Anyone with good solution to keep long solderiron wires away ? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Kjelt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 17, 2025, 03:41:26 pm
content: I got three weller WX solder stations with 5 irons attached and their wires are +/- 1 meter long.Perfect when you need them, terrible when you do not need them, they get stuck in drawers, entangle themselves across each other, look like spaghetti mess when not in use.Does any one have a solution that keeps the wires neatly pulled/tucked away when not needed, please with photo's

author: jonovid
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 17, 2025, 09:26:37 pm
content: show your image of mess

author: Benta
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 17, 2025, 09:38:47 pm
content: Portasol ProPiezo 75 works for me.No cables at all.

author: abeyer
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 17, 2025, 11:08:44 pm
content: Haven't tried building it yet, but have always thought that some sort of overhead retractable tether that is balanced to the weight of the cable would be nice... it would hold it up and out of your way in most use, but allow for pulling it out farther as needed.

author: themadhippy
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 17, 2025, 11:10:14 pm
content: QuoteLike the ole rise n fall lamps?

author: Bud
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 17, 2025, 11:18:42 pm
content: JBC has a stupidly simple and effective solution, spring loaded cable holders. I am loving it.

author: Kasper
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 18, 2025, 05:06:49 am
content: That spring looks nice. I used to have a shelf above my desk and would attach the cable to it in one way or another.I had a vacuum tube zap strapped to the iron and cable which you'd think would be extra combersome but the shelf made it all fine.

author: PlainName
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 18, 2025, 10:52:26 pm
content: QuoteThat's what I do: for each cable, one of those extending key tethers you fit to your belt does the job. Attach to shelf and then have the cable attached to the key ring part so that grabbing the iron pulls down on the extender. It's possible to find some that don't have too strong a recoil (perhaps those used for ID cards rather than keys).

author: Kjelt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 19, 2025, 10:37:28 am
content: Interesting ideas

author: abeyer
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 19, 2025, 03:48:42 pm
content: Quote from: PlainName on March 18, 2025, 10:52:26 pmYes, this is exactly what I was thinking about... but haven't yet found any off the shelf tethers that had the right force to feel "right" when using it, or were easily adjustable.

author: Kjelt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 19, 2025, 04:51:00 pm
content: Quote from: abeyer on March 19, 2025, 03:48:42 pmIf they are a bit too strong it might be an idea to connect the end halfway the cable and when pulled out hang it up to some hook, you have the other half flexible for soldering and the first half will be retrackted. Might go for rhat solution myself.

author: PlainName
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 19, 2025, 05:04:34 pm
content: To be clear, I have to extender attached to the cable a full extended length from the iron, so it is about halfway along the cable. Takes a little bit of trial and error to find the sweet spot and it would depend on shelf height, distance to working space, etc.Maybe some weight would help with extenders with strong retraction. What would be really cool is like the retractable gargen hoses, where you can pull it out and it stays out, then give it a small tug and it winds back. Doubt if that kind of mechanism would fit in these retractors, though

author: shabaz
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 19, 2025, 05:26:05 pm
content: Hi,You can buy this (see attached photo).This looks similar to the support rod on my all-in-one station, but the separate system uses a spring instead of a rod. Maybe there are other variations, too, but I don't know.On the all-in-one JBC station, the length (rod including the end pieces) is 240 mm, and it pivots from a height of 60 mm off the table surface.For the separate tool stand, the length (spring plus the end pieces) is 200 mm, and it pivots from a height of 55 mm.I think the longer length of the all-in-one may be better for clearing the height of the station.You could fashion it yourself, perhaps. The rod feels like a thin whip antenna. If you have any MIG welding wire, it likely feels the same (it will need straightening, of course, but that's easy to do neatly if it's initially just curved from being on a roll). Probably a good idea to insulate it, though.For the end pieces, a very crude but quick and cost-effective method would be to use PolyDoh) - or if you have the right kind of pliers (look like cones) you could curve to the right shape for push-fitting the soldering iron cable, and a circular shape for the screw+washer to fit onto the other end.EDIT: Decided to give it a shot.. I used 0.8 mm welding wire, which feels about as springy as the JBC version.

author: Xena E
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 20, 2025, 02:29:35 am
content: Shelf beneath the bench...

