Convenient support for a soldering iron and the soldering. Multifunctional soldering iron stand Homemade soldering iron stand

A little backstory. Long wanted do normal stand for soldering iron but didn't know where to start. Recently, I came across a lid (I don’t remember exactly why), which had been in the box for a long time.

She gave me the idea for the design.

To make the stand I used:

- "unknown" cover (stand);

- plywood;

- wooden bead;

- self-tapping screws;

- nails;

Description of work

To begin with, I removed everything superfluous from the lid.

On the sides were left "tongues" that will play the role of fasteners.

Next, 3 planks were cut out of plywood. Since the bottom of the lid is not even, for convenient fastening the substrate was sawn to the base.

From three sawn boards:

• the largest is the base of the entire structure;
• the other two are the same. A soldering iron mount will be installed on one, in the other I made holes into which jars of fluxes for soldering will be placed. Also in the substrate, I made holes in the shape of the bottom of the lid.

I drilled holes in the tongues. After that, I screwed two identical planks onto the screws.

In order to prevent the flux jars from falling through, a small plank was cut out of plywood, two small glazing beads were sawn to the plank.

I nailed this plank to the base with carnations, placing sawn glazing beads under it.

A partition was cut out of tin into a lid. From the tin that was cut off from the lid, I bent the stand on which the soldering iron will lie. The partition was screwed to the base with screws through the holes in the cover. The stand was screwed to the board without holes.

Under the plank on which the soldering iron will lie down, I sawed out 2 glazing beads and nailed them to the studs.

I placed a sponge in the part of the lid with a partition. Cellulose sponge for washing dishes. Sponges that are sold specifically for cleaning soldering tips are no different from cellulose sponges for washing dishes, only in size and price. Sponges for dishes are much larger in size, and cheaper in price. This sponge was bought at a hardware store for 30 rubles.

The lower part was removed from the sponge. I also cut it to fit the lid.

A do-it-yourself soldering iron stand is necessary when working with a tool. Factory devices are mostly not practical and do not have additional features that make the job much easier.

Using something as a coaster usually results in a burnt table surface, clothes spoiled by tin and rosin, and hand burns.

Working on the “knee” is not quite convenient and takes a lot of time. The time and material investments in the manufacture of the stand are insignificant, the convenience and speed of work compensate for all efforts in the manufacture of the device.

The main requirements for stands, determined by operating experience:

• the base must be made of a material that conducts heat poorly;
• racks should not be massive;
• the optimal height of the bath for solder is not more than 10 mm;
• the soldering iron should lie on a stand with a slight slope, the tip is raised, the handle is lowered.

The dimensions of the product will depend on the power and size of the soldering iron.

Simple stand option

Figure 1. Scheme of a stand for a soldering iron for automatic adjustment temperature.

The most common option, made within an hour. For the base, you can use a segment wooden board at least 15 mm thick. Width and length are determined by the soldering iron model. The type of tree does not play a big role. It is desirable that the material be dry.

Surfaces should preferably be sanded or sanded.

Then, from a steel wire with a diameter of 3 - 4 mm, two racks must be bent. Usually, welding electrodes are used, freeing them from coating and treating them with emery cloth.

The shape of the rack is similar to the letter "M". The front of them should be higher, the middle bend is somewhat narrower, but the soldering iron should lie freely, without fixation. The C-pillar is slightly lower, the bend is wider. The lower ends of the racks must be sharpened with sandpaper or a file. Then hammer both racks into the board, according to the size of the soldering iron. The tip of the soldering iron must be in the air, the heating element must be located on the front rack. If a piece of hardwood is used for the base, it is advisable to drill two holes for the posts 4-6 mm deep and then hammer them.

A bath for flux and solder can be made from an old MBM capacitor of the required size. With a hacksaw for metal, he needs to cut the bottom at a height of 5-8 mm, and pull it off. The resulting bath must be washed with a solvent or alcohol, degreasing it. After drying, the bath must be fixed on the base, approximately in the middle between the racks. For fastening, you can use a couple of nails or small screws. In the absence of a condenser, you can use a suitable lid from a can or any other tin tray. The thickness of the tin should be small, otherwise it will be difficult to melt the solder when working with a low power soldering iron.

The stand is ready to use.

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Stand with energy saving circuit

The main disadvantage of soldering irons is their long initial heating. When working with circuits, soldering is needed periodically, and the soldering iron must be kept on between intervals, otherwise the work process will be significantly lengthened.

In addition, the soldering iron overheats, the solder and the tip oxidize. simple circuit, mounted on a do-it-yourself soldering iron stand, will help keep the tool at a lower temperature, warm up quickly when used.

