Soldering with essential tremor

E

electronman99

Guest
Dear scielectronicsbasics people,

I am 65 and was recently diagnosed with essential tremor. It is not
Parkinsons and is not a serious health threat. (Bill Clinton was
diagnosed with it a few years ago). Basically it means that my hands
shake a little bit. This shaking now makes soldering difficult. What
would help me is to find a soldering iron with a short tip. I have a
Weller 25 watt, but the tip is over 5 inches long, and, as a result,
the end of the tip shakes quite a bit while I'm trying to solder. I
have searched the Internet, but cannot seem to find an iron with a
short tip. Does anyone know where I can purchase a soldering iron
that has a short tip? Thanks. electronman99
 
In article
<779914af-ba11-4ec0-8d7d-d23376615386@q4g2000yqm.googlegroups.com>,
electronman99 <electronman99@gmail.com> wrote:

Dear scielectronicsbasics people,

I am 65 and was recently diagnosed with essential tremor. It is not
Parkinsons and is not a serious health threat. (Bill Clinton was
diagnosed with it a few years ago). Basically it means that my hands
shake a little bit. This shaking now makes soldering difficult. What
would help me is to find a soldering iron with a short tip. I have a
Weller 25 watt, but the tip is over 5 inches long, and, as a result,
the end of the tip shakes quite a bit while I'm trying to solder. I
have searched the Internet, but cannot seem to find an iron with a
short tip. Does anyone know where I can purchase a soldering iron
that has a short tip? Thanks. electronman99
Click to expand...
Try relaxing your grip. While I doubt I've ever taught anyone with your
specific condition, the usual problem for people with shaky hands that I
have taught soldering is grabbing the iron too hard so it shakes when
they do. If you can relax and let the tip rest on the work while you and
the back end of the iron shake around, your problem may cease to be a
problem. Arranging a place (think a small bridge or shelf over your
workpiece) you can rest your hand on while you have the iron in position
on the work may also help.

I don't know of any particularly short decent irons, except perhaps the
butane powered Portasol, and even that you don't want to grab too close
to the tip or you'll get burnt.

--
Cats, coffee, chocolate...vices to live by
 
"electronman99" <electronman99@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:779914af-ba11-4ec0-8d7d-d23376615386@q4g2000yqm.googlegroups.com...
Dear scielectronicsbasics people,

I am 65 and was recently diagnosed with essential tremor. It is not
Parkinsons and is not a serious health threat. (Bill Clinton was
diagnosed with it a few years ago). Basically it means that my hands
shake a little bit. This shaking now makes soldering difficult. What
would help me is to find a soldering iron with a short tip. I have a
Weller 25 watt, but the tip is over 5 inches long, and, as a result,
the end of the tip shakes quite a bit while I'm trying to solder. I
have searched the Internet, but cannot seem to find an iron with a
short tip. Does anyone know where I can purchase a soldering iron
that has a short tip? Thanks. electronman99
Click to expand...
What you are describing might be a "stubby". I haven't seen any recently.
You may be more comfortable with a battery powered iron. You can get your
fingers up closer to the tip.

Good Luck,
Tom
 
"electronman99" <electronman99@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:779914af-ba11-4ec0-8d7d-d23376615386@q4g2000yqm.googlegroups.com...
Dear scielectronicsbasics people,

I am 65 and was recently diagnosed with essential tremor. It is not
Parkinsons and is not a serious health threat. (Bill Clinton was
diagnosed with it a few years ago). Basically it means that my hands
shake a little bit. This shaking now makes soldering difficult. What
would help me is to find a soldering iron with a short tip. I have a
Weller 25 watt, but the tip is over 5 inches long, and, as a result,
the end of the tip shakes quite a bit while I'm trying to solder. I
have searched the Internet, but cannot seem to find an iron with a
short tip. Does anyone know where I can purchase a soldering iron
that has a short tip? Thanks. electronman99
Click to expand...
Would having a support to rest your hand on and just manipulating
the iron with wrist, thumb and fingers help?
Mike
 
Jameco used to sell a little soldering iron that strapped around your index
finger (it was about 4" long, total, protruding perhaps an inch behind the tip
of your finger in use). It was popular when SMT soldering first became
attractive to hobbyists, but unfortunately they don't seem to sell it anymore.
I did a little Googling, and while you can find articles about finger tip
soldering irons, in the first few hits I didn't see anyone selling them
anymore. But perhaps with a bit more searching...
 