author: Kjelt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 20, 2025, 08:29:09 am
content: Quote from: Xena E on March 20, 2025, 02:29:35 amI am 6feet3 now good for my knees

author: Xena E
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 20, 2025, 06:18:55 pm
content: Quote from: Kjelt on March 20, 2025, 08:29:09 amSorry, I must be misunderstanding your meaning?I have a small shelf to one side and just below the bench top that the base units sit on, I bring the handle up when needed, the cable doesn't lay across the bench when out of use, or drag items from the work top when it is in use.Admit even at work only have two stations though...No need to be on your knees that I can see?Xena (5 foot nothing)

author: Kjelt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 20, 2025, 06:43:29 pm
content: Ah I thought you had a shelf under the benchtop so above my knees when you sit at the bench. My benchtop is 80cm from the floor so my knees don't touch it, putting a shelf there would not work. On the side it would, but my stations are on a tabletop next to my bench so that is perfect.And yes it is overkill but as hobbieist it is fun to buy gear and tools esp. when another forum user offers them a bit used for 50% discount ( years ago.... ). Never regretted it, the tweezers I use perhaps ten times a year but brings a lot of joy instead of using two irons with two hands, the desolder iron also works great. The micropencil I don't use much I admit (0402 only), the 65W SMD pencil and 120W normal iron are used the most. Yes you can use all irons on one station switching them but what a pain that would be not to mention damaging the connectors in time.

author: mwb1100
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 20, 2025, 08:16:48 pm
content: Quote from: PlainName on March 19, 2025, 05:04:34 pmThere are retractable USB cable gizmos that work like that. I'm pretty sure whatever spring they have would be to weak for (or at best borderline) for this application. But I haven't tried it, so what do I know? And even if they are too weak maybe a relatively easy "spring hack" might do the trick?One thing is certain: if I tried opening one of those things there'd be bits flying all over the room no matter how careful I tried to be.

author: PlainName
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 20, 2025, 08:54:58 pm
content: You are right - I even have one of the USB spools somewhere. Hmmm... I can feel pinging moment coming on...

author: abeyer
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 20, 2025, 11:32:56 pm
content: Quote from: mwb1100 on March 20, 2025, 08:16:48 pmThey make much heavier duty ones for mains extension cords -- often used from ceiling outlets in warehouse/industrial spaces so you can drop an extension down where you need it.

author: Kjelt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 21, 2025, 08:08:07 am
content: Quote from: abeyer on March 20, 2025, 11:32:56 pmIndeed but I think we need something small and less powerfull winding, plus we need then new soldering iron cables. My experience with building my cnc router is that you need special wires if you mechanically stress them. Interesting is that you have special cables for one single direction bending movement like in a cable chain but also different made cables for in robot arms where multiple axis rotations and bends can take place.

author: EPAIII
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 22, 2025, 08:07:12 am
content: THREE stations with FIVE irons on one bench? WHY?I must assume that two of the stations have both a regular iron and a de-soldering iron.That's crazy! I know I will be flamed for that statement, but it IS CRAZY. I have worked for 45+ years at jobs with electronic repair benches. I have been retired for 14 years now and I had work benches before all that so at least 60 years of electronic work. But I never had more than two irons on a bench. NEVER. And in those cases the second iron was for de-soldering and I never used it. So the second cord was neatly coiled next to that excessively expensive station.My answer to your dilemma is to take two of those stations and SELL THEM. Get them OUT of your shop, PERMANENTLY! Remove the temptation. Pick one station to keep, preferably one with just a (ONE) good, temperature controlled iron and LEARN how to de-solder with a vacuum tool or wick or heat gun or whatever other method you want.I do have a Weller gun that I bought back in the 50s. I keep it in a drawer and only take it out when necessary. And if I need more heat than that, I have torches, but that's another thing. I won't be using them on any PCBs - FOR SURE.One iron, one good temperature controlled iron is all you really need. And if you have let the sales people convince you that you just have to have their latest and greatest, $999.99 station, then all I can say is, "There's one born every minute."I know the "experts" here will jump on me and explain how you just can't do this or that or some other thing with a plain old iron. Yet, I have been doing precisely that for quite some time now. I will patiently listen, but it will take some argument that I have not heard yet to convince me. So, break out your flame throwers and let me have it.