For manufacturing you will need:

• diode, maximum forward current according to the power of the soldering iron;
• microswitch with the necessary current on the contacts;
• socket, cord with plug;

The base for the stand should be several large sizes than in the previous version. It is advisable to place the socket and microswitch on the side of the location of the soldering iron.

Figure 2. Scheme of the heating controller.

You need to install a diode in the socket housing by connecting it to one of the sockets of the socket, the polarity of the connection is not important. The power cord is connected with one wire to the second socket of the socket, the second to the free input of the diode. The microswitch is connected with normally closed contacts in parallel with the diode.

It is desirable to isolate all connections and the diode with any accessible way. The microswitch must be fixed on the base and a movable bracket must be installed to switch it. The soldering iron lying on the stand should press the arm of the bracket with its weight. The bracket will switch the microswitch, its contacts will open. The soldering iron will be connected to a voltage of 110 V. The power consumed from the network will be halved, and the temperature will drop accordingly.

When lifting the soldering iron, the bracket will rise, the contacts will close, and within a few seconds the soldering iron will warm up to the required temperature.

To control the presence of voltage in the socket or on the base, you need to install a voltage indicator (any available).

Usually, when using such a stand, they often forget to turn off the soldering iron at the end of work.

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Connecting a soldering iron through a bridge

This scheme allows you to somewhat stabilize the operation of the soldering iron during drops and power surges in the network. Unlike the option described above, instead of one diode, you need to install a diode bridge with a smoothing electrolytic capacitor at the output. For manufacturing you need:

• four diodes with the required forward current rating;
• 40.0 microfarad electrolytic capacitor, voltage 350 V or higher;
• two microswitches or a group of normally closed contacts from a relay;
• socket, power cord with plug;
• mains voltage indicator.

For control, you need two pairs of normally closed contacts. Two microswitches or relay contacts can be used open type. Contacts must be covered with a cover made of dielectric material.

One pair of contacts (Fig. 1) disconnects and connects one of the diodes of the bridge, the second - the capacitor. In the working position, the power to the soldering iron is supplied through the bridge and smoothed out by the capacitor, in the non-working position - through one of the diodes of the bridge.

The design and dimensions of such a stand will depend on the available elements. The main elements are similar to previous versions. You can make a movable bracket for switching contacts from the used relay by removing the core and winding.

The main tool of a home radio amateur is a soldering iron. Unlike other appliances, it cannot simply be placed on a table (workbench) during operation. Why? Right! He is hot. Therefore, you will need a special stand.

There are many different devices on sale, from a simple holder to a whole complex called a soldering station.

In most cases, a soldering iron is needed to perform urgent repair work. If you are not a professional "homemade" - the instrument usually gathers dust in a box on the balcony, appearing once or twice a year. In such cases, many use the first object that comes across as a stand.

However, if you put in quite a bit of effort, a hand-made soldering iron stand will look no worse than a factory one. Especially if you regularly make electrical circuits.

Required minimum for stand

1. Stable foundation. Made of a material that conducts heat poorly, or equipped with legs
2. Soldering iron supports
3. Container for rosin (flux).

Additional options"

1. Tinning area
2. Solder container
3. Sting Cleaner
4. power regulator (can be of two types: smooth adjustment, or stepwise limitation for the time of a break in work).

Flipping through old magazines

In old Radio magazines, you can find drawings on how to make a stand with an economical load switch.

• as a basis ( 1 ) a board with a selected middle is used, or a U-shaped structure made of a strip of plywood and two bars along the long edges
• A 220 volt relay contact group is located under the surface ( 2,4,5 ) with large collector areas. The wiring diagram transfers power either directly or through a diode. The radio element "cuts off" the halves of the half-cycle AC voltage 220 volts, reducing it to 110
• Through pull ( 6 ), spring-loaded ( 7 ) button ( 8 ) presses the contacts when the soldering iron is on the stand. Electricity is spent half as much, while the soldering iron almost instantly warms up to full power. The rod is attached to the console ( 9 )
• The tool itself is located on the brackets ( 3 ) And ( 10 )
• At the rear is a soldering iron socket connected to the relay output contacts. The power cable is connected to the input
• Between the racks, they usually nailed a tin of shoe cream or petroleum jelly to store rosin

Good day to all.

Today I want to tell you about a universal soldering iron stand that I purchased on eBay.

