Between Big Clives and Julians videos, I now switch between the one hand and blu tac soldering.....depending on the job. Rarely use the helping hands anymore. Use the blu tac a lot for kit stuff cos it keeps everything in place.
Going a bit meta here, but this small video shows *exactly* why I like your channel. You not only make a good argument for the blu tack, you also don't let the "I wonder why" stand unsolved, actually testing the switch afterwards and show us how it works and that your assumption about the common pin was right. Completion in under five minutes. Good one!
That's... *brilliant*, Julian. As someone with shaky-hands, I need to use HH's (despite most of them being rubbish) and the moldability of blutack could make awkward soldering jobs much easier (and less frustrating). Thanks very much!
I've learned several tricks from watching your videos - including the benefits of blu Tack. I purchased some a while back - and completely agree with you: it's a much better solution for many soldering challenges !! Thanks !!
It didn't take me long after I discovered this channel to buy some -- it's just such a good idea! Maybe it's a more obvious idea to those in the UK though, because I don't think it's nearly as well known here in the US (although it is widely available). I'd never heard of it before I lived in the UK for a while.
Thanks for turning me on to this stuff. Even though I have a shop and a radio shack, I still love to build small projects on a big cutting mat on the dining room table. Blu Tack handles just about everything and is quick and easy.
As I see almost nobody likes to use soldering paste nowadays. With a good quality soldering paste the solder would be attracted to the metal almost like a magnet, instead of barely sticking to it.
I have to agree with you, blue tack has saved the day many times, I believe you mentioned this a long time ago in another video, I was immediately converted. Cheers Julian.
They both have their pros and cons. I like the helping hands for holding the PCB and Blu Tak for holding the components into the board while I solder them in place
I've been using the blu tack method for about a month on a project I'm working on after seeing it in some of your videos. It is an excellent way to stick things in to place while you get part on the soldering done. My biggest word of advice is to avoid soldering leads that have blu tack in contact with them, it has a tendency to create and leave behind a sticky mess when you remove it.
Yeah I did find that, just dab at it a couple of times and it comes away reasonably easily. I had some that got stuck down in the holes of the PCB and wasn't possible to remove it all.
I have to agree with you that Blu-tac makes for an excellent alternative to helping hands. I've been using Blu-tac for years to hold things in place temporarily while I'm doing something to them like soldering, glueing or manipulating the items. I still use helping hands for some things though as they can give better access when soldering compared to holding the items to the mat with Blu-tac and sometimes the Blu-tac can soften as the item heats up, causing it to move. The helping hands that I use have flexible plastic arms which screw into a weighty machined metal base and so are much easier to use than the cheap ones like you showed in the video. They're quite a bit more expensive but I think it's a good investment as they really save time.
I have never used blu-tack because I have never had any to use :-) I have always used either a PanaVice or Helping Hands, but watching you use Blu Tack totally makes sense how that would be easier. Thumbs up dude, I think I'm going to buy some of that now. :-)
After seeing you other videos I had an occasion to use blutac to hold a little board for soldering. Worked great. I am a blutac convert. Never thought of using it to solder small parts. Cheap at my Dollar store. Thanks for the hint !!!
Yes very good and sticky and leaves no residue. You warm it up in your hands by kneading it which makes it more pliable. I also use it to secure equipment from moving on a table and wires in place and to keep my webcam in place on my monitor. As I previously said I am now using it to help me solder small parts . I stick them down to my workbench and you can do it at any angle by mounding it at the angle you want. It is not a substitute in all cases for a helping hand.
I've got a lot of old parts from an old CRT repairman, so I know about tarnish. I use plumbers Baker Soldering Fluid, just one dab and heat with iron and solder sticks like crazy.
I've heard about the corrosion problems but I've never seen it, and I've got PCBs here that are 35 years old. Maybe there are some extenuating circumstances.
Flux is for removing the oxidation layer that forms over time on metal. Maybe put some on before soldering (aside from what is embedded in the solder itself). What is blue tac exactly?
