improving hand shaking while soldering

[Johnny Chang]

So I've begun working with really small SMT components under
microscopes and my hands are just way too shakey. I've never really
been a coffee drinker and I find things to rest my wrists and forearms
on but it is still pretty bad.

Are there any exercises or vitamins I can take to aid this?

 

[Johnny Chang]

whoops i think i clicked reply to authors..

well, this is noticible even without magification, on my SMT project
it was a real hassle and I had my girlfriend do it. It also applies
to photography hobby.

 

[Johnny Chang]

no, she didn't. shame on her!

Didn't your mother tell you that "it" would make you go shaky and then
blind ?

                                        ...Jim Thompson
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 The difference between a horse's asshole & Bill Sloman's mouth?
                            Lipstick!
I'll leave it to your imagination which orifice has the lipstick!
Now ignore the dumb-**** shit-headed leftist weenie-bastard LIAR!

 

[Rich Webb]

So I've begun working with really small SMT components under
microscopes and my hands are just way too shakey. I've never really
been a coffee drinker and I find things to rest my wrists and forearms
on but it is still pretty bad.

As John L recommends, a lesser magnification would probably help.
Inspect, and perhaps touch-up, under the microscope but work with
something like an Optivisor. The five diopter (2 1/2 x) model is
popular. There are alternates but beware of cheapies with cast acrylic
lenses. http://www.doneganoptical.com/optivisor.php

Are there any exercises or vitamins I can take to aid this?

Jack Daniel's Tennessee sour mash. However, as with many things in
electronics, there are trade-offs ...

 

[Eeyore]

So I've begun working with really small SMT components under
microscopes and my hands are just way too shakey. I've never really
been a coffee drinker and I find things to rest my wrists and forearms
on but it is still pretty bad.

Are there any exercises or vitamins I can take to aid this?

Less beer ?

Graham

 

[dalai lamah]

Un bel giorno Johnny Chang digitò:

Are there any exercises or vitamins I can take to aid this?

Benzodiazepines?

 

[Eeyore]

Rest your hands on the table and just use the muscles of your thumb and
first two fingers. Much less shaky even than the wrist.

Or you can glue the components down first.

Graham

 

[aaa]

Less beer ?

Graham

More beer!

 

[Tim Williams]

Jack Daniel's Tennessee sour mash. However, as with many things in
electronics, there are trade-offs ...

http://xkcd.com/323/

Incidentially, most of my shakiness disappears when I'm
concentrating. Lovely stuff, the body and mind, go figure. There are
surgeons who shake like the San Andreas but perform operations as
delicate as any other.

Tim

 

[krw]

Martell. Cordon Bleu. One drop at a time.

I'm with both of you; Drambuie, one drop at a time. ;-)

 

[Jamie]

Didn't your mother tell you that "it" would make you go shaky and then
blind ?

...Jim Thompson

Ever hear of glasses!

http://webpages.charter.net/jamie_5"

 

[George Herold]

So I've begun working with really small SMT components under
microscopes and my hands are just way too shakey.  I've never really
been a coffee drinker and I find things to rest my wrists and forearms
on but it is still pretty bad.

Are there any exercises or vitamins I can take to aid this?

Well Mike N. has always claimed that exactly 1/2 beer was what he
needed to "connect" really small things.

George

 

[MakeNoAttemptToAdjustYourSet]

I find most of the brandies too "bitey" to my taste. If I want pure
alcohol I prefer vodka shots served ice cold, particularly good when
served with blinis filled with sour cream ;-)

On a trip to Germany I got bumped up to First Class, and they served
exactly that, and kept 'em coming for about an hour.

In the middle of that night I thought I was going to be sick, but I
managed to slowly sip water and stop my body from rebelling ;-)

...Jim Thompson

Austrian Rum... "Stroh"

 

[mpm]

I got (dangerously) drunk off Jack Daniels in an underage drinking
binge that TO THIS DAY, one whif and I immediately feel like I want to
puke. Believe it when folks tell you the sense of smell is very
powerful in recalling memories.

