Soldering Helper 90-degree

I've been frustrated finding a good "helping hands" device for soldering wires and small circuit boards. I've tried several of the alligator clip type holders, and I find them very frustrating to position the way I need. The 3D printed clamps using rubber bands don't last, because the rubber bands get old and deteriorate.

I really liked Flubber001's "Soldering helping hand/third hand" - the springs should last longer, and the versatility of the movable posts is great! Kudos on a very nice design!

However, I wanted jaws that had parallel grooves or serrations to help keep wires in line for easier soldering of splices. I also wanted to avoid relying on glue to keep the parts in place. It also would be nice to be able to just swap out heads for jaws with different purposes. So, I re-built this design from scratch to meet my needs.

The heads for my posts are perpendicular (90°) to the slider rails, so the jaws can have serrations running parallel for wires. To avoid glue, the post locks in to the hexagonal base, and the heads are kept on the post by a wedge shape locking the top jaw (which I call a "tongue") onto the top of the post. These top jaws can be swapped out for other top jaw designs, for added versatility. I also added a "washer" to keep the spring from wedging into the base groove, for easier positioning of the post. The posts can still be rotated 30° using the hexagonal post base, when desired. The dimensions of the basic parts are the same as Flubber001's design, so some parts (like the posts) are interchangeable between both designs.

Springs
[Updated 3/17/2026]
For the springs, I first tried the recommended 10mm outside diameter X 25mm long (free length) springs, which I got from Amazon. However, I later tried larger and stronger 0.90 x 12 x 29.5 mm (0.035 x 0.472 x 1.161 inch) springs and liked them much better. So, there's room for a range of spring sizes that work.

Source Files
Source design files (FreeCAD .FCStd) are provided, in case you want to do any fine-tuning for your printer, or if you want to design your own specialized vice head.