Helping hands help...

[Fishplate]

I have not been involved with practical electronics for a while and the other day I decided to put together a small kit of a steam sound generator simple little kit should be no trouble to build. As the PCB is small I clamped it in the jaws of the crocodile clips of my helping hands and set to work only to find the helping hands kept falling over every time I applied any amount of pressure to the tip of the iron.

I solved the problem by drilling the base and fixing it to an off cut of ¾ inch thick MDF. works a treat!
Ralph

 

[CocaCola]

May I suggest an upgrade to double sticky tape and/or glue to a piece of marble tile? I find that excess flux always seems to find it's way to MDF/Wood and makes for a sticky hard to clean surface... As of late I have really been enjoying working on marble tiles, nice sold easy to clean, heat resistant (good for that hot air SMD work) and portable work space blocks... And I personally just like the feel of the stone work place, maybe I'm just weird...

 

[(*steve*)]

Great idea fishplate, but outside of your introduction thread you need to consider carefully before posting links to your blog.

Your posting history is short, so I'm taking a fairly hard line on this.

 

[Fishplate]

Great idea fishplate, but outside of your introduction thread you need to consider carefully before posting links to your blog.

Your posting history is short, so I'm taking a fairly hard line on this.

Sorry, just thought it was easier to post a link... I'm a bit confused. What should I be considering? I don't think there is anything controversial and it does not advertise anything...

...or am I missing something? Please don't think I am being awkward I just don't want to fall out with anybody. I think this site is great and very helpful to a returnee like me.

Ralph

 

[(*steve*)]

I'm a bit confused. What should I be considering? I don't think there is anything controversial and it does not advertise anything...

Like I said, I'm taking a hard line on this because you don't have much posting history. I'm not entirely comfortable, because I feel that you're not here to get page hits on your blog. Having said that, I might delete a message such as the one above if it were your first message, but it's not bad enough to get a ban.

The problem we have is that people come here and post links to their sites just to get page hits. We tend to get a good page rank in google and that makes us a bit of a target.

The general rule is, don't post a link to your own site unless it's something that an disinterested third party might post. I call it "gratuitous posting", and whilst it's fair to do it in your introductory thread, we don't want to encourage it elsewhere.

If someone asks to see what you've done in more detail (i.e. if it's a direct answer to a direct question) or if your solution is a specific answer to a general question (say if someone complained their helping hands kept falling over) then it's reasonable to post a link to your site -- a random passer-by might post the link.

In this case, I think that posting an image from your blog was sufficient.

edit: I also think it's a good idea.

 

[Fishplate]

Thank you for your explanation. That's fair enough, I had not thought of it that way. I will just post the information or the question in future.

Sorry for stepping out of line...

Ralph.