I like it. I own two sets of "third hands", one being very cheap and the other one is a red one from Weller. They both have their place in my hobby "lab" but when working on very small PCBs or even connecting parts directly none of the ones I own helps as much as I had hoped for. Your blu-tack looks very promising. I will however try to color it with pigment powder just to avoid it to look dirty whit or dirty blue. Other than that I'm somewhat excited for the stuff to be delivered and try it out. Cheers mate, thanks for the great videos! Keep them coming! Do you have a Patreon account by the way?
How did you guess that the corroded pin was, specifically, common? It looked like it was a different metal than the other lugs, so I'd have assumed that that's the reason for its corrosion, probably like how sacrificial anodes work, but how did you guess its connection?
some comments elsewhere suggest that effects of blu tack on solder pads and/or joints are not yet known, if they're corrosive, for example... thoughts?
Nice job, but if you had have tinned all surfaces first, then wicked away the excess solder, the parts would have soldered together even more cleanly. You should do an experiment soldering to headers together first without tinning, then solder two headers together with pre-tinning and look at the results under a magnifier. I think you will find some beautiful blobs of evenly spread solder on the later.
What happens when you blue-tack an all-metal part for soldering and the heat flows through the part to the blue-tack? Smoke? Odor? General pandemonium?
One of my helping hands, has a 3rd slider and claw (taken off a different helping hands) making it easier to get parts into alignment in many cases. I think your method with blu tack may work better for certain things but it also looks more fiddly and time consuming. Maybe it's down to which way you're used to doing things. Also I find helping hands easier to use if you drill holes through the iron base and bolt it onto a larger piece of metal, to add both more weight and extra stability from the larger footprint. The plate metal I used on the base was aluminum, and since I didn't want it reflecting back much light in cases where it was precision work that needed light shining down towards it, I gave it a wire brush finish, then being lazy, instead of anodizing it I just soaked it in bleach for a minute to turn it a dull anti-reflective gray color. I suppose I could have painted it flat instead, but wanted to experiment with rapid oxidation of aluminum using bleach. It is not a "pretty" finish cosmetically, but from a utilitarian perspective, works fine to just prevent glare... plus I was all out of flat paint but had the tablespoon of bleach to spare.
Ok, I'm game. Where do us Amurricans get this blootak stuff? Is 10 pounds (as in 'weight') a good start? Will it hold down a frog during biology class dissection?
I have those helping hands.. the only time I've used them so far was to remove the magnifying glass off the top to get some extra magnification over my wearable loupes. They're just awkward!
Hi Julian, thanks for amazing video, please can you describe closer what type of blue mass are you using in your videos? I ve never seen anything like that - except playdough for kids. Thank you
The product is called Blu Tack and made by Bostik. It's a putty like substance to temporarily stick things together, like posters to walls. I think Pritt also do a version that's white.
Hi Julian, your videos are fantastic , informative and I throughly enjoy watching them. I have learned a lot and new techniques. Thanks for your many projects and sharing them on RUclips. Question: what material is the white board your using to stick the Blu Tak to?
He said crocodile... awesome. yeah, the putty tak is good stuff. iv'e used heavy neo mags from hdds on some components that don't care from time to time. great vid and thanks.
Interesting - I did not realize there was such a visceral debate on the interwebs surrounding blue-tac vs. helping hands. One thing is for sure though you'll have a difficult time holding the last of your left handed cigarette with blue-tac - those alligator clips are removable.... I choose not to choose sides here as the Helping Hands Union (HHU) vs. the Blue-Tac Cabal are powerful forces for sure. Great video (as always) Julian
Helping hands - love, hate. I hit the hardware store to get some Belleville springs to put on each thumbscrew so they would be spring loaded and allow easy movement and retention without fiddling with the thumbscrews. They had none but I grabbed a couple push nuts (similar shape to a Belleville spring) and it worked perfect. I haven't touched the thumbscrews since. Everyone, do this to your Helping Hands. You will love it. But, blue tack is great stuff. Even my white tack is great!! :-)
These "helping hands" are an invention straight out of hell. optimized by some sadistic controller shaving all spossible cost leaving ust a look of a thing possibly useful that's unusable on so many levels at once.
Blue tac has its advantage,s but one major disadvantage. That is when it gets hot it releases poisonous gases. So not only do you have the solder fumes but also the blue tac fumes. Personally I use helping hands and an old CPU heat sink as a work surface that way extra heat is safely dispersed before effecting the blue tac if and when I rarely use it.
