what are some good soldering 'helping hand' stations?

Marzipan

Well-known member
I realize I need something like this as a lil toy quad my grandson was playing with ran into a ball of dog / cat hair and now has to drive shafts that are all bound up. I need a light and a magnifying glass...but not sure how many arms I should get or whether there's anything out there that has the perfect ergonomics for holding little things like a quad, etc.

I can't figure out how to get the props off as when I use the removal tool from another lil quadcopter toy, it just pulls / slides the motors out of their mounts until the wiring runs out. I don't want to tug any harder for fear of ripping the wires out.

YouTube has proven useless as all the vids are for hobby grade multi-rotors.
 

PsyBorg

Wake up! Time to fly!
Usually for small stuff like that you just use something like blue tac and stick it to the table. If you are going to be tugging at something like that those flexible arm "helping hands" are not so helpful as they move as you tug.

That said.. Start with an xacto knife and slice along the shaft between the motor and the prop. Then you might be able to grab some of the hair and kind of unwind it out of the bushings. One of my most used tools for all things quad that I do are my granny glasses and a pair of hemostats for grabbing and holding tiny things. I don't always lock then specially on wire work when soldering but they are great because they are basically long tiny fingers that are very versatile. Also they have the curved end to get around things or be more out of your line of sight to the work you do. They may even be good enough to get under the props and just rock on that curve to work the props off.
 

Marzipan

Well-known member
@PsyBorg I would think the props come off as it's a slightly modified JJRC H36 quad. modified that two of the props can be oriented at three angles. flat / 180 for quadcoptering, 45 degrees when connected to the wing and 90 degrees when connected to the hovercraft kit.

a few other H36 videos out there, but nothing on prop removal. :p
 

PsyBorg

Wake up! Time to fly!
@PsyBorg I would think the props come off as it's a slightly modified JJRC H36 quad. modified that two of the props can be oriented at three angles. flat / 180 for quadcoptering, 45 degrees when connected to the wing and 90 degrees when connected to the hovercraft kit.

a few other H36 videos out there, but nothing on prop removal. :p

Well since they are just press on props the have to be seriously tight other wise they just pop off or spin on the shaft. They weren't by any chance glued on due to popping of too easily? I could see a you lad thinking that would be a good idea. the only other thing I could think of is warm the props with a hair dryer or low power heat gun. Whats the worse you can do have to buy a spare set or two?
 

Marzipan

Well-known member
Well since they are just press on props the have to be seriously tight other wise they just pop off or spin on the shaft. They weren't by any chance glued on due to popping of too easily? I could see a you lad thinking that would be a good idea. the only other thing I could think of is warm the props with a hair dryer or low power heat gun. Whats the worse you can do have to buy a spare set or two?

the heat idea is a good one, thanks! it seems in all my fiddling, I broke some of the beams part of the motor mount, so I should probably buy a replacement frame and fix that. I suppose some modelers glue would be sufficient as a stop gap though?
 

PsyBorg

Wake up! Time to fly!
the heat idea is a good one, thanks! it seems in all my fiddling, I broke some of the beams part of the motor mount, so I should probably buy a replacement frame and fix that. I suppose some modelers glue would be sufficient as a stop gap though?

Super glue would probably work to if your careful with it. Any progress cleaning the motors up?
 

JetCrafts

Active member
the ones which have orange tips 8 blue hands and looks like the bottom part of an octopus you will see it a lot in their old vids
 

checkerboardflyer

Well-known member
I took something called "Helping Hands" that has a couple of alligator clips on short arms and a magnifying glass. Hot glued that to a paver for stability, then added on a clothespin to hold a candle for heat shrink tubing. More tips on my blog: https://foamboardflyers.com

solder assist 2.jpg
 

Marzipan

Well-known member
well, it's been a while but we finally had the things needed to attempt a fix on the quad and the hair dryer and tweezers worked like a charm. to think I spent 30 or so frustrating minutes picking at the wound up hair with the wrong kind of tweezers and had no success, to having them both fixed in 5 minutes :p

thanks everyone!