author: Kjelt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 22, 2025, 09:14:41 am
content: EPAIII I was tought this craft in the 80s and indeed then you only needed a single good iron for TH soldering and desoldering usually meant cutting the wires oulling them out heatingwith the single iron or wiggling them while simultaneously heating the component.But even then you had those large iron DIP tips with which you could desolder DIP14-20 packages in a single go remember? Remember the effort swapping tips? Many had more than one iron plugging the other one in when needed.Since then a lot has changed with SMT components. The standard iron is unsuitable for 0402, 0603 components. So yes I like tools love to now have the luxury to own them and is that not what hobbie is aboout? Tell a car collector that he can only drive a single car at a time so it is crazy to own more than one carGoto the TM&E section and fall of your chair how many bench multimeters those guys have and some have tens of scopes stacked to their ceiling.Overkill? Yes I agree, I could swapping connect the five irons to a single station. But the five irons are each for their own particular use.120W normal point for high heat work, TH and my most used iron.65W mini point for bigger SMT and heat sensitive applicationsMicro pencil for small SMTTweezers removing SMT caps, coils, resistors in single goDesoldering iron

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 22, 2025, 11:37:58 am
content: Quote from: EPAIII on March 22, 2025, 08:07:12 amYou’re right: it IS crazy to bark at someone for having more equipment than you think is necessary.Quote from: EPAIII on March 22, 2025, 08:07:12 amSo you didn’t even keep up with the times even when you were working? Pace introduced the PRC 2000 system, which comes with nine handpieces, back in 1992 (and it actually lacks some things needed for modern SMD rework). This is not a new thing.No, most people do not need an $8000 everything-in-one rework station. But to categorically dismiss everything beyond a basic soldering iron is myopic and self-centered: some people have different needs than you.In production/assembly, you likely don’t need a large array of tools at once because you’re usually working on one step or one subassembly or whatever. So the tools are focused on that step or subassembly.In a general-purpose repair workshop, where you get in all kinds of equipment from various manufacturers and eras, you need a wide array of rework tools.Quote from: EPAIII on March 22, 2025, 08:07:12 amThe temptation to what, choose the right tool for the job?!?Quote from: EPAIII on March 22, 2025, 08:07:12 amI routinely use two soldering irons at the same time, when working on boards where I need different tips for different joints. It saves a lot of time to not be swapping tips back and forth, and it is decidedly better to use the correct tip for each kind of joint than to force yourself to choose one tip that works (but suboptimally) for both. “I solder everything with one tip” is nothing to be proud of IMHO.In fact, in my experience, people who avoid choosing the right tool for the job, often with your exact mentality of actually looking down on people who use proper tools and boasting at how they do everything with a minimum of specialty tools or supplies, are the ones who end up doing poor quality work and/or breaking things more often, as they fudge things rather than do them right.As for desoldering: it is categorically impossible toreliablyand safely desolder multi-pin THT parts from boards with plated through-holes using a solder sucker or wick. You need a proper desoldering handpiece. (Or specialty tools, such as the large DIP desoldering tips Kjelt mentioned.)Quote from: EPAIII on March 22, 2025, 08:07:12 amA very egotistical POV. Other people have different needs than you. What worked for you may not work for others. And just because you tolerate making do with a minimum of tools doesn’t mean others can, and it certainly doesn’t make it a laudable goal!Quote from: EPAIII on March 22, 2025, 08:07:12 amSure. But it’s also a fool who thinks that most tools have no justification to exist.But even if a tool can’t accomplish any task that couldn’t be accomplished some other way, what’s wrong with choosing to buy tools that will make your work faster or less error-prone or easier or simply more pleasant?Quote from: EPAIII on March 22, 2025, 08:07:12 amThere is exactly a 0% chance that you do ALL the soldering tasks done by ALL other electronics soldering personnel in existence. You are looking at the things YOU do/did and assume that everyone else’s tasks overlap precisely with yours, and that simply won’t be the case. It’s quite arrogant to assume that your needs are the same as everyone else’s.

author: Gregg
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 22, 2025, 06:45:24 pm
content: Rather than pulling the wires up, you could cut holes in the bench and use a small weighted pulley to pull the wires down and totally out of the way. The tension could be easily adjusted for proper tension and the pulley large enough that it wouldn’t pop out of the hole when the lead is fully extended.The hole could be made to also hold the handle vertically thereby using minimal bench space.

author: EPAIII
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 23, 2025, 12:56:29 pm
content: Just cherry picking a statement or two, in red below.Quote from: tooki on March 22, 2025, 11:37:58 amI said I expected it and I got it. Anybody care to sit back and consider the matter for a second or two?Probably not!

