The Marmite HH - Helping Hands

[IanBland]

Originally Posted by Refugee

I bought one from a guy who has several tables of tools at our local flea market.
It has real wing nuts as opposed to the pressed tin ones.
It works well and has a solid metal base for stability.

The Maplin one didn't even have pressed tin wingnuts, just knurled plastic. Complete waste of money. That one in your photo looks much better.

[ajgriff]

I'm a self-confessed tinning obsessive which I think goes back to early schoolboy experiences of creating dry joints. My first iron was the usual Solon 25W model with a hook on the handle. Hanging the iron over the edge of a weighted Marvel tin effectively provided an extra hand when tinning but was not an ideal solution.

There’s a wide range of helping hand devices on the market with a variety of different features. As ever the trick is finding something which suits your own individual requirements. DIY design has the advantage of increasing the chances of coming up with a version that most closely meets those needs. In my case I was looking for stability, more then two hands, ease of adjustment and the absence of clutter. Quirky and cheap were bonus features in this instance.

When constructing the Marmite HH it took longer to make the labels than the device itself so if anybody is really interested in replication, which I somehow doubt, the artwork is attached.

Alan

[ajgriff]

Sorry, I should have said that the images in the previous post need to be scaled up to 900 x 675 pixels at 300 pixels/inch in order to print labels of the correct size (3 x 2.25 inches). Forgot about the forum software's adjustment.

For labels generally I usually print on high quality paper using an inkjet printer's 'best' setting. Labels are then sprayed with a couple of light coats of clear acrylic, trimmed and fixed in position with double sided carpet tape.

Alan

[SiriusHardware]

Originally Posted by merlinmaxwell

You need really hot toast to spread crock clips evenly

Why not move on to toast?

Piece of toast with a square of tin foil on either side = capacitor

Piece of toast burnt to a crisp = resistor

Knife = trimming tool.

[paulsherwin]

Originally Posted by ajgriff

Sorry, I should have said that the images in the previous post need to be scaled up to 900 x 675 pixels at 300 pixels/inch in order to print labels of the correct size (3 x 2.25 inches). Forgot about the forum software's adjustment.

Remember the forum software won't modify the images if you upload them in a zip archive.

[Wendymott]

The ingenuity of forum members never ceases to amaze me.. My H H is screwed to a base board 5 x 5 ", which stops it wandering all over the place.. but the crock clips are never where you want them...I will crib the crock mounts please...

[Refugee]

I have also got one if those engineers vices with one inch jaws and have screwed it to an offcut of MDF that is about 6 inches square.
It is also very useful.

[ajgriff]

Originally Posted by paulsherwin

Remember the forum software won't modify the images if you upload them in a zip archive.

Thanks Paul. Just haste on my part and a failure to press the button marked 'Engage Brain'.

Originally Posted by Wendymott

...I will crib the croc mounts please...

Anyone is very welcome to copy any part of the design as far as I'm concerned. The croc clip wires are soldered and crimped as the little screw on the Lidl clips isn't up to the task. The clip holding the wires to the lid is just a small piece of thin aluminium sheet crimped over the wires and drilled to accept the set screw. There are lots of different base options inluding jars, tins with lids, blocks of wood or metal etc. I did experiment a little with wire gauges and went for the ring main option as a good compromise between flexibility and durability. Overall there are lots of different ways to make something similar and to whatever requirements suit the end user best.

Alan