A couple questions about steady hands and soldering tips...

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Electric Rain
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A couple questions about steady hands and soldering tips...

Post by Electric Rain »

I'm about to undergo some SMD soldering, but my hands tend to get a tiny bit shaky when I'm doing intricate work like this. I think it might be nerves...

Question 1: Do you guys have any techniques or tips on how I can get my hands to be a little steadier? I don't really want to resort to drugs, although I'm sure there's probably some very effective (Legal, I'm talking!) ones out there. Are there hand exercises I could do? Foods/vitamins I could eat/take to keep myself calm? Anything?

Question 2: What I think would REALLY help is if I had a smaller soldering iron. I've just got a RadioShack cheapie like the rest of you, but I've been wanting a nice, small soldering "pencil" that I can have better control over, and most importantly, that has multiple tips available for it. I would like to be able to use standard sized tips, along with those really skinny tips and "hot-knife blades" for SMD work. I don't want to spend more than... $100 on everything. (Wow, that's still A LOT for me though.) I already have a cheap soldering station with a holder, sponge, and power control, but I wouldn't be opposed to getting a whole new station if I have to. I imagine the types of irons I'm talking about would need to plug in to a separate station. So, any suggestions here? Thanks guys. 8)

Edit: Oh, can you guys think of any other useful soldering tips I might need? :)
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Post by bicostp »

Hmm... you could build an articulating stand for the iron with a long handle on the back. It could hold the iron in a clamp of some sort, and the handle would add leverage. The increased distance you have to move the handle to move the iron would help dampen the movement. (Think "camera tripod".)
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