How to Make a Cheap Soldering Iron Stand or Holder Without Drilling or Using Glue/epoxy

I needed a soldering stand. The ones I saw in the local electronics store were way overpriced and were flimsy. So I decided to make one for myself. I looked online and saw many of the talented DIY artists making soldering stands using ply boards, coat hangers, marble slabs etc. Some of the designs involved drilling and using epoxy or resin glue to fix the wire spiral to the base. I then thought of a much simpler solution. I did not have a drill. Also did not want to mess around with resin or epoxy etc.

So we will require some careful bending of coat hanger wires to get the desired result.

Lets have a look at the materials needed.

The materials needed to make this stand are:

1. A metal wire coat hanger. The wire should be around 3 mm thick. DO NOT USE HANGERS WHICH ARE MADE OF THICKER ALUMINIUM WIRES.

2. A small rectangular wooden block. It should have sufficient weight, around 300 grams so as to act as the base. If your soldering iron is lightweight, you may go for a thinner or lighter piece.

3. A wood screw. Around 1 inch long.

Now chances are you already have these at your house. This cost me nothing to make. However, small wooden blocks are surplus. Just ask a local carpenter and you will get them.

The tools we will need are:

1. A set of pliers.

2. A hammer.

3 A small hacksaw.

Take the coat hanger and cut off the neck of the hanger using pliers or hacksaw. Straighten out the hanger wire into a straight long piece of thick wire.

Now comes the important part. Make a loop at one end of the wire. This is important because we will secure the spiral to the wooden block using the wood screw. Look at the images for a reference on how to make a loop. Remember the loop should be wide enough to allow a snug fit of the screw you will be using. After bending it into a loop and ensuring the body of the screw fits properly in, move on to the next step.

Refer o images for step by step breakdown.

The spiral is easy. Take a broomstick handle or in fact the handle of the hammer we will be using, and wrap the wire carefully around the handle to create a cylindrical spiral. Ensure that you have kept a gap of 2 inches from the loop we made in the previous step. Make 6 turns.

Take the spiral out from the handle. Now its time to shape the cylindrical helix a tapered conical one.

Carefully hold the Spiral with pliers and add gentle twists at each turn to make them progressively smaller. Make sure that the pitch is uniform. So that the spiral looks symmetrical.

Now its turn to cut off excess wire.

This is a tricky step. Using the excess wire cut off at previous step (henceforth referred to as the reinforcement wire), we will reinforce the spiral by adding a wire as an axis.

take the excess wire and measure out the length of the spiral. Then add 5 cm to that length. That is the length of the reinforcement wire you need.

First twist a half loop like you did in step 1. Put it around the base of the spiral. Using pliers carefully twist the wire to complete the loop. And bend the wire upwards.

Now carefully look at images for reference. You will get the idea of the type of bend we are going for here.

Bend both the reinforcement wire and the spiral end around each other. Use the hammer and pliers to shape as necessary.

Align the spiral on the block and carefully screw it to the base using a hammer or any advanced power tool you may have. Be careful to use a proper screw. Too much thick screw might chip or crack the wooden block.

Done!

P.S. : If you want, you may glue a sardine can lid pr any small plastic lid on the base to use as a placeholder for wet sponge. But I didn't because I use a separate arrangement for the sponge.