One advantage of helpiing hands is that unlike blu tac it doesn't melt and make a gooey mess with the heat of the soldering iron..... I suppose the secret is keeping the blu tack away from the soldering.....
Selling BluTak by the pound. I was convinced within seconds, Julian. I also reckon those so-called Helping Hands are a bit crap in any event, a couple of croc clips on the end of, well, anything, is a bit crap.
Those helping hands are anything but helpful - not flexible enough and don't have enough weight behind them to stop them from moving. I use a vice or blutac all the time. Of course Big Clive could do it one-handed whilst holding a camera.....
Helping Hands - Fox me : I call 'em - Hegemonic Hands - because - hands *R* everywhere - BLUE < very Tacky - stickier than JAM - Maybe - *Dragons' Den* stars _cud_ - COME : up with some-thin' new - get schoolgirls [hopefully not wearing : High Heels ] : to invent stuff - one does *confess* : I think *_R > G_* when it COMES : to - economic justification - USURY the cheapest wins
about 2 years ago i boght a huge stick of plasticine, cost 2.99, blutacks better, been doing this since a teenager as back then helpings hands where like over ten quid and blutack was 50p, so on pocket money choice was premade
"would have helped if you pre tinned the switch legs!?" No More YOU ALL Have Blown This Normal Statement & Question Out Of The Water, So STOP. This was a thought for Julian to answer or not, you all started reasonable then have started igniting flame war; breathe, take a step back and apologize to each other. I can delete this whole thread. I'm a hobbyist of 40 odd years and all my training was by military avionics friends at locations we were based and there are reasons for doing or not some things. One item of training was to alway flux and tin old switch and relay legs that show signs of contamination, to remove said contamination, to make it easier during assembly.
some things need a bit more than basic techniques . like not putting a shit load of unnecessary heat into components when its not needed. especially when their made of plastic
richard arseburger If you don't follow the basics, in the end you'll end up with dry joints. I'm not advocating tens of seconds of preheating, just enough to get the tabs ready for the solder. In this particular case nothing much is going to be damaged be three or four seconds with a good electronics soldering iron.
umm, right. i use modeling clay. the type that needs baking to set it. it won't dry out. i think you could also just use the alligator clips alone and clip the header/microswitch at 2 leads while soldering the 3rd, then clip one of the remaining unsoldered leads and solder the other then solder the last unsoldered lead. no need to use helping hands or the tack. right. ok.
Its so much better, but i hardly get access to where i want to solder.... hmm. One thing is for sure: overcomplicating things eats up a lot of time. Cheerio
The step up modules/boost converters work well, just remember you'll get slightly less power and a lot less current. A 1A, 5V charger is good for around 5W, call it 4W after the inefficiencies of the boost converter. 4W at 12V is only 300mA.
![BRASIL vs. PERÚ [4-0] | RESUMEN | ELIMINATORIAS SUDAMERICANAS | FECHA 10](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/tbyOJKXfQnI/mqdefault.jpg)
Big Clive would have soldered it holding the switch, header and solder all in the same hand :-p
Darren Bottin
ikr, I try to solder like that all the time.
results? ruffly 20% success, 20% solder my fucking skin. remainder mixed bag
Between Big Clives and Julians videos, I now switch between the one hand and blu tac soldering.....depending on the job. Rarely use the helping hands anymore. Use the blu tac a lot for kit stuff cos it keeps everything in place.
watching his videos i usually scream at screen "THAT HURTS!". I dont get how he manage it before the components heats up
He probably uses a hotter iron so that the solder melts quicker.
While all connected on one pole to a potential 10,000 volts and a safety ground connected via a steel butt-plug just in case.
Going a bit meta here, but this small video shows *exactly* why I like your channel. You not only make a good argument for the blu tack, you also don't let the "I wonder why" stand unsolved, actually testing the switch afterwards and show us how it works and that your assumption about the common pin was right. Completion in under five minutes. Good one!
That's... *brilliant*, Julian. As someone with shaky-hands, I need to use HH's (despite most of them being rubbish) and the moldability of blutack could make awkward soldering jobs much easier (and less frustrating).
