How To : Make a 3rd Hand (Soldering) aka "Helping Hands"

www.realtoolreviews.com/
Get the materials you need at Amazon & Lowes (below) :
- 6pc Flexible Arms @ Amazon - amzn.to/2azKxll
- 10pc Alligator Clips @ Amazon - amzn.to/2azL0Ui
- Metal Electrical Box @ Lowes - www.lowes.com/pd/Raco-2-Gang-G...
- Metal Box Cover @ Lowes - www.lowes.com/pd/Raco-2-Gang-S...

[@robertcartier5088]

Great choice for the base! So much easier to work with than the solid metal block the expensive ones use. Plenty of room in that base for a rechargeable battery pack for lights and/or exhaust fan. Hollow arms will let you bring the wires all the way up to the tool you want to use without them being in the way. Need more weight? Put a large, powerful magnet (from a microwave oven tear-down) inside the base! That will also lower its relative center of gravity, providing even more stability. Bought one of those little ones... then made a bigger/heavier one... Now it's time to make a new one! Thanks for the vid!

[@RealToolReviews]

+Robert Cartier thanks Robert! 👍

[@jparra4766]

I made one as well. I used a laptop fan on one arm to vent fumes. works well.

[@jeffersonparker4286]

I saw the picture of this you posted on my Facebook feed and thought it was cool. Now I know how easy it is to make and look forward to building this with my son. Your videos are very informative and will stand the test of time, keep up the good work!

[@mgo214]

thanks for all your great videos. i did the same thing you did here and it works great. only difference i made to mine is instead of using a electrical box, i used a square piece of metal(same as the boxes plate) i then cut the bottom of a magnet dish that harbor freight gives away for free with any purchase and i glued that bottom to the bottom of the 3rd/4th/5th/6th hands. lol not only is mine now magnetic, it also has the rubber around the magnet to keep it from scratching metal surfaces, also doubles as a weight to keep it bottom heavy as well as non slip.

[@RealToolReviews]

Oh nice! Good idea :)

[@GettinJunkDone]

Nice job. I could use something like that pretty often.

[@grungee]

I am new to this and was so confused that I wasn’t able to find the threading of those arms in my ISO-Metric Threads Size chart. Now it all makes sense 😅

[@barrycriswell8967]

Great video gives me ideas with clips and stiff copper wire ie 12/2

[@thomasgilbert9347]

Great idea thanks for showing us how to make one.

[@firworks]

Very cool project. I'll probably make one for myself. I'm not sure your typical garage/shop audience will get as much mileage out of this but I'll share it with some of the electronics communities I'm a part of. I think they'll appreciate it. That's some great luck too that those alligator clips perfectly slide into the air hoses. It looked like those air hoses were segmented and could be shortened? I might make mine a bit shorter for working with smaller circuits and shorter wires.

[@Dylan-hc2lu]

I used a old 4awg power splitter block to hold the arms

[@sharihoffman1226]

This is great. Any thoughts on how I can create this to hold items for photographing close-up objects such as an individual flower on a stem (Macro-Photography)? I like the AST piece but I'm having some trouble finding it online. Any idea what it should cost. Is there more than one version? Many thanks!

[@angela-onesroman8873]

Dr Octavia's, nice idea and very handy, thanks for the vid...

[@kieferonline]

Great project! Using tools to build other tools. Doing this project yourself, you could even add extra arms. 6 arms if you want. It’s a smart design

[@johnc.4931]

Great Video... Easy and useful Project; as well as, adaptable

[@craigchampagne969]

I built one after watching the video. I used nuts instead of tapping out plate like 1 guy commented. The plastic on the bottom of those blue arms nearly ripped apart when adding the nuts but they went on-using the right threaded nuts. Do the tapping instead if you can. I would imagine going out and buying just that tap would be at least $20-thats why I went for the nuts-maybe I'm wrong on the cost but I dont think so. Anyway, what i found is ....if you want 1 blue arm to hold 1 wire and another to hold another wire and you cannot tie them (or twist them) together to hold securely in place befor soldering....the blue arms are not stiff enough to stay in place when they are that long...not like the small steel helping hands. I made the thing because I needed that long length...didnt really need 4 arms but I added the other 2 anyway. Im soldering 2 starter wires under a dash again and again at my job. I wanted to lay 1 on top of another, make a nice smooth straight line solder so I could use the smallest shrink tube possible with two 12ga wires. Just not possible as the blue arms just arent stiff enough to stay in place. Twisting those larger wires in place makes for a much larger shrink tube needed. I bought the arms from the link provided above. Just writing so others will know. If you twist and solder they work ok.

[@JuanNOnly123]

Great video man. Very useful

[@TheMechanicalPhilosopher]

You could also add weight to the box. I could see attaching several more things to that box, especially since it has all those knockouts. Maybe one of those could be a standard device for locking it down at various workstations. You could add another flexible tube for fume extraction that passed through to a suction device under the workbench locking it in place at the same time. Nice project

[@wenier1999]

I need one for handcrafted jewelry. I might need a bigger surface for the magnifying glass and a light. Any suggestions?

[@Jursaw]

That is a great idea!

[@fsanden]

Thanks for the tip

[@TheJohn8765]

Oddly timely video, man. I just got back into electronics and was cursing my lapsed soldering skills and thinking about buying a helping hands (but was also bitching about how expensive they are ;)). Nice job on the cheap, but cheerful, setup. I guess it's on my shopping list for tomorrow!

