Soldering Tools and Materials from Beginner to Advanced (Part 3)

#Soldering Tools

Most soldering iron manufacturers make some sort of soldering tools or soldering aids. They are an assortment of little pokers and hooks and forks and pry tools. I've looked at them from time to time but all I've ever used are the little plastic things that come with Weller consumer soldering irons.

I love these things. They used to have a fork on one end but I find the poker MUCH more useful so I just sanded a blunt one on one end and sharpened the one on the other end. I always have one near and often in my left hand when I'm soldering. I use them to position small components and hold them while I'm soldering them. I push and pry and poke things with them. I like them so much that I reached out to Weller about buying more. They don't sell them individually but sent me a few in the mail. Awesome customer support!

#Scalpel

The only other thing that I can think of that's part of my tools and materials is a pair of scalpel handles and blades.

This is a No. 3 handle with a No. 11 blade and a No. 4 handle with a No. 22 blade. I use these for all kinds of cutting and scraping operations. I use them for placing stickers and cutting header strips. They are an invaluable tool. You can buy plastic scalpel handles for $1. These stainless steel surgical handles are less than $10 each. The blades you can buy expired in boxes of 50 or 100 for a very reasonable price. You can even cut thin copper wire with these blades.

I think that's everything for now. I might think of something else later and come back and add it. I'll pin this post to the community.

Comments, additions, and questions are welcome.

I remembered another thing!

#Pinchy Things

I have a drawer labelled "TOOLS" and a drawer labelled "PLIERS". Anything scissor like goes in the PLIERS drawer.

In this picture from left to right are:

Flush cutting pliers. They're like side cutters or diagonal cutters but they are ground on one side only so you can cut really, REALLY close to the board. The blades are normally fairly soft so you can only cut soft things like copper wires and component leads. You can buy REALLY expensive ones but these are cheap, house brand ones that I buy at Princess Auto three or four at a time. Seriously, I have like 12 pairs. There are 3 pairs in my PLIERS drawer right now. Next are cabling scissors. They look like hell but they are amazing. One blade is serrated so that wires don't slip out as you cut them. They're tough as well and can cut through anything short of a nail (though they will cut through some small nails.) Next is a pair of little scissors that I use for cutting labels and things of that type. Tweezers are important for handling small components. I have a stainless steel pair, a squeeze open stainless steel pair, and a ESD safe coated stainless steel pair. The squeeze open ones are awesome because you squeeze them open and the spring closed. You can use them to hold wires or small components while you solder them. Far right is a small pair of cheap side cutters. I use those for anything I don't want to use my flush cutters for. Their blades are hardened better than the flush cutters so they don't damage as easily.