On Mon, 18 Jan 2010 10:58:11 -0800 (PST), electronman99
<electronman99@gmail.com> wrote:

Dear scielectronicsbasics people,

I am 65 and was recently diagnosed with essential tremor. It is not
Parkinsons and is not a serious health threat. (Bill Clinton was
diagnosed with it a few years ago). Basically it means that my hands
shake a little bit. This shaking now makes soldering difficult. What
would help me is to find a soldering iron with a short tip. I have a
Weller 25 watt, but the tip is over 5 inches long, and, as a result,
the end of the tip shakes quite a bit while I'm trying to solder. I
have searched the Internet, but cannot seem to find an iron with a
short tip. Does anyone know where I can purchase a soldering iron
that has a short tip? Thanks. electronman99
Click to expand...
How about an intermediate pivot sort of support to rest the iron on,
between your hand and the work? It could be a small rock or brick, a
metal or ceramic rod in a PanaVise, or a mitre-box sort of thing you
could make. I don't have tremor and something like that might be
useful to me at times... parts keep getting smaller and smaller.

ftp://jjlarkin.lmi.net/BeamLeads.JPG

John
 
On Mon, 18 Jan 2010 10:58:11 -0800 (PST), electronman99
<electronman99@gmail.com> wrote:

Dear scielectronicsbasics people,

I am 65 and was recently diagnosed with essential tremor. It is not
Parkinsons and is not a serious health threat. (Bill Clinton was
diagnosed with it a few years ago). Basically it means that my hands
shake a little bit. This shaking now makes soldering difficult.
Click to expand...
---
A couple shots of Wild Turkey steadies mine right up... ;)

JF
 
On Mon, 18 Jan 2010 18:39:20 -0600, John Fields
<jfields@austininstruments.com> wrote:

On Mon, 18 Jan 2010 10:58:11 -0800 (PST), electronman99
electronman99@gmail.com> wrote:

Dear scielectronicsbasics people,

I am 65 and was recently diagnosed with essential tremor. It is not
Parkinsons and is not a serious health threat. (Bill Clinton was
diagnosed with it a few years ago). Basically it means that my hands
shake a little bit. This shaking now makes soldering difficult.

---
A couple shots of Wild Turkey steadies mine right up... ;)
Click to expand...

....and a couple more and you don't care. ;-)
 
krw wrote On 2010-01-19 02:20:
On Mon, 18 Jan 2010 18:39:20 -0600, John Fields
jfields@austininstruments.com> wrote:

On Mon, 18 Jan 2010 10:58:11 -0800 (PST), electronman99
electronman99@gmail.com> wrote:

Dear scielectronicsbasics people,

I am 65 and was recently diagnosed with essential tremor. It is not
Parkinsons and is not a serious health threat. (Bill Clinton was
diagnosed with it a few years ago). Basically it means that my hands
shake a little bit. This shaking now makes soldering difficult.

---
A couple shots of Wild Turkey steadies mine right up... ;)


...and a couple more and you don't care. ;-)
Click to expand...
Just my $.02 worth:

You know those ergonomic cushions used under your mouse wrist? One of
those and appropriate number of books or brochures under it, so you get
a good working height to have your wrist resting on the cushion while
you solder. And then of course, an appropriate soldering iron of short type.

/Teo.

--
Teodor Väänänen | Don't meddle in the affairs of wizards,
<teostupiditydor@algonet.se> | for you are good and crunchy with
http://www.algonet.se/~teodor/ | ketchup.
Remove stupidity to reply. |
 
electronman99 wrote:
Dear scielectronicsbasics people,

I am 65 and was recently diagnosed with essential tremor. It is not
Parkinsons and is not a serious health threat. (Bill Clinton was
diagnosed with it a few years ago). Basically it means that my hands
shake a little bit. This shaking now makes soldering difficult. What
would help me is to find a soldering iron with a short tip. I have a
Weller 25 watt, but the tip is over 5 inches long, and, as a result,
the end of the tip shakes quite a bit while I'm trying to solder. I
have searched the Internet, but cannot seem to find an iron with a
short tip. Does anyone know where I can purchase a soldering iron
that has a short tip? Thanks. electronman99
Click to expand...
The Metcal ones are pretty short'n'stumpy.
http://metcal.com/products/

Dave.

--
---------------------------------------------
Check out my Electronics Engineering Video Blog & Podcast:
http://www.eevblog.com
 
David L. Jones wrote:
electronman99 wrote:
Dear scielectronicsbasics people,

I am 65 and was recently diagnosed with essential tremor. It is not
Parkinsons and is not a serious health threat. (Bill Clinton was
diagnosed with it a few years ago). Basically it means that my hands
shake a little bit. This shaking now makes soldering difficult. What
would help me is to find a soldering iron with a short tip. I
have a Weller 25 watt, but the tip is over 5 inches long, and, as a
result, the end of the tip shakes quite a bit while I'm trying to
solder. I have searched the Internet, but cannot seem to find an
iron with a short tip. Does anyone know where I can purchase a
soldering iron that has a short tip? Thanks. electronman99

The Metcal ones are pretty short'n'stumpy.
http://metcal.com/products/
Click to expand...
This iron in particular looks like it may come with their base level
station?, if not available seperately:
http://www.oki-usa.com/mx-h1-av.aspx
Even comes with three different grips.
Doesn't look like much longer than about 1" on the tip?

