Helping hand attachment for magnetized SOG

[wan314]

I've magnetized my two SOG ships and have been using a helping hand, magnetics and wood sticks.
Not the most stable setup and awkward to switch ships.


I wanted an attachment for the helping hand unfortunately I couldn't find anything. Seems like they come with just alligator clips and a magnifier.

Well my model like the one in the link has the alligator clips that can be pulled off the ball joint.
The picture below shows an example as well then wingnut setup used to hold the ball joint of the clip and the ball joint in the main support bar.



Today I bought 28guage steel from Home Depot and made an attachment.

I cut a rectangle and trimmed the edge to wrap around the shaft of the ball joint. I then tidied up the edges with a dremel. I used tin snips and it worked well.

The two pictures below show the top and the bottom.
The hole in the middle is for the ships of course.
I also filled white glue in socket to add more stability. In the future I can just soak it I'm water if I want to use the ball joint for something else in the future.
The ships do rotate when pushed sideways but I'll be using two or more magnetics next to the stern to stop that.
I should be able to swap shops and have greater stability.

[Nightmoss]

Clever idea and application. Thanks for the photos and description!

[Pappy Liam]

Nice idea. THe magnifying glass will be really helpful for those fine details.

[wan314]

I don't use the magnifier. I have some magnifier glasses with 3x to 1.5x
I could at times but end up using the a jeweler magnifier.

The cost of the steel was ~$5. I think 8"x12".

[Naharaht]

A good idea!

[wan314]

Have no idea where one could buy the ball joint.
Could make a few of these or even other helping hand tools.

[7eat51]

Very clever, indeed. I would not have thought of such an adaption.

[wan314]

Thanks
It's working quite well.
Even with using two magnetics to stop rotation it works well.
Nice to be able to rotate the ship around with moving the whole set up.

The magnets attach so well to the metal plate that one the magnets was being pulled out the ship. Had used white glue instead of crazy glue (since crazy glue was hard to remove last time to replace with the better magnet).

[Kentop]

The ball joint could be supplied by a 6" cocktail stir. The plastic is very hard. As long as you don't over tighten the joint or crush the steel stand around the stir, it probably would do well.

[RotS-Targe]

Could we get a picture of a ship on there like it's being worked on?

[wan314]

Yeah eventually.
I'm almost finished my hms defense and will want to show it off in a new topic. And also update the homemade ratlines.

[wan314]

As promised here is the ship on my helping hand accessory. I have magnets in the ship.
I'm showing a position of off center and tilted to show it defying gravity.
Good for rigging the ship since it can hold it still while gluing or adding a weight to the lines.
Not too good for painting since I hold the ship with one hand while painting with the other (it hold the first hand) so shaking is in sync.
For the full repaint and rigging please to my post (.

[Nightmoss]

Looks great!

[Pappy Liam]

I like it!

[Union Jack]

Another great idea, cheers.