Suggestion for a good helping hand

[zack]

I need some suggestions for a good soldering helping hand. There are some many out there, some of them pure junk!  Any advice on what brand to buy?

[silent069]

depending on where u are from. Radio shack (usa) thesource (canada) u can get a pretty decent set of helping hands. The one i got from the source  is made by nexxtech and i dont have any complaints. only about $10. Im sure there are others out there but this is all i know of off hand.

[pomprocker]

i got mine from radio shack.

come with a magnifying glass and a solder stand.

$14 i think.

[emmannuel]

I have never seen any good ones, they all seem to be the same crappy one

[quinacia]

American Science and Surplus (http://www.sciplus.com/ -- search on Helping Hand) has three. One has an LED flashlight, one a solder stand, one has various l-shaped beams for getting things in position, and all, of course, have lenses and clips. I bought one from them years ago, basic and generic and perfectly fine for my use, but I just ordered the led flashlight one because leds make everything more fun (and my girlfriend has sort of confiscated mine for sculpting tiny little clay figures).

[zack]

I have never seen any good ones, they all seem to be the same crappy one

I have to agree with you here... after looking at a few went and bought that overpriced RadioShack one... Jesus, 17 bucks! Yet, it looks so ugly and ...crude.  Seems to work ok.. wish the base was a little wider though, had to remove the mag lens for stability.

I haven't looked at the ones from sciplus... thanks for the suggestion.  Folks, do post what helping hand you have ...

The one I have is ok... but I'm sure there are better ones out there and a lot cheaper too.

[AndrewM]

Here's a simple, but brilliant, instructables for modding standard helping hands to be more useful:

http://www.instructables.com/id/make-your-_helping-hands_-100x-more-useful-for-sol/