DYI Tech Table Top Under $30!

[xXDaveyJonesXx]

Snag the manliest yoga mat you can find (if they exist) at Marshall's for $12 and a String Swing guitar cradle from your local guitar shop for around $15 to use as your neck rest. Trimming the mat is done easily enough with a razor guided with a level for a straight cut. I ended up sawing off over an inch of the cradle arm material to tone down the goofiness a bit and replaced the little black caps. Schwing on a budget!

 

[EVHpickdust]

what kind of soldering iron station is that?

 

[EVHpickdust]

 

[Erock]

That's pretty awesome man, resourceful and creative.

not trying to be a dick, but you do know the fender workstations are only like 35 bucks right?

 

[The Hoff]

I like it

They are reasonably priced as is but if you have am extra of either of those items, might as well save a few dollars.

 

[PBGas]

Thanks for the idea!

Good stuff!

 

[xXDaveyJonesXx]

what kind of soldering iron station is that?

It's a Weller WES51. Just picked it up the other day and its a vast improvement over my last Weller guns and irons. I never should've cheaped out in the first place. I think you can find these around $130-150.

That's pretty awesome man, resourceful and creative.

not trying to be a dick, but you do know the fender workstations are only like 35 bucks right?

I'd did not!

 

[RustyMcTavish]

Very cool, thanks for sharing.

 

[Dingleberries]

"It's a Weller WES51. Just picked it up the other day and its a vast improvement over my last Weller guns and irons."

Those are great stations, I got the WES50.

 

[xXDaveyJonesXx]

what kind of soldering iron station is that?

It's a Weller WES51. Just picked it up the other day and its a vast improvement over my last Weller guns and irons. I never should've cheaped out in the first place. I think you can find these around $130-150.

Those are great stations, I got the WES50.

I'll never go back! I recently made a post complaining about my horrid soldering and asked for advice. FourT6and2 chimed in with a few suggestions, which I'm uber grateful for. One of them being, "get a good iron." Simple enough. The irons I was using at the time were a good deal of my trouble. These things get up to temp like, right now and are very consistent. Easy to keep clean, too. My last didn't even have an interchangeable tip. Practicing was a dread for a long time. I look forward to it now.

 

[EVHpickdust]

Can you solder 14 AWG speaker cable with that Weller?

 

[xXDaveyJonesXx]

That's actually what I was just doing last night. Well, either 14 or 16 AWG. I don't recall and it's not printed on the jacket. The "cable" that came with my Orange 2X12 was just pitiful. I've seen heavier duty lamp cord.



I was operating at 650-750° and coupling adjacent input jacks like butta. Attached below is a visual of the heat range in Fahrenheit. I didn't get much above 750° before the solder started losing its luster and turning dark on me pretty quickly.

 

[EVHpickdust]

That's actually what I was just doing last night. Well, either 14 or 16 AWG. I don't recall and it's not printed on the jacket. The "cable" that came with my Orange 2X12 was just pitiful. I've seen heavier duty lamp cord.



I was operating at 650-750° and coupling adjacent input jacks like butta. Attached below is a visual of the heat range in Fahrenheit. I didn't get much above 750° before the solder started losing its luster and turning dark on me pretty quickly.

Oh wow, okay, so even with this pencil-tipped soldering iron you can solder 14-16 AWG speaker wire without switching to a larger cone-tip on the iron….

 

[xXDaveyJonesXx]

That's actually what I was just doing last night. Well, either 14 or 16 AWG. I don't recall and it's not printed on the jacket. The "cable" that came with my Orange 2X12 was just pitiful. I've seen heavier duty lamp cord.



I was operating at 650-750° and coupling adjacent input jacks like butta. Attached below is a visual of the heat range in Fahrenheit. I didn't get much above 750° before the solder started losing its luster and turning dark on me pretty quickly.

Oh wow, okay, so even with this pencil-tipped soldering iron you can solder 14-16 AWG speaker wire without switching to a larger cone-tip on the iron….

I'm fairly sure you could manage, but I didn't bother with it myself. Picked up a couple of tips for larger and smaller jobs while I was at it. Wish I could tell you what size this is. But it's is what I opted to run for that particular job. The tip on the left is the only one the iron comes equipped with, but is easily interchangeable.

 

[EVHpickdust]

Nice! Thanks for pics and the great idea on the work stand!

 

[xXDaveyJonesXx]

Nice! Thanks for pics and the great idea on the work stand!

Not a problem. Unless you're perfectly happy with your current iron, I don't think you could go wrong with this or the 50 model. Especially if you find a killer deal.

 

[xXDaveyJonesXx]

But again, please know that I AM a newb with little experience.

 

[Aristocat]

Wicked awesome!

I'm actually going to do this when I move in a couple of weeks as I'm losing my man cave.

 

[Erock]

what kind of soldering iron station is that?

It's a Weller WES51. Just picked it up the other day and its a vast improvement over my last Weller guns and irons. I never should've cheaped out in the first place. I think you can find these around $130-150.

That's pretty awesome man, resourceful and creative.

not trying to be a dick, but you do know the fender workstations are only like 35 bucks right?

I'd did not!

that's ok, yours looks way stronger anyway. I have the fender one, and you would swear it's left over packing material it's so flimsy.

 

[AndyK]

My tech table is even more bare bones!

Old bath towel + guitar rest + cheap card table. Gotta have Weller solder station though!

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