PCB / Circuit Board Holder - Soldering Helper

Soldering has always been a pain in the rear for me... even with the traditional 'helping hands' tools, it seemed I still needed to sprout a hand to hold a wire or solder.

Looking through a magazine, I saw an advertisement for the PCB Rax (made by Bench Werx, http://www.benchwerx.com/pcb-rax/) and thought 'hey, that would be awesome, I wonder how well it works!' Then I looked at the price.. and it was out of my price range at the moment although I am sure it is worth it if you do a lot of soldering!

So, I created my own setup, inspired by the PCB Rax product. I used sizes that I thought would fit the boards I would be needing to use it for, and made a few modifications to it based on what I have seen in the pictures.

Note: There will be some downfalls to using a plastic solution for this. For instance, it is plastic and will melt easily with a soldering iron hitting it. For me, I can live with that.. I can print new parts! Also, it is not going to be as structurally sturdy as an aluminum version. It does 'flex' a little bit when moving it around, and if you push hard enough it will push the board down, but for the soldering I do, it works fine.

To build this, you will need to print the following:
4x Feet
2x Support Beam
0-4x Board Arm (the support beams have slots to hold boards as well, and you could print and use MORE than 4, but haven't had the need to)
4x Threaded Rod Knobs

You will also need the following hardware:

2x #6 machine screws, 3/4" long or longer with nuts
4x 1/4" screws or bolts with nuts or wing nuts, 3/4" should do it
2x threaded rods, cut to whatever length you feel you need
4x square nuts, 1/4"

Print instructions

Print Settings

Printer: Prusa MK2

Rafts: No

Supports: Yes

Resolution: .2

Infill: Varies

Notes:

The infill varies depending on the piece. Structural pieces, I printed at 90% infill. Other parts, I printed at 50%.

Post-Printing

When assembling, Loctite was used to hold one square nut on the end of each threaded rod. Suggest putting the nut into the knob FIRST! With my print of this, I haven't had to glue the nuts into the knob at all; the tolerances of the knob were tight enough I had to thread it onto the threaded rod.