When you’re dealing with electronics, helping hands is a very handy tool. I’ve had mine for decades now and it’s crying to be replaced but I’ve decided to give some more life to what I have for a simple reason that I’d like to make some modifications to it and see what comes out of the ashes.

First modification

The generic helping hand I have is just begging to be clamped to the edge of the table so it won’t move around when I’m trying to use it. So, the first modification I made was to add a clamp to allow me to use the helping hand securely fixed at my workbench’s edge.

I tried doing this by using super glue but for some reason it just didn’t work. Even after me sanding the two parts and cleaning them with alcohol.

So, my next stop was to mixed some two-part epoxy and use the epoxy to glue them together — and it worked.

Adding another arm

Now that I am able to clamp the helping hand to the edge of my workbench, I decided to add a flexible arm so that I can use it to attach other tools. The first tool I have in mind is to attach a DC fan to the setup so that it can be used to vacuum out the lead smoke away from me when I’m doing some soldering. Here’s what the arm looks like.

I ordered the DC fan online and I’m trying to figure out how to attach the fan using a generic attachment method that I can use to attach other things. Will post things later, when I have made updates.

Fixing the adjustment knob

The adjustment knob that allows me to rotate or reconfigure the helping hands has lost it’s threads. I guess it’s going to happen sooner or later, I’ve been using to tool for decades :-). So I need to figure out a replacement. I happened to have some extra long m4 bolts with a knurled knob as a head and a nut with a knob.

Perfect! Now it’s much easier to loosen and tighten things whenever I need to adjust the helping hand’s orientation.

I have breathe new life to my helping hands again. I can now use them again to make things easier when tinkering on my workbench. Will post some more modifications later when I have made them. For now, I can start using the helping hands again.