Tip: Using a Washer To Steady and Aligning Joints While Soldering

Soldering wires or components to wires is an important skill for any electronics hobbyist or professional. It requires using a soldering iron, which heats up metal alloy to create a strong bond between objects. They are nasty and HOT! With that comes burning fingers, leaving burn marks on tables and often bad soldering connections that also looks terrible.

If you have “helping hands,” clamping wire leads against a washer, as shown, stabilizes the whole setup a lot by connecting the two arms with a rigid member, so you can bear down a bit more with the iron without pushing things out of alignment. But the hole in the middle of the washer still allows all-around access to the junction.

If you don’t have helping hands, you can use a washer, as shown, with a pair of alligator clips (or even small binder clips) as a pretty helpful improvised work holding jig for this kind of soldering.

You probably already have a couple of washers lying around somewhere, all you now need is alligator clips and your solder work will be much easier. Arrange the washer in such a way that it can hold the wires and the alligator clips on both sides.Connect each clip to one of the two arms of your soldering iron and you’re ready to go! This improvisation will help you solder without having to worry about alignment problems. Talking of crocodile clips, we have quite a variety of them like in the picture below. They are one of those "must-have" additions to your toolbox and can be used in a variety of ways, whether it’s for building prototypes, soldering components, or simply keeping track of where you left off.

 We hope these tips help make your soldering easier. Be sure to take all necessary safety precautions when working on electrical projects and especially soldering irons.