A Shot in the dark...Cambridge Soundworks

[FullOppositeRudder]

Oh, the frustration of realising that the old eyes can't focus properly at soldering distance.

I agree - it's all the wrong way around. When I was a mere youth with brilliant eyesight, resistors were the thickness of a pencil and capacitors were so large that the values were in a 10 point font. ( Heck I even used a plumber's soldering iron heated by blowtorch to build my first one valve receiver - and no! - I knew not to use HCl as the flux by then )

Now at the other end of the adventure, everything is ultra tiny, ICs have a miniscule type code on them in dark grey lettering on a light black surface, and diodes almost need a forensic microscope to establish who and what they are.

And don't even mention surface mount components at my age

[Keef]

Surface mount - that's the throwaway version, innit? I don't go there.
Know what you mean about components getting smaller, too.

The latest is that the coloured bands seem to breed. I used to be able to recognise brown-black-yellow at 10 paces; now it's half the size or less and brown black black orange gold pink, and I have to stop and think.

I've got some sub-10-ohm resistors in the box for transistory stuff; I can't work out the colours on those. I've stuck them into pieces of paper with it written on 'em.

[Loose rivets]

The only bit of poetry I've ever writ.

Valve radios, aaaaahh, the smell and the heat.
Ten killohm resistors wired ever so neat.
The whistles the pops, the heterodyne wine.
Getting ‘Much binding' was simply divine.
From body to spot, via tips, parts encoded.
‘tis a terrible shame, that it all came outmoded.

[tony draper]

I bought this thingy about thirty years ago,of course I didn't need it then,I had hands steady as granite, eyes as sharp as a ere, sharp thing,and was a forth dan black belt solderizer, it had various crocodile clips to hold the job at any angle and a large magnifying glass that could be moved and tilted to cover any job, I didn't need it but it were a tool and I am a bloke so I had to have it.
Over the years of being unused in the back of cupboards and such bits have dropped off and gone missing, the magnifying glass was plundered,now when I do need it it is beyond help.
There must be a moral there somewhere.
the thingy or rather whats left of it.

[A A Gruntpuddock]

I bought one of these v cheaply from Lidl.

Not top quality but has an LED light as well.

V useful.

[Loose rivets]

That's probably one of the finest thingies I've ever seen. Superb workmanship - so, I'd plunder someone else's thingie for the spare parts, even adding some of your own inventions.

Forget those modern LED pinprick lights, but a good old-fashioned socket for a light bulb comes to mind.

[Keef]

It's called a "Helping Hands" (or was when I bought mine). Refer post number 20 above. Mine's still in regular use.

Available from Maplin in the 1980s, maybe still.

[Loose rivets]

One likes crinkly paint. Reminds one of a prewar fillum projector I was given c 1949.

[handsfree]

Not built to the quality of Mr D's piece of kit but a modern day version of Helping Hands

Silverline 282589 Heavy Duty Helping Hands 90mm 3x

Or even better the Draper 31324

Draper 31324 - Helping Hand Bracket and Magnifier (N148)