PCB / Circuit Board Holder - Soldering Helper

prusaprinters

<p>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.</p> <p>Looking through a magazine, I saw an advertisement for the PCB Rax (made by Bench Werx, <a href="http://www.benchwerx.com/pcb-rax/">http://www.benchwerx.com/pcb-rax/</a>) 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!</p> <p>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.</p> <p>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.</p> <p>To build this, you will need to print the following:<br/> 4x Feet<br/> 2x Support Beam<br/> 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)<br/> 4x Threaded Rod Knobs</p> <p>You will also need the following hardware:</p> <p>2x #6 machine screws, 3/4" long or longer with nuts<br/> 4x 1/4" screws or bolts with nuts or wing nuts, 3/4" should do it<br/> 2x threaded rods, cut to whatever length you feel you need<br/> 4x square nuts, 1/4"</p> <h3>Print instructions</h3><h3>Print Settings</h3> <p><strong>Printer:</strong> Prusa MK2</p> <p><strong>Rafts:</strong> No</p> <p><strong>Supports:</strong> Yes</p> <p><strong>Resolution:</strong> .2</p> <p><strong>Infill:</strong> Varies</p> <p><strong>Notes:</strong></p> <p>The infill varies depending on the piece. Structural pieces, I printed at 90% infill. Other parts, I printed at 50%.</p> <h3> Post-Printing</h3> <p>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.</p>