#0024: Preparing a Helping Hands tool for effective use
Preamble
This article covers the modifications necessary to get a box fresh Helping Hands tool ready for service. The specific version of this tool being the pictured unit. A version that consists of a small horizontal metal bar that is mounted onto a weighted base. The bar then has three adjustable arms attached to it. Two terminating in metal crocodile clips, and the third in a magnifying glass. This unit although useful and good quality for it’s price, it is also cheaply made, and mass produced. As such it requires some preparations before it can be used to good effect.
What is a Helping Hands tool
At its core a Helping Hands is a tool that consists of an adjustable jig with arms that terminate in spring loaded grabber clips. These clips are designed to hold materials and workpieces in place. This is in order to assist the user when working on them; for example: holding wires in place for tinning, or in preparation for a soldered connection.
Helping Hands are also known as “Third hands” or “X-tra Hands” depending on marketing. Although there are likely to be variants in design due to marketing, the basic tool is the same. It consists of some form of adjustable jig, with two or more grabber clips attached to it. Many variants also have adjustable arms that terminate with either a magnifying glass, or a light source of some description. They may also come with things that are specialised for a specific task: such as a soldering iron holder, or a mini microscope mount. However these are outside of the scope of this article. We will only be discussing the rather cheap and generic example unit that is pictured.
Modifications
Mod #1: Padding the crocodile clips’ jaws
The first necessary modification is rather obvious when you have a new unit in your hands. The actual clips that hold the various workpieces and materials: are crocodile clips. Crocodile clips complete with serrated teeth and a fairly powerful spring ready to push those teeth into anything that comes between it’s jaws. These needless to say leave noticeable teeth marks on anything softer than the clips’ steel when in use.
I recommend using several layers of heat shrink tubing to pad the teeth. This is because heat shrink tubing is generally tough enough to make it resistant to being pierced by the teeth’s serrations. Apply a layer of heat shrink to each jaw in turn. Then heat it so that the heat shrink, shrinks into a fitted profile on the teeth. Keep adding and heating layers in this manner until you are satisfied that the serrations of the teeth are sufficiently padded and will no longer damage anything that the clip holds. At this point, you may wish to trim off any excess tubing with a side cutter.
In my opinion heat shrink tubing is a good candidate for this application due to the fact that it does hug the profile of the teeth so well, while still padding the biting edge off of the metal. This clinging to the peaks and troughs the teeth is important because it allows the clip to still have an effective mechanical grip on the workpiece.
Additionally the rubber material that heat shrink is made from also assists in effectively gripping the held object using friction. This is useful when it comes to holding metal objects, especially cylindrical ones like telescopic radio antennae. A mechanical grip alone is likely to slip, coupled with the springs: I can see the jaws throwing out objects. A friction grip is necessary to hold low friction hard-surfaces such as metals.
Other reasons why heat shrink tubing is well suited to this particular application, consist of: firstly, the rubber material it is made of is relatively heat resistant (i.e. it takes continuous high temperatures, or a direct flame to effectively melt it). This means that the user can use solder irons and hot air around it without worrying about having to either clean or refit their Helping Hands tool. As would be the case if they used electrical tape for example.
Secondly, it is also a mild insulator of heat, this prevents heat from easily conducting into the metal clip and into the larger frame of the tool. Why is this important? It means that the user can use a soldering iron with a lower thermal mass effectively. Whereas without insulating off the greater frame of the Helping Hand tool, it will conduct away the thermal energies from the point of application. e.g. whilst soldering a joint on a metal object such as an antenna terminal.
This will require either a higher temperature setting (as a bid to compensate for the leeched energies), and deal with the associated risks and drawbacks; or having to simply use another soldering iron with a higher thermal mass. Alternatively it should be said that, insulating the metal clips in this manner really might not even have a significant effect on for example soldering performance, it largely depends on use case specifics. If you are for example using a 10 Watt USB soldering iron, well then you’ll need all the help that you can get; including this. Whereas for a more average setup, you may not be noticeably affected either way.
Mod #2: Hot glue in the clips connecting arm joints
This is an often overlooked modification that you can make to effectively extend the working life of the product. It simply involves getting a hot glue gun and pumping hot glue into the connecting joint that attaches the crocodile clips to the main jig. This is needed because the out-of-the-box setup only has those joints held in place using a friction fit between the metals of the clip and the jig arm. Unfortunately as you use the tool and rotate the clips, it will loosen the metal’s spring pressure that holds it in place until the clips just slide off. Repeatedly.
Additionally, re-tightening the friction fit using a pair of pliers will not keep the clip in place for long, just delay it falling out for a little while. Unfortunately in my case the entire clip arm kept falling out and no amount of tightening made the clip arm stay in it’s cradle, as effectively as the initial friction fit did. Hot gluing them in place however fully prevents the clip arm from sliding out of it’s cradle. It really made a very strong bond. One that is better than the original friction fit. The only trade off is that the crocodile clip can no longer rotate at the wrist joint where the friction fit connection was. Instead all rotational adjustments need to be made at the arm’s elbow joint from now on.
You might’ve wondered as to how exactly does this laughably simple modification actually extend the working life of the tool. Well, I will endeavour to answer this question with another question (or more). Have you ever had a tool that kept falling apart on you when you needed it to just work? Falling apart in moments where you might already be somewhat stressed trying to fix something broken? Maybe even whilst on a time limit? In that moment, have you ever grabbed the offending tool cursed it out, then promptly threw it into the trash? That’s how pumping those annoying joints with hot glue will extend this tools working lifespan. It’ll help this tool effectively keep it’s head down and just do it’s job.
Closing thoughts
These are simple enough modifications and are rather ubiquitous with regards to this particular tool. Even the image of the ‘dabbing’ Helper hands on the Wikipedia page for this tool, has the same teeth mod. Although they used electrical tape. Which in my opinion is an inferior material to use. Firstly its a less permanent solution due to the material’s general strength, meaning that sooner or later the teeth are going to poke through it. Additionally, it is also more susceptible to heat; meaning that if the user solders a wire for example too close to the clip they run the risk of melting the electrical tape.
That being said, small mods like these are most definitely better than nothing, and worth mentioning in order to help people not overlook them due their rather trivial nature. This is because little mods like this are easy to implement and can help the user make the most of their cheaper tools in general. Even if you are half-arsing it by using electrical tape, says the out-of-touch heat shrink tubing elite.
Thanks for reading.
