Solder Assistant/Gravity Clamp

thingiverse

In 2009, Gerrit Coatzee published this elegantly simple soldering assistant. It is heavy and stable, and it rests on top of an SMD while you solder it. It also acts as a heat sink to protect the part. The device has never caught on, and that's a shame. Part of the problem is that Gerrit made it the old way, by drilling holes in bits of wood like a caveman. So I've updated the design for the 21st century. Here is a printable gravity clamp to hold your surface mount parts. A M5×45 socket head machine screw clips into the head, and three more M5 screws are used to provide ballast. You should sharpen the point with a file or grinding wheel (like a caveman!). In the photos, I'm soldering 5050 parts, so I used an unsharpened tip. Tips are interchangeable. Create a few different sizes and snap them in. The OpenSCAD source file is attached. It should be easy to adapt to different screw sizes, overall dimensions, or head angle.