Thanks very much!
I thought it was only Mary Anne who had the shaky hands?
Me too, been using it ever since I saw Julian do it! Has saved me so much trouble.
I've learned several tricks from watching your videos - including the benefits of blu Tack. I purchased some a while back - and completely agree with you: it's a much better solution for many soldering challenges !! Thanks !!
It didn't take me long after I discovered this channel to buy some -- it's just such a good idea!
Maybe it's a more obvious idea to those in the UK though, because I don't think it's nearly as well known here in the US (although it is widely available). I'd never heard of it before I lived in the UK for a while.
Thanks for turning me on to this stuff. Even though I have a shop and a radio shack, I still love to build small projects on a big cutting mat on the dining room table. Blu Tack handles just about everything and is quick and easy.
I figured out the trick with the Blu Tack a while ago. Absolutely ingenious trick!
I bought a package of blue tack a while back specifically for this purpose. Works a treat. Cheerio!
i'm guessing you had already blutacked your green cuttong mat to the table before? ;)
and the house onto its foundations ;)
muh1h1 shoe sole to the floor?
British construction standards, really. Can confirm from own experience.
Paint the pins with liquid flux. Takes care of the tarnished connections. Nice tip.
As I see almost nobody likes to use soldering paste nowadays. With a good quality soldering paste the solder would be attracted to the metal almost like a magnet, instead of barely sticking to it.
I have to agree with you, blue tack has saved the day many times, I believe you mentioned this a long time ago in another video, I was immediately converted. Cheers Julian.
That switch in a breadboard now really looks like a Morse key :D
They both have their pros and cons. I like the helping hands for holding the PCB and Blu Tak for holding the components into the board while I solder them in place
way to think outside the box (once again). i appreciate this very much.
keep up the great work, Jilian!
Russ from Coral Springs, Florida, USA
Just make helping hands out of blu tack; best of both worlds
That Guy That would be helping Blutac :D
By that logic helping hands should be helping crocodile-clips
The bigger the blob, the better the job.
Buying a pack right away, this is such a great idea!
It reminds me of a tiny Morse code or telegraph key.
I think Julian is going to use Morse code to program the PICs in his tutorials :) Both old technology
I agree. Maybe a Morse Code decoder? Typical 70s project. I would love that.
I received my first Blu Tack yesterday from eBay, this stuff really looks handy.
I've been using the blu tack method for about a month on a project I'm working on after seeing it in some of your videos. It is an excellent way to stick things in to place while you get part on the soldering done.
My biggest word of advice is to avoid soldering leads that have blu tack in contact with them, it has a tendency to create and leave behind a sticky mess when you remove it.
Cheers Tom - the sticky mess is easy to remove with some more Blu Tack :)
Yeah I did find that, just dab at it a couple of times and it comes away reasonably easily.
I had some that got stuck down in the holes of the PCB and wasn't possible to remove it all.
I have to agree with you that Blu-tac makes for an excellent alternative to helping hands. I've been using Blu-tac for years to hold things in place temporarily while I'm doing something to them like soldering, glueing or manipulating the items. I still use helping hands for some things though as they can give better access when soldering compared to holding the items to the mat with Blu-tac and sometimes the Blu-tac can soften as the item heats up, causing it to move. The helping hands that I use have flexible plastic arms which screw into a weighty machined metal base and so are much easier to use than the cheap ones like you showed in the video. They're quite a bit more expensive but I think it's a good investment as they really save time.
I have never used blu-tack because I have never had any to use :-) I have always used either a PanaVice or Helping Hands, but watching you use Blu Tack totally makes sense how that would be easier. Thumbs up dude, I think I'm going to buy some of that now. :-)
After seeing you other videos I had an occasion to use blutac to hold a little board for soldering. Worked great. I am a blutac convert. Never thought of using it to solder small parts. Cheap at my Dollar store. Thanks for the hint !!!
Is it good stuff though? David Watts seems to use pound shop tack stuff and it really doesn't work very well!
