the On/Off of the soldering Iron.I added the E-10 Lamp Socket to the other end of the cord.I also Secured the Old switch into the On Position, and will use the toggle switch i installed in line to control the soldering Iron. I didn't have any switches around that would work as a substitute for this switch so that was my workaround.

I also added a small on/off switch to the LED, and extended the wires that went to the Charging Port/Charge Indicator LED's

Step 3: Building the Soldering Station

Now that the wiring was modifed into the layout I needed, I then fit the pieces together, secured them with epoxy, and then wrapped them with electrical tape to keep them safe/prevent short circuits from runaway solder. I made a holder for the soldering iron using the bit holder from the electric screwdriver. I attached the bit holder at an angle, and then epoxied the E-10 lamp holder to cavity of the stripped 8mm bit, so that it. I also placed the hard drive magnet adjacent to the bit holder to strengthen the hold on the bit(now soldering iron bit!) and also to create a magnetic platform to hold any tiny metal parts. In the end it produced a holder for the soldering iron that will keep it from melting the circuitry/battery/myself when it is operating.

Step 4: Sewing the Glove and Sleeve, and Attaching the Soldering Station

For this step I just sewed the fingerless glove to the sock to basically make a long glove, and then I positioned the soldering station where I wanted it, and attached the elastic strap pieces from an old set of suspenders in order to slide the station into and secure it. This is also the step where I added the spool to hold the roll of solder. As you can see in the pictures, I bent it into shape to hold the roll of solder so it can spin without falling off when its upside down. I then slid this piece under the elastic strap on top of the magnet from the hard drive, as shown in the pictures below.

Tah-Dah, thats it!