I use a high temperature silicone rubber soldering helper from Austin Ribbon Mics to support my soldering.
However, I’ve read some comments that people would like to use this, but A.R.M. does not ship to their country.
Well, how about making one? I bought some silicone rubber from Amazon and built my own.
Pretty simple, pretty messy, and in the end pretty useful.
If you can’t buy one, or if you just want to make a custom one for yourself, here’s the process.
(Making it)[]
hahaha I use an old notebook!!
"some of the best base-level info to remember can be found in Jim's sigfile" @Lugia
Utility modules are the dull polish that makes the shiny modules actually shine!!!
sound sources < sound modifiers < modulation sources < utilities
Messy...wouldn't a "third hand" make more sense for soldering work? After all, they're cheap, don't involve chemicals, and won't catch on fire if the soldering iron gets dropped on it.
Messy...wouldn't a "third hand" make more sense for soldering work?
-- Lugia
It can, but I've tried a lot of things and like this best.
I prefer using pads like this for any board less than, say, 128x128 mm. Two reasons;
- It's easier than setting up the PCB holder/3rd hand
- I have never found a PCB holder I like. Always something irritating about them, so I use these.
Lager boards, like a guitar amp board, I'll use a PCB holder, but smaller stuff (like eurorack boards) it's so much easier to just hold it on one of these.
and won't catch on fire if the soldering iron gets dropped on it.
-- Lugia
Neither will these. This material is rated to 565 dF, and as you could see at the end of this vid pressing my 675 dF tip against the material leaves no mark or damage. Really high temp rubber.
500+ degree rubber? Ok, that's intriguing...you could use something like that to stabilize components, and even the hottest-running ones won't foobar that. That could make it even more useful for using it to "shock-absorb" tubes, which is always an issue when doing high-volume gigs (raves and the like).
Oddly enough, the one PCB holder that I prefer is actually a cheap RatShack POS. For some odd reason, this crummy 3rd hand has never wound up in my "I need to replace this" list...because it works, it's simple, and it does what the box says. Tried the expensive ones, things like edge-clamped stands, etc...nothing worked as smoothly and fit my soldering workflow like that cheap little piece of crap.
and even the hottest-running ones won't foobar that.... "shock-absorb" tubes, which is always an issue when doing high-volume gigs (raves and the like).
That could work. Some things to address;
Heat dissipation. As well as being resistant to high temp, it also insulates very well, so you would have an issue with the tubes being able to dissipate heat.
It's also very adherent, so changing tubes would be an issue.
Though as I write that, I can see making a tight-fitting collar around the base of the tube.
Shape a circular piece of plastic about 2cm tall about 4 mm in radius wider than the tube socket, affix it to the board. That will have the rubber go maybe 1/4 of the way up the tube sides, which should leave plenty of glass surface area for heat loss.
Put a dummy/old/dead tube in the socket. Pour the rubber mixture inside the plastic circle, it would adhere to the board and the base of the tube. Pull out the dummy tube (which would be a chore), then put the working tube into the tight collar of rubber.
Lots of shock cushioning and very unlikely to work loose.
Since I haven't gigged live in waaaayyyy more decades than I care to admit, not useful for me, but someone might want to give it a try.
Not bad, not bad...that's what I was thinking as well: some sort of "shock absorber" at the base, which is where you'll have the largest transfer of energy when the cab gets bonked around.
As for the removal of the "dummy tube", you might try a bit of lithium grease around the base of it before pouring in the rubber material. It would be easier if the tubes one encounters in Eurorack had "chimneys" that have the usual spring-type shock absorption, but that would make the tubes less "showy".
that have the usual spring-type shock absorption, but that would make the tubes less "showy".
-- Lugia
I understand, when I build a guitar amp the customer usually wants the tubes to glow out the back.
For that I use the "bare" spring retainers like this. Usually just on the output tubes (6V6s and such) since they're the showiest, but they make them in AX7 size also.
I own several of the Austin Ribbon pads, but this is very cool. Thanks for posting it.
-- Vow3ll
You're welcome! As I say in the vid, I'm certainly not trying to reduce Austin's business, he makes a great product. And I am certainly not going into the business of making these for a living
But he doesn't ship worldwide (I've been told) so good to have options.
Ever built one of his mic kits? I did his mic, a pretty strightforward build except for working with the super-thin ribbon material itself. And the sound (since it was my first one) is kinda grungy, but is cool for mic'ing a guitar amp to get an interesting distorted sound.
Two part video of the build here;
(Austin ribbon mic build)[]
