This thread is for anyone working on personal projects to share their progress, and hold themselves somewhat accountable to a group of peers.
Post your project, your progress from last week, and what you hope to accomplish this week.
If you want to be pinged with a reminder asking about your project, let me know, and I'll harass you each week until you cancel the service
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Notes -
For cutting the strips, I just use an old set of kitchen shears, or even (no-longer-wanted-for-) fabric scissors works. I've yet to see any helping hands that weren't obnoxious and prone to falling apart, so you're going to get about the same quality (and sometimes the same manufacturer) from Harbor Freight, Aliexpress, or Microcenter. Building jigs and using vices can sometimes be more productive, but it's hard to justify for a handful of soldering jobs.
At the risk of adding to the waiting game, I'd consider some heat shrink: 3/4 or 5/8th heat shrink gives a surprising amount of strain relief. If you really want to protect the pads and solder, cutting some heat shrink and filling it with hot glue (or epoxy) before taking a hot air gun or butane torch to it usually leaves them more secure than the wire itself, especially at 18 gauge.
And, yeah, unfortunately, the difference between good silicone wire (or even thermostat wire) and 'hobbyist'-grade 'why is the copper this magnetic' junk is annoying, nevermind what happens if you buy discount and find yourself with steel or aluminum wire.
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