[Shop-talk] "helping hand" for soldering - recommendation?

[Eric Russell]

The metal alligator clips will also act as heat sinks - sometimes that 
is what you want, sometimes it is not.

I use a wooden clothes pin to hold parts when I don't want a heat sink.

Eric Russell
Mebane, NC

On 5/11/2018 11:10 AM, Lee Daniels wrote:
> I'm very good at making a mess of an easy soldering job. And I've often flung
> molten solder as the wire I was holding slipped out of the pliers I held
> between my pinkies while using my other two hands to hold the iron and solder.
> A bench vise and vise-grips come in handy too --- but I really need to spend
> the $20 on a tool designed for the job.
>
> I'm amazed at some of the low prices on these. Any recommendations?
> This one looks functional for only $7.85 - http://a.co/cG779c2
> I like the included light with this one: http://a.co/85Quo6B - $14.99
> Really cool, but probably overkill for me: http://a.co/b8oLqhk - $37.96
>
> Thoughts?
> thanks!
>   Lee