And it doesn't even end there! Wild Turkey (and some others) have the
same effect - even though I don't think I've ever tried them. Weird.

On a plus note, I could rollerskate a lot better drunk. (allegedly...)

-mpm

 

[Charlie E.]

I got (dangerously) drunk off Jack Daniels in an underage drinking
binge that TO THIS DAY, one whif and I immediately feel like I want to
puke. Believe it when folks tell you the sense of smell is very
powerful in recalling memories.

And it doesn't even end there! Wild Turkey (and some others) have the
same effect - even though I don't think I've ever tried them. Weird.

On a plus note, I could rollerskate a lot better drunk. (allegedly...)

-mpm

Well, Jack Daniels is one of the reasons why I don't drink, which is
why I usually don't engage in the discussions on alcoholic beverages -
no experience!

When I was young, probably 13-14, we visited the Jack Daniels
distillery. At one point, they take you to the mash tanks, and I made
the mistake of looking in while taking a breath.

Fortunately, I fell backwards, so someone was able to catch me...

Charlie

 

[Nemo]

People have different levels of fine motor control. I am blessed with
very steady hands and short sightedness which is a boon in this kind of
work.

How I generally work on very fine stuff is, I rest the sides of my hands
with little fingers on each side of the thing I'm working on; this means
the hands are steady and you only have to worry about the fingers being
steady. I use some 5x or 7x stereo magnifiers and a bright light to give
me a good view of the thing I'm soldering.

For even finer work, below the 0.5mm pitch I've gone to, I've seen
people rely largely on masses of flux to correct errors, and using
solder paste. By the way, although you can get auto solder paste
dispensers which allegedly dispense a controlled blob of gop when you
press a foot switch, as far as I can make out they aren't calibrateable
for the tiny dollops needed for fine work. But my colleague made himself
a dispnser consisting of a hypodermic syringe filled with solder paste
with a screw tightening widget on the back to squeeze ou microscopic
amounts at a time, which works pretty well.

Also keep in mind the trick of using a wooden toothpick to hold down the
top of a component while poking away with a soldering iron.

 

[LVMarc]

So I've begun working with really small SMT components under
microscopes and my hands are just way too shakey. I've never really
been a coffee drinker and I find things to rest my wrists and forearms
on but it is still pretty bad.

Are there any exercises or vitamins I can take to aid this?

You need to drink coffee and then solder. Works all the time.

Marc

 

[ItsASecretDummy]

Rest your hands on the table and just use the muscles of your thumb and
first two fingers. Much less shaky even than the wrist.

Cheers,

Phil Hobbs

Dude! He wants to IMPROVE the shaking, not attenuate it!

 

[SoothSayer]

My favorite! Don't drink it often, maybe one drink every few
months... although Drambuie ranks right up there also ;-)

...Jim Thompson

Absinthe...


REAL Absinthe.

The stuff that if one drinks it more than once, one begins to eat holes
in one's brain.

Been illegal in hundreds of countries around the world for the last
couple hundred years.

That crap that is out there now is ab-faux-sinthe. Kind of like modern
"M-80s"... It only LOOKS like an M-80! Lets out a little POP instead of
a BIG BANG! A REAL M-80 makes nearly a four foot diameter blazing white
sphere of fire underwater when it goes off there. Then the fish start
popping up... just local proximal fish, not like the pond ripper as with
a whole stick of TNT or the like.

 

[mpm]

On Sep 15, 5:57 pm, Jim Thompson <To-Email-Use-The-Envelope-I...@My-
Web-Site.com> wrote:

[regarding shaky hands and SMT components...]

Naaaaaah!  Take it from one with many years of experience... excess
sex calms the nerves and definitely mellows one out ;-)

Naaaaaaah!
That's just the side effects that build up from years of taking
Viagra, Geritol, Propecia and Rogaine!!

-mpm