Introduction: Ultimate Helping Hands/Station
Well we just finished our project for the ultimate helping hands, just exactly what is the Ultimate Helping Hand Station? well it's a soldering station that pretty much does everything. Hold your iron, cleans it, tins it, holds ur project, illuminates your working area, etc etc etc. Take a look at our video to see what were talking about I hope you enjoy this and leave us some feedback.
HM-Innovations
Step 1: Gathering the Parts
You're going to need the following supplies for your helping hands.
4 pieces of 6" 12 gauge copper wire segments
4 alligator clips, make sure they are not to strong or to weak, after all they will be your helpers.
1 piece of metal sheeting (you pick your preferred size, ours came out of a project box lid we didn't use)
a 5mm 3.6v LED
a 210 ohm resistor
a 3/4 of an inch pience of plywood the same size as your metal sheet.
a 9v battery
a 9v battery connection
1 Switch
Tinner and Cleaner for your soldering tip
1" x 3/4" pience of PVC pipe.
1 Metal cleaner to scrape extra solder from your gun
1 Altoid Can
1 Lighter Cap
and
a LOT of aluminum Tape.
Step 2: Getting the Hands Ready
Using a soldering gun attach a 6" piece of 12 gauge copper wire to your alligator clamps, this will prevent them fromfalling off later on during the heavy movement.
After you have that soldered youre going to need to place electrical tape around the soldered joint in order to add extra protection and also it makes it look better.
when you have odne those two steps you need to fold the tip inwards onto any direction you want, and then fold the 12 gauge wire 3" from the top.
SEE ILLUSTRATION FOR THIS PROCESS
Step 3: Placing the Hands Onto the Board
We are using the lid to an old project box we bought from radio shack, if you have seen our Coil Gun video we used a project box for that video. if you havent seen it click here
www.hm-innovations.com/Coil_Gun.php
The project box comes with two lids, a metal lid, and a plastic lid, so we used the metal lid since it had pre drilled holes already.
We then placed duck tape on the oposing end to keep our hands in place.
Step 4: Cutting Out the Base
we found a 3/4" piece of plywood laying around our project and using our DualSaw (tm) we were able to easily cut a rectangular section that matched the same size as our project box lid.
We then drilled a small hole in the center of our lid and into our board and using a screw we made sure that the base was held in place.
Step 5: Adding Extra Stuff
We bought a tip tinner and cleaner from radio shack for like 2 dollars and using 3m adhesive tape we stuck it on one side of our project box.
The next step was to grab an old piece of PVC we had left over from our Cryptex project and we wrapped that with alluminum tape to prevent it from being burned by the soldering gun. We left the sticky side of the tape facing upwards and we placed a copper sponge in the center to clean out our tip. (see 3rd picture of our illustration) then we placed that on the side of our base and we used alluminum tape to hold everything down.
We then used an old altoid can we had left around and we flattened the lid of teh altoid can using a hammer. We then wrapped that around the handle of a screw driver to turn it into a cone. and we placed it behind our soldering cleaner
Step 6: Making the LED Switch
we used a 220 ohm resistor, a switch, a 9v battery, and a 3.6v LED light to make a switch once we got everything working we went ahead and installed the 9v battery to the base of our helping hands, installed the switch , and installed an LED holder
We then soldered the LED to the 220 ohm resistor and soldered them to the LED holder.
The last step was take a lighter cap and place it on our LED to prevent us from getting flashed when we were soldering, the LED is very bright.
Step 7: Finished Product
we finally finished our project and tested it out, the results were amazing!
We hope you liked our instructable :)
HM-Innovations
26 Comments
7 years ago
Looks like a great project which I definitely need. Just a thought though, replace the electrical tape wrap with heat shrink tubing. Looks much better, and will never get sticky and gooey on you!
10 years ago on Step 6
What is this LED holder made up of? Is it the 12 gauge copper wire or is this a separate component?
11 years ago on Introduction
Dear friends, thanks a lot for this amazing group of information, I work sometimes with electronic and I had some problems with the soldering process and you exposed the solution here. Congratulations. Thanks again.
11 years ago on Introduction
Instead of making a holder from a altoids tin, take a 3/4" dowel or piece of pvc that's about 1' long. Drill a 1/8" hole about 1" from either end. Then get 2' of bare 12 gauge copper wire or heavy steel wire. Stick about 3" through the drilled hole, and bend it at a right angle. Wrap the wire around the dowel, so that it looks a bit like a spring. It makes a nice and cheap soldering iron holder, that's pretty easy to attach.
11 years ago on Introduction
I made one of these to make one of these
11 years ago on Introduction
awsome......the perfect assistant tool
11 years ago on Introduction
Your add is annoying. 1 star.
11 years ago on Introduction
the Lighter part give it a fine touch...awesome...thx 4 share
11 years ago on Introduction
you are a genious! i dont have one of those metal board things laying around the house so where would i get one and for how much? but if its on any regular household item, what would it be?
Reply 11 years ago on Introduction
You might be better off finding a sheet of aluminum and cutting it to size. You should be able to find a sheet at your hardware store or order online from onlinemetals.
Speaking of the aluminum sheet it would be a lot better if you placed screws in each corner of the sheet instead of one in the center. That way the sheet is held down more securely and will not rotate.
Reply 11 years ago on Introduction
You can buy them at radioshack, we bought a Box Kit and this was the lid for the box.
11 years ago on Introduction
Sweet, I need to make one now. I'll look into adding a fume extractor.
12 years ago on Introduction
Greate DIY!
I hardly dare to suggest:
This is mainly for a soldering station. So, why not include a plug for the soldering iron and, drain from it the electricity for the led lamp? With the proper diode and resistor, it would save using the battery.
Also, instead of copper wire, I’d probably try steel cable from an old bike brake. It would be more flexible, and the tension from the four arms would make a stable hold, still allowing some downward flexibility, should you use too much pressure with the iron.
12 years ago on Introduction
Hi i think i will make this for my science project and i'd like to know about how much it would cost. So if anyone knows the answer please respond. thank you!
Reply 12 years ago on Introduction
LED = .59c
Alluminum Tape = $8
Board (Free if you can find one around teh house)
Cables ($3)
Switch = 1.99
Tinner 2.99
Copper Tip Cleaner (the thing at the top right) .99c
Battery ... $1-$3
Alligator Clamps $2
Total our project was $4 dollars since we had everything laying around.
but you can get everything for under $20.00
12 years ago on Introduction
It seems like cutting the same thing but out of wood, then covering it in something that doesn't burn would be a better solution. I guess the best we could get is non-conductive, non-flammable, and easy to clean (maybe). If anyone wants to expand the idea, please do. Would love to see someone actually do it. Sorry for the thread jack xD.
13 years ago on Introduction
That looks amazing! Good work!
13 years ago on Step 1
it's spelled solder not sauder .
just thought you might want to know.
13 years ago on Introduction
Hang on. Here you go, https://www.instructables.com/id/Helping-Hands-Hack/ check it out!
13 years ago on Introduction
The lighter tip on the led is a great Idea.