First off, I will preface that this was NOT my idea, but I felt compelled to post it because I thought that all of the people on E14 who solder could find it handy and useful. I saw it pop up on an Instructables feed that I get very regularly. If you do not follow the instructables site, I strongly recommend it. Lots of crazy good ideas. The link to the initial article is HERE it was written by ptkrf.
This project really caught my eye because it reminded me so much of the simple, albeit super functional, shop ideas that my old man jw0752 comes up with all of the time. Thus I decided to preface this blog with his conventional "Shop Tips" title.
The basic idea of this project is to use a Pentel Side FX Mechanical Pencil to mechanically feed solder. You remove the eraser section of the back of the pencil and use an appropriate sized mechanical pencil for the diameter of the solder that you are using.
Improvements on the design included methods to hold a supply of solder at the end of the device:
The first one used a paint can spray tip that was bored out and fitted to the back of the pencil to allow solder to flow through and a tube of solder was taped to the back of the pencil.
The next one is the image that really made me think of my dad and his creative ideas. They used a sewing bobbin and some bent copper wire to hold a "spool" of solder.
A simple one handed conveniently sized solder feeder! Awesome! Man, everytime I say "Awesome", I think that I sound like Australian DAVE!
Top Comments