Not that I was an ardent lover of something to assemble or solder, but, at times, it happens that you can’t do without a soldering iron. Either the wiring must be soldered somewhere, then the button must be resoldered, then something else will come off or break suddenly and at the most inopportune moment. Since I got a soldering iron, all these problems have become easily solved and not as global as they used to be. But still there was one caveat - sometimes you had to solder something extremely inconvenient when you hold the wires with one hand and try to solder them with the other. In such cases, it becomes very problematic to take solder, and then I had to resort to the help of my wife :) Use it instead of a wire retainer. My wife did not really like this work and I once thought about acquiring something more trouble-free than a woman. In other words, I started looking for a stand. To my great surprise, I didn’t have any problems finding this device, but it’s a real problem with diversity - I managed to find only a few models that did not differ much from each other in their functionality. In the end, I decided not to overpay and purchased one of the cheapest lots - a rack that cost only $9.19. Perhaps some of you will say that this can be bought at some hypermarket or radio equipment store, but let's not forget that this review was written by a resident of Belarus, and we have a completely different situation here. Yes, and than to go shopping, it’s easier for me to place an order via the Internet and receive it in the mail after a couple of weeks.

The seller was quite nimble and sent my package a few hours after payment. If anyone is interested, then you can see the movement of a parcel from China to Belarus.

For a not very long journey, the parcel got very badly: one of its sides was terribly badly wrinkled.


But there were no losses and the contents of the package were not damaged. True, how is this possible, given such damage to the packaging, I can’t imagine :) As you can see, the factory packaging was once a beautiful colorful cardboard box with good quality printing. On front side of the box, our stand is drawn, and on the sides of its main characteristics and capabilities.


Inside the box was our stand, as well as a black and white instruction manual. The stand is delivered unassembled, the grips are in a separate cardboard box, the soldering iron holder, made in the form of a spiral, also comes separately.


There are no complaints about the quality of workmanship. Plastic immediately after receiving issued a not very strong, but not very pleasant smell. Today it has decreased significantly, but the stand still smells, however, this is not critical, since much sharper odors appear during soldering :)

There are 2 mounts on the stand - a movable articulated one for grippers and a stationary one for a holder.


They are fixed with special clamping screws with plastic caps. It seems that they are not very flimsy, but this saving seemed to me not very appropriate. When you try to clamp the mount, you can not calculate the applied force and break the plastic. It would be much better if these screws were completely metal.

Holder attachment with a knurled end that allows you to securely fix it with a clamping screw.


But the fastening of the grips is simply pressed against the rack, which is also not very good. It is impossible to fix it securely, one way or another it remains movable: (Most likely, you will have to drill small holes for the clamping screw on the back of the holder, or resort to using electrical tape :) By the way, the entire part of the structure on which the clamps are installed is connected using articulated connections. Thanks to this, you can easily position the paws as soon as your heart desires. There are 3 such connections in total, that is, this design can bend in 6 places almost 360 degrees. There are no problems with the choice of positions here and cannot be. The grips here are a la crocodiles, with a fairly tight spring, so you need to be careful with fixing fragile objects. But everything is clamped securely - nothing will accidentally fall out.


The lambs are clamped with a decent effort. You may need pliers to fix it :)


And above the whole thing is a plastic magnifying glass fixed on a bendable support. If you believe the seller and what is written in his ad, it magnifies it 3.5 times, and if you use a small insert located at the top of the magnifying glass, then 12 times.


I don’t know about the accuracy of these data, but the fact that glass magnifies is a fact.

Right there, near the magnifying glass, you can see a button that turns on the backlight. Yes, yes, this stand has LED backlight which can be useful in some cases. The button is pressed well, smoothly. So far, there have been no problems with her work.


It includes 2 diodes located under a magnifying glass. Not that these diodes give light like a normal lamp, but to highlight some small area or disperse the shadow of their power is enough.


This whole cunning circuit is powered by 3 AAA batteries, which are installed at the foot of the stand.


Assembled, the whole structure looks like this:


And finally, about the shortcomings. Or rather, not so much shortcomings, but about what I would like to see here. And I would like to see here a built-in socket and a cord to connect the stand to the network. I think it would be convenient to plug the soldering iron into the stand, and not into the outlet - there would be more room to maneuver, so to speak. Perhaps, if I'm not too lazy, I'll try to modify the stand myself :)

Overall, I was very pleased with this purchase. The stand turned out to be very comfortable, practical and functional. It fully justifies its cost and, definitely, will be useful to everyone who has ever held a soldering iron in their hands. The only 2 nuances that can be a little frustrating are the plastic lens, which is likely to get scratched over time and the “lambs” are not very conveniently clamped (but this is only if you want to clamp them very hard).

And this is what she looks like fully armed:


Basically, that's all. Thank you all for your time and attention.