author: EPAIII
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 23, 2025, 01:17:43 pm
content: At the prices you guys are paying for these indispensable soldering stations, why not hire a prototype shop to design and build an automated system that feeds out the amount of wire for the task at hand and then wind it back in when the iron is replaced in the holder? Or talk to the OEM's representative when he/she makes their next lunch visit, suggesting that they incorporate that into their iron holders.Lets see, a single board computer: $50. A sensor switch: $20. A motor: $20. And a drum: $10. All of those prices are on the high side for the components. So under $100. With OEM mark-up, which you guys seem eager to justify to yourselves or to your bosses, that would come to about $1000. Surely it is worth that for the time it would save.PS: This IS a serious suggestion.

author: PlainName
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 23, 2025, 03:47:41 pm
content: QuoteAs it happens we just needed some furniture in our bathroom. For reasons best not to go into here we needed a corner cabinet of a specific size - max 320mm on a side, max 1300mm tall, door at the bottom, adjustable shelves. Tons of them on Amazon but none exactly right, but one was close. Very close. Cost £60 and was probably OK although it had some negative reviews on build quality.After a week or so I figured I'd just make one myself. How hard can it be? Well now we have one that kind of fits the spec but has some 'build issues' (think MCF shelving, 24T circular saw...). Went through two 2400mm x 300mm sheets of MCF, one sheet of 2400mm x 500mm MCF, various fixings and ironmongery, and it took a week to do (had to wait for good weather because the table saw is an outside job). Cost about £80 plus time, and should really be done again now I know how not to do it. With hindsight I would probably just have got the one off Amazon.Reason I mention this is because it's the same with decent tools. Sure, youcouldmake your own custom spec oscilloscope/PSU/soldering station/PC/whatever. But generally you want tools to do something with them. I noticed that when I get, say, a lathe, most of the jobs I do would be making parts for that lathe rather than using it for something non-lathe related. And Youtube is full of similar - people making tools for their tools, rather than making real stuff. It's very circular.I want to use a soldering iron to fix stuff. An oscilloscope to view stuff. I don't want to spend all my time dicking about reinventing the wheel and making stuff to fix the stuff I'm making. So where someone makes something better than I could, it's daft to pretend a DIY bodge would be just as good.QuoteI think this is what it's about. Your entire justification is that these are super expensive and you can make one yourself for super cheap. If the tables were turned, would you still suggest making your own? I doubt it - you'd say "Why spend all that money making stuff when you can by a better one for less?"What business is it of yours how much someone is willing to pay for stuff? It should be entirely between them and their chequebook only.But the real issue here isn't that you suggest the things are expensive, or that a DIY job might be appropriate. It's that you are calling the potential buyers crazy, suckers, and just being generally hostile about them simply because of your own apparently parsimonious circumstances.

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 23, 2025, 06:44:28 pm
content: Quote from: EPAIII on March 23, 2025, 12:56:29 pmMore arrogance, assuming Ihaven’tconsidered the matter, for longer than a second or two, in fact.I do agree that a lot of soldering tools feel overpriced, in that the technology in them isn’t nearly as advanced as what we get in many other devices that cost less. For sure it’s a category of products where most of what we are paying for isn’t the hardware itself, but the expertise in designing it. For a counterexample, look at the AIXUN soldering stations that look great at first glance, and cost 1/3 as much as the JBCs they compete against, but which turn out to have catastrophic design flaws that can result in uncontrolled heating, and much worse, in quite high voltages present at the tip, easily capable of damaging many components. The established brands know how to design them to the strictest standards for stray voltages at the tip.However, one also has to consider this: what does your labor cost for an hour? For a day? A week? If buying a $1000 tool saves you at least $1000 in labor over its lifetime, it was worth it. For example, when I bought a new soldering station at work, I chose a model with two irons, because the added cost was only about a day of my salary. Over the lifetime of the station, which could last me to retirement, the second iron needs only to save my employer a few hours of time. On certain jobs, I have one iron with a small tip, another with a big one, for example, and even just saving 10 seconds to swap a tip, over and over, adds up.Or if buying it lets you do (and thus bill) a job you couldn’t do otherwise. (And by “do”, I mean “do properly”, by which I mean using proper methods and procedures that minimize damage or risk to the workpiece. Pressing the wrong tool into service increases that risk.) Vacuum desoldering tools fall into this category IMHO: as I stated before, desoldering multipin components from multilayer plated through holes is impossible to do consistently with wick or solder suckers, because the leads re-sweat to the hole plating. If spending $1000 on a proper vacuum de soldering system lets you make repairs, without risk of damage, that fix a device worth >$1000, then it was worth it.And how much is it worth it toknowfor a fact that the equipment is safe to use on all the circuits you’ll use it on?Could it be that maybe it’syouwho hasn’t spent enough time considering the matter?

