PCB Vise with Standard Nylon Jaws Grey

This review is for the "Stickvise PCB Vise with the Teflon Jaws". Having finally had an opportunity to use my Stickvise to assemble a PCB I have to say this is a wonderful little product. It holds the PCB level with the bench-top, and has a very firm grip so that the PCB does not slide around as one solders components in place. An added advantage is that it can be easily flipped over to insert components without having to remove the PCB, although with the spring tensioners it is very easy to pop out the PCB, add components, and pop it back into the vice jaws. It has enough clearance that most components will clear the bench, but if one needs more room the addition of standoffs allows for holding a PCB further from the bench-top. The standard height however is great for soldering as it is when the components fit. Highly recommended for assembly/testing of small to medium sized PCB's. If you are wondering if you need one, well, if you are here looking at it, and you do any assembly/testing, then yes, you do need one. It is hard to describe just how well this very simple looking tool works, but it works really well and is well worth the cost to purchase it.

Guys... don't waste your money on cheap plastic vises that cost 1/3 of the StickVise.. cough up the money and get the StickVise.. the product is high quality and absolutely perfect for the intended purpose of a low profile vise you can use under the microscope.. it is super simple to use and you can quickly re position the PCB .. Because it is all metal construction it is heavier than a plastic vise and it does not move easily when you apply the solder tip to the PCB.. and this is definitely an important characteristic of the StickVise.. a cheap plastic Vise will tend to move when you touch the PCB (and if you want to weight the StickVise down you can get creative with magnets)

Highly recommended. Very easy to use, works exactly as advertised. A very well-designed simple tool that works in a flexible and intuitive way. This is now one of my all-time favorite tools. If there were a 10-star rating, that would be my choice. I see that others have complained about the plastic jaws.. Part of the beauty of this device's design is that a variety of jaw designs can be used. You may have to fabricate them yourself for a specific need, but they can't be everything to everyone. Different users have different needs, and the creator of this product had to have an entry-point to bring this to market. Notice, there are optional high-temperature jaws sold separately for this tool (here at Amazon). Even at an additional ~$10 cost for that option, this is still good value for the money in my opinion. There is nothing on the market to compare to it. Visit the stickvise website for more info. My thanks to the creator of this very useful tool. Updated to add 2020-02-02: and then it occurred to me. The creator of StickVise has some tips on his site to demonstrate how easily you can add a little height/vertical clearance under the jaws. A perfect way to easily add/subtract height is to use a spare/replacement set of StickVise jaws as a spacer. I ordered a set of high-temperature (PTFE) replacement jaws and so I have the original StickVise jaws on hand. Inserting the original jaws underneath the high-temp jaws doubles the jaw height. Just right for me. You can just use washers or hex spacers and that'll do the job. Having the 2nd set of StickVise jaws keeps it a very polished pro-grade tool. Go StickVise!

Works very well for "smaller" boards under microscope. I may install rubber feet to reduce sliding on ESD mat. Setting holding width is very simple and spring loaded release allows me to quickly swap to the next board with one handed squeeze.

I work on PCB boards as a hobby. I find holding a PCB to be difficult when trying to solder small parts, wires, or what have you. I have a Panavise with PCB holder, but I rarely use it because it is soooo bulky. So I jumped at the StickVise. (Paid for it myself.) I was not disappointed. First it is not bulky at all. In fact it looked pretty anemic at first, but in use it does what it is supposed to. Holds a PCB in such a way that you can work on it. This means having enough bottom clearance for untrimmed leads and larger components. It does this fine. As a HUGE bonus, it keeps the top surface of the PCB at the same height. This is great as I do most of my work under a microscope. Since the PCB is always at the same height, I am not having to refocus all the time. The mechanism works smooth and has enough spring action to hold things steady but no so much as to make it difficult to remove or insert a board. I like that the maker has put up files to 3D print your own specialized jaws. I have already taken advantage of that. So why not a 5 star review? 0.5) I rarely give star reviews. The product has to go way above the call of duty to get 5. 1) Out of the box, the units has no grip on a smooth surface like an ESD mat. The vise is to easy to move around. The maker says you can add rubber feet and that does indeed work. 2) With the nylon vise jaws and/or rubber feet, the vise is no longer ESD safe. A separate grounding system needs to be used if you are using sensitive components. ESD dissipative jaws and feet would have been nice. 3) When working with small PCBs and using rubber feet, there is not enough mass to counter the seesaw effect of the long steel rod. Not sure there is a solution other than the make the far jaw block out of heavier metal or the rod out of "Transparent Aluminum" to reduce its weight. I simply 3D printed a "Washer" to friction fit on the open end of the rod to rest on my work surface. 4) The default nylon jaws have a grove in them to hold a PCB. These are not to my taste. I found it a bit fussy to get the PCB board to seat in the grove. But I simply 3D printed a new set with a groove more to my liking. If you want something better than "a 3rd hand", tapping it down, or other kludgy hold downs, I recommend this whole heartedly.

