Convenient stand for soldering iron and soldering. Multifunctional Soldering Iron Stand Homemade Soldering Iron Stand

A little background. I've wanted it for a long time do normal soldering iron stand , but didn't know where to start. Recently I came across a lid (I don’t remember exactly why) that 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 glazing bead;

- self-tapping screws;

- nails;

Description of work

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

“Tabs” were left on the sides, which will play the role of fastening.

Next, 3 planks were cut out of plywood. Since the bottom of the lid is not level, for convenient fastening a backing was cut to the base.

From three sawn planks:

• the largest is the base of the entire structure;
• the other two are identical. On one there will be a mount for a soldering iron, in the other I made holes into which jars of flux for soldering will be placed. I also made holes in the backing in the shape of the bottom of the lid.

I drilled holes in the “tongues”. Then I screwed two identical boards to them with self-tapping screws.

To prevent the jars of flux from falling through, a small board was cut out of plywood, and two small beads were cut to the board.

I nailed this board to the base with nails, placing sawn glazing beads under it.

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

Under the board on which the soldering iron will rest, I cut out 2 glazing beads and nailed them onto nails.

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

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

A DIY soldering iron stand is essential when working with the tool. Factory devices are generally not practical and do not have additional functions, making the work much easier.

Using something as a stand usually results in a burnt table surface, clothing damaged by tin and rosin, and burns on your hands.

Working on your knees is quite inconvenient and time-consuming. The time and material investments required to manufacture the stand are insignificant; the convenience and speed of work compensate for all the efforts required to manufacture the device.

Basic requirements for stands, determined from operating experience:

• the base must be made of a material that does not conduct heat well;
• racks should not be massive;
• the optimal height of the solder bath is no more than 10 mm;
• The soldering iron should lie on a stand with a slight inclination, 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. Diagram of a soldering iron stand for automatic adjustment temperature.

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

It is advisable to plan or sand the surfaces.

Then you need to bend two posts from steel wire with a diameter of 3 - 4 mm. Typically, welding electrodes are used, freed from coating and treated with emery cloth.

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

A bath for flux and solder can be made from an old MBM type capacitor of the required size. Using a hacksaw, you need to cut off the bottom at a height of 5-8 mm and pull it off. The resulting bath must be washed with solvent or alcohol, degreasing it. After drying, the bath needs to be secured to the base, approximately in the middle between the racks. For fastening, you can use a couple of nails or small screws. If you don't have a capacitor, you can use a suitable tin can lid or any other tin tray. The thickness of the sheet metal should be small, otherwise it will be difficult to melt the solder when working with a low-power soldering iron.

The stand is ready for use.

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Stand with energy saving circuit

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

In addition, the soldering iron overheats, the solder and tip oxidize. Simple scheme, installed on a stand for a soldering iron with your own hands, will help maintain the tool at a lower temperature and quickly warm up during use.

To make it you will need:

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

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

Figure 2. Heating controller diagram.

You need to install a diode into the socket body by connecting it to one of the socket sockets; 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 advisable to insulate all connections and the diode with any in an accessible way. The microswitch must be fixed to the base and a movable bracket must be installed to switch it. The soldering iron lying on the stand should press the bracket lever 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 you lift 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 monitor the presence of voltage in the socket or on the base, you need to install a voltage indicator (any available).

Typically, when using such a stand, people often forget to turn off the soldering iron when finished.

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Connecting a soldering iron via a bridge

This circuit allows you to somewhat stabilize the operation of the soldering iron during voltage drops and 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 production you need:

• four diodes with the required forward current rating;
• electrolytic capacitor with a capacity of 40.0 μF, 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 will need two pairs of normally closed contacts. You can use two microswitches or relay contacts open type. The contacts must be covered with a cover made of dielectric material.

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

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 a used relay by removing the core and winding.

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

There are a lot of 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 tasks. repair work. If you are not a professional “homemade” tool, the instrument usually gathers dust in a box on the balcony, appearing once or twice a year. In such cases, many people use the first object they come across as a stand.

However, if you put in just a little effort, a DIY soldering iron stand will look no worse than a factory one. Especially if you regularly make electrical circuits.

Minimum required for stand

1. Stable base. Made from 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. Tip cleaning device
4. power regulator (can be of two types: smooth adjustment, or stepwise limitation for the time of a break in work).