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 23, 2025, 06:46:22 pm
content: Quote from: EPAIII on March 23, 2025, 01:17:43 pmIrons with solder feeders have been sold for many years, they’re nothing new.I also think it’s funny you seem to think soldering equipment reps are stopping by all the time; compared to test equipment reps, I have found that it is difficult to get soldering equipment reps to give you the time of day…

author: zapta
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 24, 2025, 03:25:44 am
content: I am using a Chinese JBC clone and shortened the soldering handle wire to my liking.

author: artag
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 24, 2025, 07:08:50 pm
content: If we're talking fancy solutions, how about a vacuum column (as used in ancient computer tape drives). Unlike a spring, this gives a constant tension (as will a tension reel as used with power screwdrivers). Downside is noise.

author: zapta
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 24, 2025, 07:24:25 pm
content: Quote from: artag on March 24, 2025, 07:08:50 pmAnother option for constant or any other tension profile ishttps://odriverobotics.com

author: EPAIII
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 27, 2025, 10:58:25 am
content: OK, one more idea, serious suggestion.Take a piece of music wire (spring wire) about half as long as your iron's wire. Make a loop in one end and attach the other end to your station's iron holder, close to where the iron's opening is. The music wire should be straight up. Wind half the cord loosely around the music wire and through the loop. The other half, the iron end, remains free.You will probably need to try two or three different gauges of the music wire to get the best spring action. It should be weak enough to allow free use of the iron but strong enough to easily return to vertical after you are finished using the iron.If you have multiple irons you may need to separate their holders by a few inches/cm to avoid tangles.It will take a little DIY work, but not much. Also should be fairly inexpensive but don't let that stop you.I wonder if I could sell them for $250.00 each. Custom brackets to fit under the iron holders or stations could be 3D printed or made by companies like Send-Cut-Send. At that price I could even throw in a pair of cutters for hardened wire so you could cut the wire to length. I may just have to look into this.PS: I have seen salesmen from local electronic supply companies make regular weekly or monthly stops at their clients places of business to get orders of a few hundred dollars a visit. I could count on at least one free lunch a week, sometimes with drinks. I really am surprised that no one makes "house calls" when people are spending thousands of dollars for these soldering stations.

author: PlainName
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 27, 2025, 01:07:57 pm
content: I think all the these solutions have the same potential issue: they are actively trying to retract the cable while you're using it.In use, the cable isn't really a problem. It's when the iron isn't being used that the cable just gets in the way and tangles up with the many other unwanted cables. So some scheme where the cable is only pulled after use would, I think, be much better. Perhaps the act of placing the iron in the holder could initiate retraction. A bonus then would be that the entire cable could be, perhaps, spooled whereas with the previous schemes it remains unspooled and just removed to acceptable space (like, under and shelf or above and around the power supply).

author: EPAIII
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 29, 2025, 06:07:52 am
content: Well wouldn't getting the cable to an acceptable space (as on a spool or yes, up in the air) and untangled be what is needed here? Does it matter where that acceptable space is, as long as it is acceptable by the user?OK, one other specification would be ease of use.In my humble opinion, that is.I took some measurements last night to make a prototype, vertical music wire device as I described. I will 3D print it and attach it to the side of my Weller single iron station. I am curious as to how well it will work. I am calling it a W³ (WellerWireWhip). I can add some storage holes for the extra tips - I will probably need to line them with metal (aluminum?) to prevent damage from the heat when changing them.Perhaps I can even conjure up a removal tool for the hot tips. Can't 3D print that, but perhaps an inexpensive nut driver could be modified to fit. Do those expensive stations come with such tools?You guys have me thinking about this now and I can't get it out of my mind.

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 29, 2025, 10:14:49 am
content: Quote from: EPAIII on March 27, 2025, 10:58:25 amI think it has to do with the regularity of orders, or lack thereof. Soldering equipment tends to be quite durable, and not something that changes a lot, so you buy it once and then hold on to it for a decade or two.For sure if you’re a business with dozens of production soldering workstations, you’ll get more attention than if you’re a place with one or two people.At my old job at a vocational training center (~20 stations, but for training, not production) we once had a rep come by. He inquired on how many kilos of solder we use per month: 10? 20? He was disappointed when the answer came back as “about 2kg per year”. 😂

author: PlainName
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 29, 2025, 12:21:55 pm
content: Found this on t'web: