3D Printed Solder Station Accessory Cradle

When I purchased my soldering station about 3 years ago, it came with a lot of accessories that were just sitting in a drawer because I never had a place for them.

Because I am big on organization, I thought it was time to set up my workstation to be more professional and awesome, beginning with my soldering setup.

In this instructable, I will walk you through my process of designing and printing an accessories cradle for my particular soldering station.

The image is a stock image of my particular soldering iron set. Although I purchased mine from ebay, the same one is on amazon which I always felt more comfortable ordering from, and because it came with all those extra goodies, I am able to make this instructable.

The model is the X-Tronic #4010-XTS 4000 Series.

I really like it but the tips aren't that great. If you get one, I would invest in getting a HAKKO chisel tip. With that tip, it becomes a really good soldering iron.

My Soldering Iron

In the "Inventory" section I have a complete list of everything (except for the syringe of flux) used for the cradle.

The important measurements are the outside dimensions of the pencil holder. The length and the depth were pretty important. The height is less important. I chose the height based on the tallest tools I had, which were my yellow handled soldering aid tools.

I just wrote those measurements down and used them as a reference for my 3D model.

In my model, I rounded up on dimensions because my 3D printer is not exact and I don't like wasting filament on bad prints. So design with your tolerances in mind.

I then gathered all the tools I wanted the soldering cradle to hold and took an inventory. When I make my model, I will design the slots for each tool so everything has its place.

I then proceeded to 3D model. I use Solidworks for my modeling. The images show my model progression.

My tools were as follows:

3 x Double sided assist tools (I have had these for over 10 years - there used to be more)

1 x BIC Lighter

1 x Syringe of solder flux

1 x Small magnifying "glass"

1 x Anti-static tweezers (came with soldering iron)

1 x Spare heating element for the soldering iron (came with soldering iron)

1 x X-acto knife

2 x Heat sinks for soldering

10 x Different soldering iron tips (came with soldering iron)

A link to an Amazon list is provided for ALMOST everything.

Amazon List of Equipment

After checking my design, I approved of its looks and converted it to a .STL and sliced it for 3D printing. A .STL is attached for you to use (assuming your pencil base is the same as mine + you have a 3D printer).

I printed the model at 50mm/s for 5 hours then increased the speed to 70mm/s. The total print time was about 23 hours. I like to make my prints slow just because it gives a better quality print and minimizes the chance for failure.

I'm glad I did this project because I feel a workstation needs to be organized to be able to do quality work. This project help me bring out tools that were always a chore to grab due to accessibility and also helps maintain a clean and organized work area (very important).

I will further expand my workspace by adding more equipment like this to help bring my tools and accessories into an organized accessible area.

Thanks for reading, and I hope you can organize your work area with this cradle.