Leafing 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
• Under the surface there is a 220 volt relay contact group ( 2,4,5 ) with large current collecting areas. The connection circuit transfers power either directly or through a diode. The radio element “cuts off” halves of the half-cycle AC voltage 220 volts, reducing it to 110
• Through traction ( 6 ), spring loaded ( 7 ) button ( 8 ) presses the contacts when the soldering iron is lying on the stand. Electricity consumption is half as much, while the soldering iron almost instantly heats up to full power. The rod is attached to the console ( 9 )
• The tool itself is located on brackets ( 3 ) And ( 10 )
• At the rear there is a soldering iron socket connected to the relay output contacts. The power supply wire is connected to the input
• Between the posts, a tin can of shoe polish or Vaseline was usually nailed for storing rosin.

Good day to all.

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

It’s not that I’m an ardent fan of assembling or soldering anything, but sometimes it happens that you can’t do without a soldering iron. Either the wiring needs to be soldered somewhere, or the button needs to be re-soldered, or 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 solvable and not as global as they were before. But there was still one nuance - 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, taking solder becomes very problematic and then I had to resort to the help of my wife :) Use it instead of a wire clamp. My wife didn’t really like this job and I once thought about purchasing 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 the variety is a real problem - I managed to find only a few models that were not very different from each other in their functionality. In the end, I decided not to overpay and purchased one of the cheapest lots - a stand that cost only $9.19. Perhaps some of you will say that you can buy this in 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. And rather than wandering around the shops, it’s easier for me to place an order online and receive it in the mail after a couple of weeks.

The seller turned out to be quite prompt and sent my parcel a few hours after payment. If anyone is interested, you can see the movement of a parcel from China to Belarus.

During the not very long journey, the parcel suffered a lot: one side of it was terribly jammed.


But there were no losses and the contents of the parcel were not damaged. I really can’t imagine how this is possible, taking into account such damage to the packaging :) As you can see, the factory packaging was once a beautiful colorful cardboard box with fairly high quality printing. On front side The box shows our stand, and on the sides are its main characteristics and capabilities.


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


There are no complaints about the quality of production. Immediately upon receipt, the plastic emitted a not very strong, but not very pleasant smell. Today it has decreased significantly, but the stand still smells, although this is not critical, since much stronger odors appear during soldering :)

There are 2 fastenings on the stand - a movable hinged one for the grips and a stationary one for the holder.


They are fixed using special clamping screws with plastic caps. It seems that they are not very flimsy, but this saving did not seem very practical to me. If you try to tighten the fastener, you may not calculate the force applied and break the plastic. It would be much better if these screws were completely metal.

The holder has a knurled end that allows it to be securely secured using a clamping screw.


But the fastening of the grips is simply pressed against the stand, which is also not very good. It is impossible to securely fix it, one way or another it remains movable: (Most likely you will have to drill small holes for the clamping screw on the back side of the holder, or use electrical tape:) By the way, the entire part of the structure on which the clamps are installed is connected using hinged connections. Thanks to this, you can easily position the paws as you please. There are 3 such connections in total, that is, this structure can be bent 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 have to be careful when fixing fragile objects. But everything is clamped securely - nothing will accidentally fall out.


The wings are clamped with decent effort. You may need pliers for fixation :)


And above the whole thing rises 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 the small insert located at the top of the magnifying glass, then 12 times.


I don’t know about the accuracy of this 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 may be useful in some cases. The button presses well and smoothly. No problems with its operation have yet been discovered.


It includes 2 diodes located under a magnifying glass. It’s not that these diodes produce light like a normal lamp, but their power is quite enough to illuminate a small area or disperse a shadow.


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


When assembled, this entire structure looks like this:


And finally, about the shortcomings. Or rather, not so much about the shortcomings, but about what I would like to see here. And I would like to see a built-in socket and cord here to connect the stand to the network. I think it would be convenient to plug the soldering iron into the stand, rather than into a socket - there would be more room for 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 convenient, practical and functional. It fully justifies its cost and will definitely 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 will probably get scratched over time and the “lambs” are not very comfortable to clamp (but this is only if you want to clamp them very tightly).

And this is what she looks like fully armed:


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