Victor made a DIY helping hand from some Multi Direction Plastic pipe. All you need is the before-mentioned pipes, a piece of wood, and alligator clips.
“A good technician has 3 hands – it is the fourth one that’s missing sometimes.” I think the famous proverb sums it up: Many times there are many, possibly tiny, parts that need to be balanced in an awkward position with one hand, while using a screwdriver/pliers/tweezers/soldering iron with the other one. This often tries even the most patient ones. And I am not one of them. After many trials and failures I ended up with this design that seems to work for me.
These are gonna melt if you’re soldering; probably OK for gluing or painting stuff though. I clamp a piece of bent coat hanger ($0) with a gator clip crimped on the end to the bench. Works pretty well if the bench is stable.
It is also a handy idea with a white LED mounted in one of the pipes. I find that handy on my mini drillpress when I’m drilling holes in a PCB. (These pipes are sometimes referred to as coolant hose – machine tool companies, like McMaster-Carr and Enco, also carry it).
@bdsmith
Great Idea, why didn’t I think of that? (Sound of hand slapping forehead)… White or even PWM controlled RGB LED thingy on the end of one of these “coolant hose” parts. That may be really useful for macro photography; the wires would go through the tube. Heck, maybe we can put a small Web-cam on the end of one of these too… Thanks.
You can get USB LED’s on the end of a flexible metal hose (like a small version of the flexi stuff they use to hold microphones or bedside lamps) and they are very cheap – would likely be a lot cheaper than flexi coolant hose.