Solder Scroll
By Andrew Gregory. Posted
This article was originally published as part of HackSpace magazine, which has since been incorporated into Raspberry Pi Official Magazine.
Soldering anything, especially small components, needs at least three hands: one to hold the solder, one to hold the soldering iron, and one to hold the component. A small vice can help you here, or one of those devices with multiple flexible arms with crocodile clips to hold components in place. Despite that, soldering is still tricky. We tend to hold the spool of solder between the palm and ring and little fingers of our right hand, and thread solder toward the joint we’re working on with our thumb and index and middle fingers. It’s ungainly, and that’s why the world needs the Solder Scroll. This brilliant device makes soldering more ergonomic by allowing you to dispense any diameter of solder out of an object you hold like a pen. It’s fully 3D-printed, and the assembly requires no glue or metal fasteners: you just fit the parts together and adjust the big nut to accommodate whatever size solder you’re using. Not only that, but it’s a quick print job needing no supports, so if you find yourself contorting your digits while you’re soldering, it’s worth printing yourself – its designer, Victor, has shared the print files.

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