Best Soldering Vice/extra hand

Dsmagnussen

Member
I am looking for suggestions on the best soldering vice / third hand for soldering mic cables and other cables. Let me know what you like, please?

Thank you for your help.
 
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Well... it depends... :angryoldman:I mean in our shop we have 3? sizes of vises, plus the standard helping hands autobot crab pincer thingy... I like each of them for different things and different cables. So.... "best" is highly subjective... I can also say I started soldering with a $15 hobby iron and no vise.... I now have 2/3 irons and paid A LOT more than $15... but I suppose

this little bugger from Harbor Freight has honestly never let me down...

and a tabletop vise like this one is a typical go to favorite on my bench...
 
this little bugger from Harbor Freight has honestly never let me down...

I use this guy all the time. The only thing I dislike about it is, when I'm working with smaller wires, the alligator clips can be pretty harsh on the insulation.
 
I have a Panavise but it's heavy and not ideal for working on plugs/connectors.

The slickest solutions I've seen are using dummy plugs mounted in a panel that you plug the connectors into while you're working on them, or having appropriately sized holes in wood or 3D printed that you can drop the plugs into. Here are some images from a conversation about this a while back on one of the AV facebook groups. There's also a premade version you can get.


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I've only had intermittent luck with helping hands sorts of soldering aids. It seems that half the time for me, the act of soldering causes the things to slip around and move about despite their being clamped, and I have to end up holding them in place manually anyhow. Sometimes they're awfully fiddly to adjust to the right position, too. Maybe I've just used less than ideal versions of them; it's certainly believable that versions beyond my price range work better.

One trick I've often found helpful is to wrap the length of solder a couple times around my index finger and then leave a couple inches extending out, so that I can use that finger alone to apply the solder while still holding onto something with the rest of the hand.
 
On top of the helping hands devices I like to use my Milwaukee M12 soldering iron. With a bigger XC battery it can stand up on its own at verticle, 45* or 90*. Then I can use both hands to manipulate the work and solder.
 
I've only had intermittent luck with helping hands sorts of soldering aids.
I'm with you. I generally hold the iron in one hand and feed the solder with two fingers from the other. That leaves the other fingers to hold the items. It takes a little dexterity and sometimes things get dropped.
 
I have never had luck with the helping hand devices. They always seem to let go and tip when it is least convenient. I got use to using my multitool with a rubber band on the hand end (for tension) to hold the connector. This freed up a hand for solder. Works well for me. One less gadget to haul around.

~Dave
 
I found this video courtesy of Adam Savage interesting. He builds a portable soldering station, his solution for helping hands is quite intriguing and I may try it myself.

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Hit up American Science and Surplus "sciplusDOTcom" They have a ton of great solder stations.
 
I want a prehensile tail with an opposable thumb.
 
Hit up American Science and Surplus "sciplusDOTcom" They have a ton of great solder stations.

They have a wild retail store. It was a fun place to browse because it's like one of those old used bookstores where sometimes even they don't know what's on their shelves. The bins of discombobulated doll parts have never stopped creeping me out though.
 
They have a wild retail store. It was a fun place to browse because it's like one of those old used bookstores where sometimes even they don't know what's on their shelves. The bins of discombobulated doll parts have never stopped creeping me out though.
Omg! I would LOVE to visit in person. We used to have a similar place called Wacky Willys here in pdx just not as well run
 
I never knew what they were called, but we have one of those in the shop. It is a lifesaver!
And with the V-grooved nylon jaws, they're FABULOUS when it comes to gripping 1/4" connectors over their entire length preventing rotation while neither deforming nor excessively pinching the connector at any point along its length.
Similarly, the V-grooved nylon jaws will grip many tubular connectors, and / or their inserts, without grounding them ( Of course none of us would EVER work on "live" connectors. No, we'd NEVER do that, neither in public nor on the internet).
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard
 
I always keep a pair of 6" forceps in my bag. They are awesome for grabbing the tiny wire and manipulating it to bend and sit just right before you start to solder.
 
I have an earlier version of this helping hands. It's great. My only complaint is that it is lightweight and can tip over easily, but a piece of gaff on each side of the base fixes that perfectly.
We also have the hexapus at work for more complicated projects.
 

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