Soldering Can

The Thrifty Rocketeer blog continues...

Here's a blast from the past.  Forgive me if this seems too rudimentary, but it's tinged with nostalgia for me.

Frequently, as you advance into medium or high power rocketry, you're called upon to assemble an electronics bay or an altimeter or something that requires electronic soldering.  Without getting too far into that, I want to present something that has been with me for more than 50 years.

When you buy a pencil soldering iron, you need someplace to park it when it's hot and/or plugged in. Usually, there will be a very cheap square of sheet metal or aluminum, with a A frame "stand" to rest the iron on. Metal conducts heat, so this isn't always the best, but at a bare minimum, it will do to start.

A better idea is to purchase one of those simple stands that consists of a rest made from coiled metal wire, bolted onto a small square stand, with a depression for a damp sponge on it.  These usually work very well, if you remember to dampen the sponge before using it. (The sponge is for cleaning your tip frequently.)

But there's another stand you can make quite cheaply.

First, get yourself an empty coffee can.  These days, they are used for expresso machines. You could also try a can of nuts, if you can find one. It's more the right size, except most are now made of cardboard walls with a foil inside wall and paper label outside. (That could also work, but the cardboard might scorch or catch fire.)**

If your coffee can is too tall, you can cut in in 1/3 or 1/2 for half the height.  How you do this is your business, but it could be tin snips, or a Dremel tool, or a belt sander in some way.  Hack saw might not work very well, but you could try to start with that, then switch to aviator snips.

The bottom of the can will then hold a wad or "biscuit" of steel wool...  I choose medium/course  grade. The open top will provide access to the steel wool. To hold the steel wool in, you will need to bend little tabs or wings down inside over the biscuit to trap it inside. 

You can create these wings either by using an old fashioned hand bottle opener or a punch. You'll recall that these palm-sized pry devices had a round side (for pop or beer bottle tops) and a sharp triangle side used for piercing juice cans, skim milk cans or other cans of liquid. Once pierced, these cans could never be resealed and were drained.

In our use, the sharp triangle could be used to pierce the side of the can, about six locations equal distant around.  If you can't get a grip on the lip to do this, you can instead use a chisel and or a round wood carving tool to fashion the inverted "V" to  fold down into the can and hold the steel wool inside.  This was the method I originally used.

Keep the plastic lid from resealing the contents, and use that either as a base on the bottom of the can, or to recover the top when the stand is not in use. It will protect the steel wool from some  moisture temporarily.

 

The neat thing about this design is that the hot soldering iron can be positioned across the open top of the can, and through one of the open tab holes, allowing the weight of the unattended iron to be supported by the can. It's held in place by the tip through the far opening, and although the exposed hot tip protrudes, it can't or won't roll away and fall.  A little balancing is needed.

My father made me one for my very first soldering project, and though the steel wool has rusted, I still have it as a treasured memory of him.  My whole family uses it whenever soldering.

**Now, if you have used a cardboard nut can, you will want to remove the paper label, and replace it with an aluminum foil band just to decorate it up.  Or you could also paint or decorate the exposed outside cardboard wall with markers, especially if a kid will own this.

The cardboard walls may not hold a hot tip without scorching or burning, but the metal rim around the top of the can will rest the handle of the iron without tipping. Remember to monitor the hot tip to assure a fire doesn't start.  And don't forget to save the blue, brown or black plastic resealable lid as above, for a skid-proof base. (When I made one for my son this week, I sealed an aluminum foil strip (13" x 3") to the cardboard exterior wall with rubber cement. But I am not pleased with it.)

This has been the Thrifty Rocketeer playing a memory for you.  Don't forget to cap your glue.