Yes very good and sticky and leaves no residue. You warm it up in your hands by kneading it which makes it more pliable. I also use it to secure equipment from moving on a table and wires in place and to keep my webcam in place on my monitor. As I previously said I am now using it to help me solder small parts . I stick them down to my workbench and you can do it at any angle by mounding it at the angle you want. It is not a substitute in all cases for a helping hand.
So, the question is, does the blue tack leave an oily residue if it touches the areas to be soldered?
Donovan Lym: No, at least not the original Blue Tack that I use.
Personally, I use wooden clothespins.. works remarkably well, and I don't have to dig out my 3rd hand or my PCB board holder. Very versatile things.
this is a brilliant idea. thanks!
I've got a lot of old parts from an old CRT repairman, so I know about tarnish. I use plumbers Baker Soldering Fluid, just one dab and heat with iron and solder sticks like crazy.
and one year later, its a pile of green copper oxide.
I've heard about the corrosion problems but I've never seen it, and I've got PCBs here that are 35 years old. Maybe there are some extenuating circumstances.
Flux is for removing the oxidation layer that forms over time on metal. Maybe put some on before soldering (aside from what is embedded in the solder itself). What is blue tac exactly?
I like it. I own two sets of "third hands", one being very cheap and the other one is a red one from Weller. They both have their place in my hobby "lab" but when working on very small PCBs or even connecting parts directly none of the ones I own helps as much as I had hoped for. Your blu-tack looks very promising. I will however try to color it with pigment powder just to avoid it to look dirty whit or dirty blue. Other than that I'm somewhat excited for the stuff to be delivered and try it out. Cheers mate, thanks for the great videos! Keep them coming! Do you have a Patreon account by the way?
How did you guess that the corroded pin was, specifically, common? It looked like it was a different metal than the other lugs, so I'd have assumed that that's the reason for its corrosion, probably like how sacrificial anodes work, but how did you guess its connection?
You could try and use the helping hands to hold the plastic at a better angle for soldering after placing the components with blue tack.
some comments elsewhere suggest that effects of blu tack on solder pads and/or joints are not yet known, if they're corrosive, for example... thoughts?
Nice job, but if you had have tinned all surfaces first, then wicked away the excess solder, the parts would have soldered together even more cleanly. You should do an experiment soldering to headers together first without tinning, then solder two headers together with pre-tinning and look at the results under a magnifier. I think you will find some beautiful blobs of evenly spread solder on the later.
Really nice! But what is "blu tack"? Something you buy or make?
MC's Creations www.bostik.co.uk/diy/product/bostik/Blu-Tack/89
Steve Smith Thanks a lot! :D
MC's Creations
There's a thing called a search engine, Google is a fine example.
What happens when you blue-tack an all-metal part for soldering and the heat flows through the part to the blue-tack? Smoke? Odor? General pandemonium?
Great idea. Ill use it in the future.
One of my helping hands, has a 3rd slider and claw (taken off a different helping hands) making it easier to get parts into alignment in many cases. I think your method with blu tack may work better for certain things but it also looks more fiddly and time consuming. Maybe it's down to which way you're used to doing things.
Also I find helping hands easier to use if you drill holes through the iron base and bolt it onto a larger piece of metal, to add both more weight and extra stability from the larger footprint.
The plate metal I used on the base was aluminum, and since I didn't want it reflecting back much light in cases where it was precision work that needed light shining down towards it, I gave it a wire brush finish, then being lazy, instead of anodizing it I just soaked it in bleach for a minute to turn it a dull anti-reflective gray color. I suppose I could have painted it flat instead, but wanted to experiment with rapid oxidation of aluminum using bleach. It is not a "pretty" finish cosmetically, but from a utilitarian perspective, works fine to just prevent glare... plus I was all out of flat paint but had the tablespoon of bleach to spare.
Used it for decades.
Good uses for both.
Ok, I'm game. Where do us Amurricans get this blootak stuff? Is 10 pounds (as in 'weight') a good start? Will it hold down a frog during biology class dissection?
I have those helping hands.. the only time I've used them so far was to remove the magnifying glass off the top to get some extra magnification over my wearable loupes. They're just awkward!
Helping hands - screw two sets to a heavy piece of wood - stops them sliding, falling and allows objects to be held relative to one another.
Hi Julian, thanks for amazing video, please can you describe closer what type of blue mass are you using in your videos? I ve never seen anything like that - except playdough for kids. Thank you
The product is called Blu Tack and made by Bostik. It's a putty like substance to temporarily stick things together, like posters to walls. I think Pritt also do a version that's white.
Hi Julian, your videos are fantastic , informative and I throughly enjoy watching them. I have learned a lot and new techniques. Thanks for your many projects and sharing them on RUclips. Question: what material is the white board your using to stick the Blu Tak to?
He said crocodile... awesome. yeah, the putty tak is good stuff. iv'e used heavy neo mags from hdds on some components that don't care from time to time. great vid and thanks.
Yeah I prefer alligator clips because they less aggressive than crocodiles.
Interesting - I did not realize there was such a visceral debate on the interwebs surrounding blue-tac vs. helping hands. One thing is for sure though you'll have a difficult time holding the last of your left handed cigarette with blue-tac - those alligator clips are removable.... I choose not to choose sides here as the Helping Hands Union (HHU) vs. the Blue-Tac Cabal are powerful forces for sure. Great video (as always) Julian
My blue tack is yellow.but I love the stuff last long time.thanks to your videos ,I get to barrow your ideas.
Correct, sometimes tack is better. Helping hands are not good for smaller things usually, becomes too fiddly.
Helping hands - love, hate. I hit the hardware store to get some Belleville springs to put on each thumbscrew so they would be spring loaded and allow easy movement and retention without fiddling with the thumbscrews. They had none but I grabbed a couple push nuts (similar shape to a Belleville spring) and it worked perfect. I haven't touched the thumbscrews since. Everyone, do this to your Helping Hands. You will love it. But, blue tack is great stuff. Even my white tack is great!! :-)
How is it different from Tacky Tape (butyl tape) aside from being insanely expensive?
Great idea Julian. Love your channel. It's the only one like it.
Awesome idea! Thanks! It's one of those duh moments, where you realize it should have been obvious!
Charles Snyder
insulation tape and double sided tape is also worth keeping around.
Charles Snyder
pip pip!
Jules, your soldering iron stand is significantly slowing down its heating up.
Great tip.
are you gonna morse in a program in a PIC by clicking that microswitch :)
Brilliantly clever
Me squishing blue tax while watching this
so how does it smell when you put the solderin tip into the blu tack?
Helping hands don't smell like a wet dog when you touch them with your soldering iron though..
Exactly.
Never having tried a dry soldering iron on a wet dog, who would know?
wonderful idea 😀
These "helping hands" are an invention straight out of hell.
optimized by some sadistic controller shaving all spossible cost
leaving ust a look of a thing possibly useful that's unusable on so many levels at once.
"Other colours of TAC are also available" ;)
I suspect that is a date code on the switch, 46th week of 1990......
Blue tac has its advantage,s but one major disadvantage. That is when it gets hot it releases poisonous gases. So not only do you have the solder fumes but also the blue tac fumes.
Personally I use helping hands and an old CPU heat sink as a work surface that way extra heat is safely dispersed before effecting the blue tac if and when I rarely use it.
One advantage of helpiing hands is that unlike blu tac it doesn't melt and make a gooey mess with the heat of the soldering iron..... I suppose the secret is keeping the blu tack away from the soldering.....
It does go gooey when hot, but it ungoos when it cools down.
That's more like it. Good video.
Where do I get these? Looks like putty that children play with!
Anyone got a ubiquitous source? Dollar store perhaps?
Judging by other comments, Dollar Store appears to have it. The 'natural home' would probably otherwise be stationary / office supply stores.
Funny I hand soldered in my first job for two and a half years, 7 hours a day 5 days a week and never use a helping hand or Blu Tack.
And the Blu Tack could have cut that down to an hour a day :)
It's a Fattyc. Not sure if everyone reads things like that, but my brain always tries to make sense of things like that.
hi julian . if electricity takes the path of least resistance , why doesn't lightning only strike france ?
richard arseburger hahahahaha
They surrender before it gets the chance.
You said this in Clive's channel as well
Because they have no potential?
tartrazine . thanks for pointing that out on both channels lol
Flexible helping hands are way better, but they cost a fortune
It's really good thing, I should buy it... :)
a better use for Smurf poo.
Smurf poo is something else.
Sharpening knives perhaps.
Smurf poo = blue tak
It's a grinding compound, can use it to hone a knife...
www.alanrhone-store.com/product_info.php?products_id=600
blu-tack 'Rainbow Pak'
Good investment!
Selling BluTak by the pound. I was convinced within seconds, Julian. I also reckon those so-called Helping Hands are a bit crap in any event, a couple of croc clips on the end of, well, anything, is a bit crap.
Good one!
Is this a sponsored video?
Nice that works great
what about a holder seminar ??? 😂😂😂
I'm personally converted to blu tack
Those helping hands are anything but helpful - not flexible enough and don't have enough weight behind them to stop them from moving. I use a vice or blutac all the time. Of course Big Clive could do it one-handed whilst holding a camera.....
I agree 100 percent
It's certainly cheaper :)
Hi, what material is the white board ?
It's called Foamex I think
Helping Hands - Fox me : I call 'em - Hegemonic Hands - because - hands *R* everywhere - BLUE < very Tacky - stickier than JAM - Maybe - *Dragons' Den* stars _cud_ - COME : up with some-thin' new - get schoolgirls [hopefully not wearing : High Heels ] : to invent stuff - one does *confess* : I think *_R > G_* when it COMES : to - economic justification - USURY the cheapest wins
Get yourself a flux pen.
What sponge did you use?
Smiley :)
about 2 years ago i boght a huge stick of plasticine, cost 2.99, blutacks better, been doing this since a teenager as back then helpings hands where like over ten quid and blutack was 50p, so on pocket money choice was premade
I have real hands, why would I need helping hands?
"would have helped if you pre tinned the switch legs!?"
No More YOU ALL Have Blown This Normal Statement & Question Out Of The Water, So STOP.
This was a thought for Julian to answer or not, you all started reasonable then have started igniting flame war; breathe, take a step back and apologize to each other. I can delete this whole thread.
I'm a hobbyist of 40 odd years and all my training was by military avionics friends at locations we were based and there are reasons for doing or not some things. One item of training was to alway flux and tin old switch and relay legs that show signs of contamination, to remove said contamination, to make it easier during assembly.
Welsh Rarebitt And pre-heating the joint before applying the solder.
oh dear me
richard arseburger Just basic soldering techniques your taught right from day one.
some things need a bit more than basic techniques . like not putting a shit load of unnecessary heat into components when its not needed. especially when their made of plastic
richard arseburger If you don't follow the basics, in the end you'll end up with dry joints. I'm not advocating tens of seconds of preheating, just enough to get the tabs ready for the solder.
In this particular case nothing much is going to be damaged be three or four seconds with a good electronics soldering iron.
The problem with Blu Tack is that it gets dirty...
You get a hell of a lot for $5 though
you didn't give the helping hands a fair go.
What is this witchcraft?
umm, right. i use modeling clay. the type that needs baking to set it. it won't dry out. i think you could also just use the alligator clips alone and clip the header/microswitch at 2 leads while soldering the 3rd, then clip one of the remaining unsoldered leads and solder the other then solder the last unsoldered lead. no need to use helping hands or the tack. right. ok.
Blue tack the table to the floor
Its so much better, but i hardly get access to where i want to solder.... hmm. One thing is for sure: overcomplicating things eats up a lot of time. Cheerio
L love slime
Dude... learn to solder before putting it out there.
can you modify a 5v smartphone charger to get 12v output. pleaase..... 😢😢😢😊
please like if everyone want this video
Android D just get a step up module from ebay and connect it to the output of the charger
just get a cheap boost converter from eBay, you can then trim the pot to get many different voltages as needed.
Just buy a 12V power supply. Much cheaper, safer, easier and will actually work.
The step up modules/boost converters work well, just remember you'll get slightly less power and a lot less current. A 1A, 5V charger is good for around 5W, call it 4W after the inefficiencies of the boost converter. 4W at 12V is only 300mA.
That's like asking if you can eat dog food instead of people food. Sure, but it's a silly thing to do unless your life depends on it.