[@sumus24hrsolar]

nice video

[@philfalz01]

thanks for taking the time to make the video great idea

[@RealToolReviews]

Thanks!

[@j0nat0n8o8]

make a video about what is better between spline drive vs 12 point sockets.

[@TheJohn8765]

+Real Tool Reviews What's your opinion of those little butane (?) torches? I have a Hakko soldering station which is great for home use and projects that need a lot of heat, but I've been thinking about a more portable solution. It looked like you might have struggled a bit on the bigger wire joints-- do you consider it a good tradeoff for the portability and ease of use/warmup time?

[@elivo905]

You rock man!

[@alwyjahdhamy8094]

I like you your method and your soldering iron

[@bluzzjazz]

Nice job. I suppose you could drill the hole and use epoxy to secure the arms. Could also cut a square of flat carpet and glue or use two sided tape to thebase. I was going to fork out $40+, but then started researching ideas for a diy approach. Thanks for posting!

[@JerryStevens]

Drinking game: Take a shot of whiskey every time he says "articulating". Good video. I may build one.

[@RealToolReviews]

You’d probably get alcohol poisoning if you drank every time I repeat myself 🤣

[@cmwright1986]

Good idea

[@ozrenbalic6051]

Nicely done sir.

[@RealToolReviews]

Thanks!

[@mathewscoines8219]

Hi great video thanks. Are you able to confirm the metric size of the tap you used?? Is it an M11?? It seems confusing as when I look at a converter it show 1/2-20 as and M4 but this is way too small as the thread is 1/2" (or 11mm). I was planning on using a 10mm drill bit then the M11 (11mm) tap. The reason I'm hesitant is that I don't know the thread pitch. I will be using exactly the same flexible tubes as you. Can you help??

[@eniregnat]

These pipes are not metric at all. Neither 1/2"-20 (UNF) that he used but G 1/4" BSP (19 TPI). Similar sizes but not the same. M11 tap will not be enough. Don't use metric tap get a G1/4" BSP tap.

[@billpowell379]

Didn't catch where you got the articulated blower tubes. Harbor Freight?

[@RealToolReviews]

+Bill Powell Amazon...I put a link in the description.

[@N0body247]

I would add magnets to the side of the box so it doesn’t hinder the bottom. You can still use it on its side

[@ZunarZulfiqar]

what kind of soldering iron did you use?

[@uberw00tness]

Looks to me like a portasol butane soldering iron. Can't tell if it's the 75w or the 125w from the video.

[@bugsbunnay]

this is probably the sickest video I've ever seen. are there other versions of the arm making it harder to move because I just got an idea to make it hold a phone in any position possible. also slide a charger through the inside and now it charges your phone!

[@RealToolReviews]

Thanks! I think the only limitation will be your imagination.

[@alejandroperez5368]

Yes, but where is the magnifying glass?

[@georges7518]

cool

[@realworldmechanic]

you could dip it as well

[@FoodOnCrack]

I basically always did soldering with a vise, binder clips and my mouth :P

[@bidonn9655]

In this link to flexible arms is an offer for 6 pcs?? Is it 6 pcs for $ 5??

[@RealToolReviews]

+Elektronik yes.....it is a multi-pack....the exact same ones I used in this video.

[@bidonn9655]

Real Tool Reviews okey thanks friend

[@joshuanorris5860]

Hardware store probably has them lol

[@mrmerhtin3625]

this is awesome! you gotta post this on instructables.com

[@bobbyw9046]

The other suggestion would be to super glue in the Alligator Clips because eventually they will come loose.

[@clobbyhardy]

Hot glue would be better, and would be permanent. Hot glue sticks like stink on shit!

[@LanceThumping]

Love the helping hands, but I'm not a huge fan of the solder joint; I prefer the idea of physically twisting the wires together to give them a stronger connection but I'm still new so what do I know. EDIT: I meant that I prefer to twist the connections together to give them a stronger physical connection before soldering. That way they are intertwined and the solder will have a larger surface area connecting them.

[@RealToolReviews]

+NerdyPi a solder joint is the strongest connection you can make.

[@LanceThumping]

Sorry I worded that poorly. What I meant is that I prefer to twist the connections together to give them a stronger physical connection before soldering. That way they are intertwined and the solder will have a larger surface area connecting them.

[@dmmcw844]

instead of getting a metal box to add to the magnetic dish from HF why not drill holes directly into the dish and install the arms there

[@normansherrington436]

amazon & lowes

[@xman4328]

A little duct tape and you can fill it with sand to add weight for stability..

[@J-Gx]

All these tools and nothing to deburr before you tap thread?

[@bighunterman77]

i mean, he was screwing plastic into a 1/4 thick chunk of pot metal...why bother?

[@J-Gx]

For people like my who watch his video's and bitch about it. Haha

[@17th_Street_Preacher]

Never a third hand when you need one..

[@josenar145]

If you pre tin the wires and hook them in a J-hook solder joint you dont need a "third hand".

[@kotktorychodzipogowieadama2645]

hrhr

[@lawrencegbailey5212]

50 $ in tools for a ebay 4 dollar apparatus no tax no shipping cost....Makes sense....and where was I ..oh yeah...and char fried shrimp..and tomato shrimp and asparagus shrimp and chili shrimp...hold on I got to go pee