Reddit mentions of Pro'sKit 900-015 Helping Hands Soldering Aid

I've been looking into this space (best medium-cost maker/builder/fab tools) over the past couple of months, and here are my recommendations so far...

• CNC Mill (router) - For doing wood, plastic, and some light metal work, the Shapeoko 3 stands above the rest. It runs around $1.2k with a router included and can cut 16"x16"x3". You'll still need mill/router bits and materials, but pretty awesome for the price range. Note that they also just started selling larger versions (goes up to 33"x33"x3") for a few hundred dollars more. To move up to the next professional level but still on a budget, I'd consider building your own via CNCRouterParts Pro Kits (48”x48”x12”, $8k total).
  
  
• 3D Printer - The LulzBot TAZ 5 stands above the rest because of the range of materials it can print (with a special high temperature hot end) and its build area (11.7”x10.8”x9.8”). It's recently been reviewed by Make as the "Best Overall 3D Printer" which is a pretty high endorsement. It runs a little expensive ($2.2k) but looks like it's one of the best bets if you're looking to get into 3D printing.
  
  
• Lathe - You can get a mini lathe (7”x16”, $1.3k) in the price range you're considering, and while it may be a bit too speciality and manual, they're a great tool to have in your workshop. Especially if you like making round things.
  
  
• Laser Cutter - To get a decent laser cutter (not just engraving, but actually cutting materials) that won't break down, catch fire, release noxious fumes, or potentially blind you is currently around $4k minimum. There are a lot of cheap "eBay" laser cutters out there, but when you start to add up everything and weigh the risks they aren't really all that much cheaper. The two stand out models I've been considering are the FullSpectrum (40W, $6k) and the "coming soon" Glowforge Pro (45W, $4.8k).
  
  
• Electronics - You didn't mention this, but if you're looking at getting your hands dirty making things, electronics is now a pretty crucial component to support. The big ticket items (like an oscilloscope) are now a lot more reasonable than they were even 5 years ago and sites like SparkFun carry a lot of electronic components and tutorials that make it easy to get started even if you don't have much background in circuitry (yet!). My short list would include: a Rigol 50MHz, 4Chan, color disp, 4 probe oscilloscope ($450), a nice Weller soldering iron ($320), a soldering fume extractor ($70), some helping hands ($10), a Siglent signal generator ($360), and some nice boxes to keep your parts sorted ($20).
  
  Now go make some awesome things!
  

Soldering iron: Something with a fat chisel tip that can get up to 600° F (315° C), helping hands

Disassembly: Rubber strap wrenches, a heat gun, a pair of snap ring pliers

That part checker is pretty cool. Where'd you get/make that from? On the blue ones I use the helping hands to hold my cell phone and zoom in with the camera app.

Helping hands: http://www.amazon.com/ProsKit-900-015-Helping-Hands-Soldering/dp/B002PIA6Z4

If you're just dipping your toe in the water, grab that Weller I linked. It's under $40, but is a well respected budget iron. I personally own a Weller WES51. It's a fantastic iron, but if you're not convinced that soldering things is going to become a hobby, save your money.

Hakko is also a popular brand, but I'm not as familiar with their lower-end gear. If you get an adjustable temp iron from Hakko or Weller, you'll be set for a while.

Some other handy items are:

• Desoldering Wick - Just a copper braid that will suck up solder. Great for removing parts from the board.
  
• Solder Sucker - A cheap little vacuum that is supposed to suck the liquid solder off of a joint. I personally prefer the wick with a dab of flux. Others swear by the solder sucker. Both are cheap enough, so grab both and see what you prefer :)
  
• Rosin Flux - a chemical that helps strip corrosion from your contacts, allowing the solder to flow smoothly and create solid joints. There are a lot of versions, but I've preferred using a pen like this one. It can (and will) make a sticky mess, so only use tiny, tiny amounts. (If you use the pen, keep a giant wad of paper towels nearby for when you need to get the flow going. I tried doing it with my hand...it makes a MASSIVE mess. The paper towels help immediately soak up the unexpected flow of rosin.
  
• Helping Hands - Cannot recommend this enough. Typically, you'll see things like this one. But after a while, the joints weaken, and it won't hold anything in place. I bought a SparkFun Third Hand which is amazingly stiff and has held up quite well. Great purchase.
  
  Other things to consider are goggles, a small fan to pull the fumes away from you (DON'T BLOW ON THE JOINTS), and something to solder on top of. If you don't care about your work surface, it's no big deal. But I use my desk, and sometimes the kitchen table, so I have an old 1 foot ceramic tile that I solder on top of -- the soldering iron base doesn't get hot, but you can drip/splatter solder if you're being careless, and it gives you a hard surface to use that you don't have to worry about getting hot/burned.

If you want to practice wiring, why not just throw some jacks and pots in an enclosure and practice wiring them together in different patterns? Unless you go for two pedals in one enclosure (which I wouldn't recommend until you feel more confident), pretty much any circuit I've come across has extremely similar off board wiring.

If you have trouble stripping wire, you gotta get on of these:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000IYTCG6/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

If you're having trouble juggling the wire, iron, and solder with only two hands, definitely get one of these:
https://www.amazon.com/ProsKit-900-015-Helping-Hands-Soldering/dp/B002PIA6Z4/ref=sr_1_2?s=hi&ie=UTF8&qid=1482170946&sr=1-2&keywords=solder+helper

If you just want to see a clear picture/diagram of standard off board wiring, scroll down to the bottom:
https://aionelectronics.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/aion-cerulean-bb-documentation-v2.pdf