Inspired by Karen's Essentials The Learning Circuit

RE: Inspired by Karen's Essentials The Learning Circuit

ntewinkel — Sun, 16 Dec 2018 02:10:26 GMT

This is such a great idea, John!

I've been juggling and struggling with the little parts too, having those same issues of things not quite lining up.

I might have to combine your advice with those in the comments to make something here too!

-Nico

RE: Inspired by Karen's Essentials The Learning Circuit

Jan Cumps — Sat, 15 Dec 2018 09:10:33 GMT

A sponge and rubber bands also work surprisingly well to keep through-hole components in place.

place components (group by height - resistors, axial caps and ICs, small transistors can all go in one batch).
lay the sponge on top of the components.
fix sponge to the pcb with some rubber bands. the broad flat ones work best.
turn the board around.
solder

no need for a PCB vise or for bending the leads. If you smell something burning, look for another brand of sponge.

RE: Inspired by Karen's Essentials The Learning Circuit

mcb1 — Sat, 15 Dec 2018 09:06:07 GMT

Very clever idea [mention:f80b53cee57c44bc9d7c577d07d7c791:e9ed411860ed4f2ba0265705b8793d05]

The pcb holder also looks great.

I've never tended to use one, but mostly my components have full length leads so it isn't a problem.

You may have just invented the next challenge .... repurposing clips into component holders.

Thanks for sharing it.

Mark

RE: Inspired by Karen's Essentials The Learning Circuit

jw0752 — Sat, 15 Dec 2018 04:02:27 GMT

The circuit board holder arrived today so I was eager to test it in conjunction with the clamp. Here are pictures of my first test.

[View:/resized-image/__size/620x465/__key/commentfiles/f7d226abd59f475c9d224a79e3f0ec07-64c3ee2f-9c48-4bab-a519-f5de2147cf2f/8666.contentimage_5F00_189394.jpg:620:465]

8 Pin DIP clamped in place on the circuit board.

[View:/resized-image/__size/620x465/__key/commentfiles/f7d226abd59f475c9d224a79e3f0ec07-64c3ee2f-9c48-4bab-a519-f5de2147cf2f/3808.contentimage_5F00_189395.jpg:620:465]

The board has been flipped without disturbing the clamp.

[View:/resized-image/__size/620x465/__key/commentfiles/f7d226abd59f475c9d224a79e3f0ec07-64c3ee2f-9c48-4bab-a519-f5de2147cf2f/5127.contentimage_5F00_189396.jpg:620:465]

The component has been soldered prior to removal of the clamp.

John

RE: Inspired by Karen's Essentials The Learning Circuit

neilk — Fri, 14 Dec 2018 19:12:29 GMT

Great idea.

I asked my wife & she offered me plastic ones........

Nei

RE: Inspired by Karen's Essentials The Learning Circuit

DAB — Thu, 13 Dec 2018 19:56:19 GMT

Great build John.

I would add a grounding strap to the device, just in case.

DAB

RE: Inspired by Karen's Essentials The Learning Circuit

genebren — Thu, 13 Dec 2018 16:18:27 GMT

Very cool clamps! Working mostly with SMD components, tweezers are my go to tools. For larger chips and connectors, I use reverse action tweezers to hold the part in place until I can solder enough pins to stabilize the part. The problem with this approach is that the clamping force is not always parallel to the PCB and the part will not settle flat to the board, either that or the tweezers will slip off and launch the part (sometimes not to be found). For most of the smaller parts (resistors, capacitors and low pin-count ICs), I use normal tweezers to hold and position the part while I tack down one pin (usually I presolder one pin on these parts, so I don't need to handle the solder while tacking down the part).

I can see how a nice clamp like yours could improve some of my solder experiences. So, are you going to start marketing these parts through Tag-Connect (Neil)?

Well done!

Gene

RE: Inspired by Karen's Essentials The Learning Circuit

makerkaren — Thu, 13 Dec 2018 16:05:01 GMT

Wow, that clamp looks super handy! Given that I typically use clips to manage my hair, I'd probably take a broken clip I already have lying around and modify it so I wouldn't have to rig up the spring part as much. What a great idea! Glad to see you're getting something out of TLC.

RE: Inspired by Karen's Essentials The Learning Circuit

luislabmo — Thu, 13 Dec 2018 14:35:38 GMT

Hi John!,

This is a very practical Idea! (I try something similar with my 3rd hand).

My only complain with this kind of approach is when soldering male headers, as they get hot (mostly the ones that go to GND that usually require extra time to solder and therefore melt a little the plastic base that holds them in place) they may get pushed leaving the pins not uniform.

[View:/resized-image/__size/214x154/__key/commentfiles/f7d226abd59f475c9d224a79e3f0ec07-64c3ee2f-9c48-4bab-a519-f5de2147cf2f/contentimage_5F00_189389.png:214:154]

Luis

RE: Inspired by Karen's Essentials The Learning Circuit

dougw — Thu, 13 Dec 2018 14:06:27 GMT

Very clever clamp. Heavy wire has so many uses.

You could write a book on uses of 12 gage wire.

RE: Inspired by Karen's Essentials The Learning Circuit

shabaz — Thu, 13 Dec 2018 08:15:47 GMT

Hi John,

Great to see those round-nosed pliers coming handy! : )

Very nice way to solve the clothes-peg type clip problem of wrong angle, by having that large loop!

RE: Inspired by Karen's Essentials The Learning Circuit

Gough Lui — Thu, 13 Dec 2018 08:00:24 GMT

I find myself a little too lazy to bother.

Honestly speaking, I do have some PCB holders and helping hands, as well as some "clip-on" heatsinks from my "beginner" days. But when I need something soldered down, either I bend the leads slightly to hold them in place, or I do the "juggling" act with an iron in one hand and the board and component in the other. I find that with a quick technique, it's easy to tack solder one leg into place to hold the component, then solder the remaining leg nicely, and then come back to touch up the first leg. In this way, I've even managed to solder pin headers, holding on the plastic surrounding the leg I am not applying heat to. Keeping my fingernails at a moderate length also helps prevent burns [View:/resized-image/__size/16x16/__key/commentfiles/f7d226abd59f475c9d224a79e3f0ec07-64c3ee2f-9c48-4bab-a519-f5de2147cf2f/contentimage_5F00_1.png:16:16]. If the first leg doesn't quite get in the right height that I like, I often pivot it back into place during the last touch-up step.

- Gough

RE: Inspired by Karen's Essentials The Learning Circuit

baldengineer — Thu, 13 Dec 2018 06:54:54 GMT

That is a clever solution. When building through-hole, I use masking tape to hold parts in place. For plastic parts like ICs, this works fine. The problem is metal components like header pins; which brings me to a question for you.

Have you tried soldering header pins with the clip touching them, as you show in the 3rd picture? I'm just curious if the copper starts to act like a heat sink.