Secret Tools of the Trade

[ch1naski]

Just found a "helping hands" at Harbor Freight for about 5 bucks, has a magnifying glass on it about 3 inch diameter, and it's got led's in it. Plus a solder iron holder and small parts tray built into the cast iron stand.  Puts the standard helping hands to shame.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk HD

[culturejam]

Three things have changed my life for the better in building pedals:

[jimilee]

I have one of those too, it's way handy for holding pots and wires while you're soldering. I don't use the iron holder, my station has one already.

[RobA]

Absolutely on that solder station. I love my Hakko. One of the best things about that one is the way the iron holder works. It really helps my workflow.

I have the same Panavise too -- a big help.

I hadn't seen that desolder gun before. It looks nice!

[mjcyates]

I just received that exact soldering station for my birthday. I love it! Finally get to retire my Rat Shack iron.

[lincolnic]

Yeah, everyone should have a Panavise.

[culturejam]

I hadn't seen that desolder gun before. It looks nice!

It really is insanely awesome. Tonight I used it to remove 4 board-mount pots and 2 board-mount jacks from a plated through-hole PCB...took about 2 minutes from start to totally finished.

It ain't cheap, though. I got it as a Xmas gift. 

[derevaun]

+1 on the Tapered Reamer. I think it was suggested in Electronic Projects for Musicians so I grabbed one--it's the only surviving thing from those days.

I use a loupe quite a lot. And a chart that converts 334 to 330nF to .3uF to 330,000pF, because i've got better uses for my feeble brainpower than storing stuff like that.

[timbo_93631]

Photo, please!

In the lower middle of the picture to the left of the small desk you can see it, and the workspace in general

[alanp]

I don't think I've seen it mentioned anywhere, but next time I see one of those little cordless electric-motorized screwdrivers at Mitre 10 Mega, I'm getting one.

I'm sick of doing up and undoing four blimmin' screws on the bottom of these enclosures.

Picked up a heat gun at the Ware-whare with some Xmas money no more using the soldering iron on heatshrink! (A Bic lighter doesn't work. The heatshrink just catches fire.)