I've used an older style Metcal with such a short stubby tip, it really does
help with the handling and any hand shake.

Dave.

--
---------------------------------------------
Check out my Electronics Engineering Video Blog & Podcast:
http://www.eevblog.com
 
On Mon, 18 Jan 2010 10:58:11 -0800 (PST), electronman99
<electronman99@gmail.com> wrote:

This shaking now makes soldering difficult. What
would help me is to find a soldering iron with a short tip.
Click to expand...
I have thought about the same thing a few times when working with
really small stuff.

Would it be possible to make some sort of sleeve that goes around (but
not touching) the heating element, so that you can grip near the
soldering tip?

It would have to be well insulated to protect your fingers, and it
would also need to provide adequate ventilation between the element
and the sleeve, so that the iron does not overheat (unless your iron
is temperature controlled).
--
RoRo
 
"John Fields" <jfields@austininstruments.com> wrote in message
news:tiv9l51ohjcebpp4dhs6dflthn88l6lvng@4ax.com...
On Mon, 18 Jan 2010 10:58:11 -0800 (PST), electronman99
electronman99@gmail.com> wrote:

Dear scielectronicsbasics people,

I am 65 and was recently diagnosed with essential tremor. It is not
Parkinsons and is not a serious health threat. (Bill Clinton was
diagnosed with it a few years ago). Basically it means that my hands
shake a little bit. This shaking now makes soldering difficult.

---
A couple shots of Wild Turkey steadies mine right up... ;)
Click to expand...
Actually, that works for many. Also, no caffeine helps and keeping your
blood sugar at a reasonable level also can help.
 
On Mon, 18 Jan 2010 10:58:11 -0800 (PST), electronman99
<electronman99@gmail.com> wrote:

Dear scielectronicsbasics people,

I am 65 and was recently diagnosed with essential tremor. It is not
Parkinsons and is not a serious health threat. (Bill Clinton was
diagnosed with it a few years ago). Basically it means that my hands
shake a little bit. This shaking now makes soldering difficult. What
would help me is to find a soldering iron with a short tip. I have a
Weller 25 watt, but the tip is over 5 inches long, and, as a result,
the end of the tip shakes quite a bit while I'm trying to solder. I
have searched the Internet, but cannot seem to find an iron with a
short tip. Does anyone know where I can purchase a soldering iron
that has a short tip? Thanks. electronman99
Click to expand...
I hear you.

I think we need a "waldo" thingee - massive robotic hands that
translate the surgeons finger movements into steady sure output.
--
 
On Tue, 19 Jan 2010 18:33:43 -0500, default <default@defaulter.net>
wrote:

On Mon, 18 Jan 2010 10:58:11 -0800 (PST), electronman99
electronman99@gmail.com> wrote:

Dear scielectronicsbasics people,

I am 65 and was recently diagnosed with essential tremor. It is not
Parkinsons and is not a serious health threat. (Bill Clinton was
diagnosed with it a few years ago). Basically it means that my hands
shake a little bit. This shaking now makes soldering difficult. What
would help me is to find a soldering iron with a short tip. I have a
Weller 25 watt, but the tip is over 5 inches long, and, as a result,
the end of the tip shakes quite a bit while I'm trying to solder. I
have searched the Internet, but cannot seem to find an iron with a
short tip. Does anyone know where I can purchase a soldering iron
that has a short tip? Thanks. electronman99

I hear you.

I think we need a "waldo" thingee - massive robotic hands that
translate the surgeons finger movements into steady sure output.
Click to expand...
I want a stick-on suction-cup pantographic thing that I can stick on
fine-pitch ICs and land tiny probes on the pins or nearby parts.

John
 
On Tue, 19 Jan 2010 18:05:09 -0800, John Larkin
<jjlarkin@highNOTlandTHIStechnologyPART.com> wrote:

On Tue, 19 Jan 2010 18:33:43 -0500, default <default@defaulter.net
wrote:

On Mon, 18 Jan 2010 10:58:11 -0800 (PST), electronman99
electronman99@gmail.com> wrote:

Dear scielectronicsbasics people,

I am 65 and was recently diagnosed with essential tremor. It is not
Parkinsons and is not a serious health threat. (Bill Clinton was
diagnosed with it a few years ago). Basically it means that my hands
shake a little bit. This shaking now makes soldering difficult. What
would help me is to find a soldering iron with a short tip. I have a
Weller 25 watt, but the tip is over 5 inches long, and, as a result,
the end of the tip shakes quite a bit while I'm trying to solder. I
have searched the Internet, but cannot seem to find an iron with a
short tip. Does anyone know where I can purchase a soldering iron
that has a short tip? Thanks. electronman99

I hear you.

