I am new here, and not sure where EXACTLY to put this post... (Be nice! )
But you have already been of great use to me and I wanted to contribute what little I can.
I made a very handy and cheap clamp for my projects and thought you guys might like one too.
At my local dollar tree they were selling the silly selfie sticks for a buck. if you are not familiar with them the selfie sticks allow the user to take a better pic of themselves with their cell phone by extending the users reach via a extendable pole. I agree, Silly.
Anyways the spring loaded clamp is easily unscrewed from the end of the stick and is the PERFECT SIZE for Arduino projects. I basically cut and glued in some balsa wood to span the two arms and make a mounting plate. At the same store they had a stainless steel chopper or scrapper if you will. It is basically a metal plate with one edge rolled to make a handle or grip of sorts. I put a magnet on the base of the clamp so I that I am free to turn and / or move a couple of them about the plate. I flipped the plate so the rolled edge inclines the board slightly making the projects easier to see and work with. You can stop there, but I had a small metal L bracket that I slipped into the gap between the plate and the grip to make it stand like an easel which is quite nice! I put my Arduino with a proto shield on one side and my digital meter on the other, which works extremely well.
I do have a couple of concerns that perhaps you could help me with...
Obviously the plate is metal and we are working with electricity... Low voltages, yes, but still generally a bad mix. Should I line the plate with a thin plastic or rubber liner or is it over kill?
Second question?...I don't think the magnet will cause any issues in general - although I might have some issues with the field affecting some magnetic detecting pieces. Is that your consensus as well?
If you have some concerns about the metal plate or the magnet you could just as easily glue it to a wooden clip board or the like. I was originally thinking about using the front cover of a note book so I could keep my projects with my notes. Which isn't a bad idea either.
Hope you find it useful! Thanks again for being here and all the help!
Boy o' boy ... what a pain in the @$$ some people are. Jeezo!
This were taken with my cheesy camera phone in my dirty dark dungeon of a workroom. Sorry - Best I could do at the moment.
Here is the actual clamp top and bottom ... I simply spanned the two arms with balsa wood and attached a magnet. Again it is the end of the selfie stick. I cut the wood to size with scissors and super glued it all together. That is me, Misjief Mcgyver!
Here is the clamp(s) stuck to the plate... Again it is just the chopper in the second image. The rolled edge is to the top and behind (helping hold the arm in place)
the first pic is both my UNO and Meter each in a clamp stuck to the upright plate. The second is just the Uno. Pretty nice eh?
This is a pic of the back of the upright plate... Again it is just a L bracket - I went ahead and attached it to a magnet as well... Not necessary though, as you can simply jam it between the plate and the rolled edge, which is what I did originally.
I do a ton of fine work so for me it was well worth the effort I put it. Again, the clamps are a buck each and the plates were another buck so if you do just the ART Pallet you are in for 4 dollars if you buy a tube of supper glue. Pretty hard to beat.
I tossed this last two in just to thoroughly throw you... I didn't describe this in my original post because I knew without pics you'd never figure out my descriptions... Not sure you can with my pics. But it doesn't hurt to try!
I used the same silly chopper to put a wider footprint on my "helping hands". I had to do so because at best they were always ready to tip. Even more so after I added added a wide clamp to my Frankenstein set.... BTW to get the wide clamp in I drilled a hole in the arm and then ran the hands supporting screw through it and then assembled the HH as usual.
I used the same L bracket as before to support the clamp should I want to do some soldering. If you didn't have the bracket you could simply stick it to the rolled edge to incline it or stick it to the flat edge. it is nice to have options. Yes, The bracket supports it better but we are not build a sky scrapper here. If you have one use it! If you don't ... don't sweat it. It is all good!
And in this one I found a nut that fit on to the selfie sticks arm and attached a strong magnet to it. Then I put a washer on my magnifying glass so the magnet can grab it. The mouth at the opposite end of the hollow tube slips over the extended peg of the "helping hands". I have a nice led light done up the same way. Hope this makes sense. LOL
I went ahead and bought a screen saver for another dollar - I used some spray glue to tack it to the plate. Works like a treat and added a whole extra buck to the project so now you are up to a fiver on it. The magnets gripped the plate better without it but better safe then sorry I suppose.
Yeah... I am rather clumsy and fumble finger myself at times, and I understand that the arduino is easily damaged under the right circumstances.
misjief:
I went ahead and bought a screen saver for another dollar
Sheesh - $1 ?
You could probably have got a whole roll of stick-on plastic that is use for covering schoolbooks or kitchen shelves - enough to last you, your children and your grand-children