4th Arm holder for electronics

[BobL]

Visiting my son this morning for the usual visit about 3d printing and electronics and I saw him using one of these.

383251

I've seen these before but never seen one of the arms being used to funnel/position solder to where it was needed.

[bueller]

Never seen those before, look much better than those horrible third hand holders from Altronics etc.

[Uncle Al]

Never seen those before, look much better than those horrible third hand holders from Altronics etc.

These are the hoses used for coolant on lathes etc. A bit of searching and you should be able to find a source of the hose only without the little valve on the end. Also very handy for directing an airflow from a compressor onto a scroll saw etc. to clear the dust away (directed towards the dust extractor!)

Alan...


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[BobL]

These are the hoses used for coolant on lathes etc. A bit of searching and you should be able to find a source of the hose only without the little valve on the end. Also very handy for directing an airflow from a compressor onto a scroll saw etc. to clear the dust away (directed towards the dust extractor!)

Alan...

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Yes I already have one of these on my MW lathe but I got mine on eBay where a half dozen of those hoses cost half the price of a single one at H&F
6 PCS 1 4" Round Nozzle Plastic Flexible Water OIL Coolant Pipe Hose 30cm Switch | eBay (http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/6-Pcs-1-4-Round-Nozzle-Plastic-Flexible-Water-Oil-Coolant-Pipe-Hose-30cm-Switch/191676067359?_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20140106155344%26meid%3D53067e27889748f79aaa8a6ddcc17e20%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D4%26rkt%3D6%26sd%3D201123797824)

[DavidG]

Thanks for the info. Little hoses are on order. :2tsup:

[BobL]

I got my little hoses on Friday and managed to knock this up the morning.

It also gives me somewhere to locate my old "helping hands" gizmo, which I still find useful.

387208

6mm Al plate with edges rounded over using a router.

The red squirty ends of the hoses take a 4mm tap and the alligator clips have 4mm threaded pieces soldered onto them.
Using only first 1/3rd of a starting tap on the quirky end means there is enough friction between the threads for the alligator clips to be rotated so they stay in position although a locking wingnut could also be used if needed.

The other end of the hoses have a plastic 1/2" UNF thread but the plastic mould lines are quite prominent and prevent them screwing into the al plate even under some force.
I ran a 1/2" UNF die over the thread but it grabbed too easily and I managed to cross thread the die on the feisty one then I remembered the trick of using light machine oil as a lube and the die went on dead easy.

[NathanaelBC]

I backed https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/711680980/mini-hand-the-most-versatile-third-hand on Kickstarter, also now available from Hobby Creek (http://www.hobbycreek.com/)

[BobL]

I have since found out there is an "Instructable" web page Third Hand++: A multi-use helping hand for electronics and other delicate work. (http://www.instructables.com/id/Third-Hand-A-multi-use-helping-hand-for-electro/) with 348k views and a 9 year history on building these things.

If these interest you it's worth having a look through the photos in the Instructable comments because other persons have come up with many different variations and uses.

Since making mine I have found out that the thread on the base of the coolant nozzle hoses is 1/4" BSP (19 TPI, 0D 13.16mm) while I thought they were 1/2" UNF (20 TPI, OD 12.7mm) which is probably why I had trouble getting the threads in to begin with. Although I have both sizes of taps and dies, if all you have are the UNF taps and dies then running a 1/2" UNF over the plastic thread with a drop of machine oil will easily re-size the thread.

Of course it's not necessary to use Al for the base, wood would work and the coolant nozzles could be just screwed into a tight fitting hole.