I think we need a "waldo" thingee - massive robotic hands that
translate the surgeons finger movements into steady sure output.

I want a stick-on suction-cup pantographic thing that I can stick on
fine-pitch ICs and land tiny probes on the pins or nearby parts.

John
Click to expand...
Suction cups that small? I just fixed my old printer - most the time
went to replacing the chip resistor I took off during trouble
shooting. I ended up putting it in upside down because my first
attempts caused the connection on the chip to come off - probably 1 mm
square - suction cup?

For what its worth - one guy on a forum I frequent claims to be
building surface mount circuits by tinning the foils, dropping the
parts on, then using a hotplate to re flow the solder over the whole
board at one go.
--
 
--FWIW I've got similar problems and what I do is try to hook my
little finger around someting solid like a bar clamped near the work; this
helps quite a bit. It's sort of like holding two chopsticks..

--
"Steamboat Ed" Haas : To help the helpless
Hacking the Trailing Edge! : To comfor the fearful...
www.nmpproducts.com
---Decks a-wash in a sea of words---
 
On Jan 20, 10:20 am, default <defa...@defaulter.net> wrote:
On Tue, 19 Jan 2010 18:05:09 -0800, John Larkin





jjlar...@highNOTlandTHIStechnologyPART.com> wrote:
On Tue, 19 Jan 2010 18:33:43 -0500, default <defa...@defaulter.net
wrote:

On Mon, 18 Jan 2010 10:58:11 -0800 (PST), electronman99
electronma...@gmail.com> wrote:

Dear scielectronicsbasics people,

I am 65 and was recently diagnosed with essential tremor. It is not
Parkinsons and is not a serious health threat.  (Bill Clinton was
diagnosed with it a few years ago).  Basically it means that my hands
shake a little bit.  This shaking now makes soldering difficult.  What
would help  me is to find a soldering iron with a short tip.  I have a
Weller 25 watt, but the tip is over 5 inches long, and, as a result,
the end of the tip shakes quite a bit while I'm trying to solder.  I
have searched the Internet, but cannot seem to find an iron with a
short tip.  Does anyone know where I can purchase a soldering iron
that has a short tip?   Thanks.    electronman99

I hear you.

I think we need a "waldo" thingee - massive robotic hands that
translate the surgeons finger movements into steady sure output.

I want a stick-on suction-cup pantographic thing that I can stick on
fine-pitch ICs and land tiny probes on the pins or nearby parts.

John

Suction cups that small?  I just fixed my old printer - most the time
went to replacing the chip resistor I took off during trouble
shooting.  I ended up putting it in upside down because my first
attempts caused the connection on the chip to come off - probably 1 mm
square - suction cup?

For what its worth - one guy on a forum I frequent claims to be
building surface mount circuits by tinning the foils, dropping the
parts on, then using a hotplate to re flow the solder over the whole
board at one go.
--- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -
Click to expand...
Thanks for all your suggestions re: soldering and essential tremor. I
am searching for a Metcal dealer in my area. The Metcal irons look
short enough to work for my needs.
 
bob haller <hallerb@aol.com> wrote:
The following make it worse, stress, hurrying, pressed for time,
havent eaten lately, anyone watching:( the smaller the item the worse
it is:(
--Add to that coffee and caffeinated sodas..
Click to expand...
--
"Steamboat Ed" Haas : To help the helpless
Hacking the Trailing Edge! : To comfor the fearful...
www.nmpproducts.com
---Decks a-wash in a sea of words---
 
On Jan 21, 2:03�pm, steamer <stea...@sonic.net> wrote:
ďż˝ ďż˝ ďż˝ ďż˝ --FWIW I've got similar problems and what I do is try to hook my
little finger around someting solid like a bar clamped near the work; this
helps quite a bit. It's sort of like holding two chopsticks..

--
� � � � "Steamboat Ed" Haas � � � � : �To help the helpless �
� � � � Hacking the Trailing Edge! �: �To comfor the fearful...
� � � � � � � � � � � � �www.nmpproducts.com
ďż˝ ďż˝ ďż˝ ďż˝ ďż˝ ďż˝ ďż˝ ďż˝ ďż˝ ďż˝---Decks a-wash in a sea of words---
Click to expand...
I have been like this my entire life, I am 52 years old now but that
way in high school electronics:(

The following make it worse, stress, hurrying, pressed for time,
havent eaten lately, anyone watching:( the smaller the item the worse
it is:(
 
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