Do you ever use a thing and think "whoever designed this actually understands the problem?" That's the story here. This is an incredibly simple and invaluable tool that, once you add this to your kit, you will never give it up. I bought one of these four years ago and it has not left my portable kit since. It is an incredibly simple idea executed extremely well. The construction quality is extremely good and unless you do something radically bad, this thing will probably outlive you. You might have to replace set or two of jaws, but that's it. I've used some of the recent knockoffs that try to make this design bigger or stronger, and while they do succeed at that, it loses that simplicity and versatility that this has. Unless you need to hold much larger and heavier parts, you probably want this one.

Absolutely fantastic vise. Super useful in my electronics lab and I use it every single time, while soldering, testing and evaluating my projects. This is my second one. Could not be happier. A+++++

Holy smokes, this thing is brilliant. I've been soldering with my boards in little quick-grip clamps for a long time because I wanted something low profile and easy. I know little PCB holders and stuff exist, but they always seemed... fidgety and low quality. Things like the Panavise are great, but they're pretty tall. This guy holds your board right on the desk, and the spring-loaded jaw makes it great for low-run production work since you can just swap out PCBs really fast. I also love that they publish full specs on their site for customizing. I'll probably get another and slap some standoffs under the jaws for working with boards with switches and such mounted. The aluminum is well finished, and the parts align very well, generally. The only issue I have is that the back clamp portion sits just a tiny amount higher than the jaws, allowing the whole vise to rock slightly. It doesn't really hurt the functionality of the vise, but it's noticeable. I do wish there was an option to either buy it without jaws, or just get it with the teflon jaws pre-installed. I suspect the nylon jaws are cheap enough to make that it makes more sense than having to manage more products, but I really don't need them.

Der Platinenhalter ist solide konstruiert, wirkt stabil und wertig. Bis auf die beiden Spannbacken (Kunststoff) ist die gesamte Konstruktion aus Metall. Zwei Rillen in den Spannbacken fixieren die Platinen in der gewünschten Arbeitsposition. Der Halter ist relativ flach und eignet sich deshalb in der ausgelieferten Form nur für PCB mit geringer Bauhöhe. Das lässt sich aber ändern - mit Abstandsbolzen (Baumarkt) oder mehreren Muttern zwischen Backen und deren Metallbefestigung. Die Qualität ist gut, der Preis aber für mein Empfinden etwas zu hoch. Trotzdem klare Kaufempfehlung für alle, die eine dritte Hand zum Bestücken, Messen oder Kabelverlöten suchen.

Very usefull solidly made if you do alot off rework and small pcb assembly under a microscope but its not long enough they say change the 6 mm rod out here in canada they ask 95.00 for a 6 mm. rod ad to order one from the usa

Very good..... but I could also use one 2x or even 3x the size. Might be able to print oversize jaws.....

Sehr nützlich beim Arbeiten mit mittleren und kleinen Platinen. Das Original ist besser als die (wenigen) China-Clone und der Erfinder/Produzent hat auch etwas davon. Auf der Homepage von Stickvise lassen sich nützliche 3D-Druckvorlagen für die Modifizierung der Backen laden. Ein echter Mehrwert.