Hobby Creek Helping Hands Third Hand Mag Hand Soldering Tool

I bought a different brand with a nice metal base and the arms just weren't as flexible so I bought this since they seemed more versatile for positioning. Not Disappointed!! Sticks the metal just fine. I'm not unsatisfied with my first purchase since it was a nice large and heavy base, but these arms are simply better.FYI i bought this for my husband who 3D prints miniatures and figurines for fun and for D&D. Sometimes he has to hold them while the glue dries and it takes FOREVER. So this was a nice way for him to set it up and have these arms hold the pieces together while the glue dries.Also if your really in a hurrry you can sprinkle baking soda on super glue to get it activate much faster if yours isn't instant. Can be messy if you arent careful though. And it activates fast, so be sure you know where youre gluing. Despite that tip, he doesnt mind having the extra time with normal dry time now that he can maneuver the arms just right and make sure its set perfect. Waiting a few minute for the initial set means less pressure while adjusting them.

Had a tricky repair to do on an RC car for my kid... seemed simple but involved soldering a couple of smallish wires together in a fairly cramped space. Couldn't for the life of me hold the bits steady enough to do the work. With this tool I got there relatively easily... The magnetic base could attach to a shelf above where I was working on the item; the alligator clips were small enough to hold the bits steady; the arms are pretty stiff, which can be a bit challenging on precise positioning -- you have to use a fair amount of effort to move them -- but the stiffness worked in my favor in the end, in that once I positioned the arm and clip and component, it stayed positioned. And the price was right. I don't know how often this will come up but it gave me the help I needed today and I expect that I can do similar repairs in the future without much trouble.

This holder is excellent. I only needed 2 arms and most other "helping hands" out there have 5 or 6 and a significantly higher price. These have a very nice price, they seem to be good quality - a good balance of being stiff enough to hold steady, while bendable enough to reconfigure. The magnet is strong and holds well against my table's flat metal side edge, strong enough for most of my soldering uses. I like that the clips came with plastic covers on their tips (removable), so that they will not scratch whatever I clip with them and won't short circuit PCBs or components. When I'm done, I bend it all in a circle and it fits nicely in my soldering tools box, out of the way. It is perfect for my needs. Oh, and I paid the full price for this to keep any bias out of it though I will say that it was a nice touch for the seller to include some tasty treats in the box (which in no way affected my review, this tool is good, and so was the candy ;). P.S. I'll update this after some use if it stops working as it should.

Works great. Good quality. Maintains its shape well - better than any other helping hand type device I've tried. The magnet in the base is plenty strong so it remains stable on my metal table. Does everything it's supposed to do and does it well.The QuadHands Magnetic Arm helping hands are good but I like this one (Hobby Creek) even more, and it's significantly cheaper. You get two arms/hands for less than half the price of two QuadHand Arms.As you can see, the arms are fixed to together at a branch and therefore share a common base which prevents the arms from rotating towards or away from one another too easily. For QuadHands and other independent magnetic arms, each arm has its own base, which allows the arms to easily rotate independently from one another, so it's difficult to get two separate work pieces to maintain their positions with respect to one another. This is not important when holding a single work piece in a certain position, but it's kind of a pain sometimes when trying to hold/fix two separate pieces together.

I'm not going to actually state the issue I had with the first set that arrived because it was remedied. I think the seller should consider making some changes so no one else experiences what I did, but they made it right so I can't really take a position on it. The customer's time is valuable, too, is what I will say. In the end, there arms are not as easy to adjust as the flexible metal arms from reputable companies (can't speak to knock offs), but they do work and I can't knock them down for meeting their design characteristics. plastic on plastic might not be my choice for something I need to move smoothly and freely, though.

I have a small soldering kit I use for work and was looking for something like this. You can remove or add more joints to make it shorter or longer, i had to take out several on each side to make it fit in my little bag, hobby creek sells additional Y joints and arms. The magnet is pretty strong, can support smaller cables just fine while hanging side ways off a rack.I had a lisle magnetic helping hands but the arms would always fall apart and pull off the the rack i was working at.I knocked one star off because the arms don't stay in the position you first set them in they spring back a little so if you want to hold something in a specific spot you have to keep adjusting until you get it right.

I like this product it's just what I was needing to help me hold my wire

Comes in handy in so many different projects for those that only have two hands at a 4 hand job. Sturdy, strong and well designed for countless diy jobs. A must have for soldering. Game changer