1

Rarely do you buy something and think that it's too good to be true, too overbuilt, and just too cool looking. This is one of those things that doesn't make sense. It's paradoxical, how thick and robust it is. It's so overbuilt, and heavy duty that it's cause for celebration. Thank you for making a product that is actually made out of metal. Seriously, I feel blessed that a product like this even exists at all. By all logic, and all modern standards, this circuit board holder should not exist at all.This is beautiful, and I've found that even if you don't use this circuit board holder, it looks so cool, it's basically a nice paperweight, to set it on your desk with a circuit board clamped in it, because it's just so cool looking. I will never be putting this in a drawer.I have 3 circuit board holders. This metal one, and 2 plastic ones. The plastic ones are actually better, because they are much wider, and you can use a larger circuit board without turning it sideways. You can use the cheap plastic ones with very long circuit boards, placing them longitudinally in there. But this one, you have to turn the circuit board sideways. A standard long radio shack circuit board, one of their most common ones, won't fit lengthwise (longitudinally) in this holder. That's not a big deal, because it doesn't actually affect anything, although it's slightly more cumbersome turning a board end over end lengthwise, instead of twisting it along it's narrower axis.A major con is that this circuit board holder could be slightly larger, by about 1" because the steel foot plate is about 1" wide than the assembly and the rods. For some reason they didn't extend the rods to take up the entire length of the foot plate. You could get your own rods, and easily make it larger by threading some new holes on the foot plate, if you were constantly working on skinny long circuit boards.Another con are the little adjustment screws that came with it were kind of crappy, so I used some old leftover knobs from a piece of absolute garbage molded plastic circuit board holder that cost $12. Strangely, my old injected molded blue plastic circuit board holder that was nearly free on Amazon, had much nicer looking adjustment knobs on it. They had the same thread, and so I was able to put them on this metal circuit board holder, to make it look nicer. The old plastic one had broke and pieces of it were laying on the floor when I ordered this metal one.I'd suggest ordering at least 3 circuit board holders. You need one for current projects, and then you need 1 or 2 backup holders for other prototype boards that are in process. It's too easy to damage the circuit boards when they aren't being supported. I had one circuit board explode after I didn't keep it firmly attached to a circuit board holder vise, and something shorted on the bottom of hte board. Keep in mind it took months to build the circuit board, and it exploded, the bottom is black now, and I am not even sure how I'm going to go about trouble shooting it. Buying multiple holders like this one, are an easy insurance policy to prevent bad electric shorts, or an exploding circuit board, or even just bent components.This is a good quality product, and it's well worth the money. The rubber feet are super thick, and way overbuilt. The whole thing is a ridiculous exercise in Grand Coullee Dam level engineering, it's so overbuilt, it will last 400 years, without issue.

Not what I was expecting. All metal, heavy and very sturdy. Interesting, the choice to use hardened steel rails and liner bearings. Soooooooo smooth and much nicer than expected. I needed this to be centered under a digital microscope so a quick trip to Ace Hardware and $3, I picked up a knob and nylon screw cap (keeps the screw knob from scratching the paint), I now can center both carriers. I also added four additional rubber feet to keep it steady on the microscope. Very Happy!

Looks to be a nice sturdy product. Assembly was easy and hope to have many hours of usage out of it. Note the size capacity as it would not work for larger PCBs but fine for your average project. Most boards are smaller these days anyway.

Ive got an Aven and I dont particularly care for it. Making adjustments on the fly can be tedious. This takes all the quirks out of the equation. The solid base does what its supposed to do, keep it stable. The slider is smooth as silk. The spring tensioner on the fixed side was sloppy, but stretching the spring fixed that. This way, I can leave the fixed side alone with slight tension on it and spin the board when I need to. The jaws could have a shallower groove so mounting components at the board edge could be easier, but I guess thats a necessary evil.Its heavy and solid so you dont have to be careful with it. Makes board assembly fast and fun again, without having to argue with the tools!

I really like this vice, it arrived same day as I ordered it. The base has a nice weight to it so keep it from moving. While you aren't going to be holding a huge PCB in this thing it's great for most of the stuff I work on. Holds the PCB firm so it's not going to move around on you. The yellow color is super retro takes me back to when I was a kid (has nothing to do with how the device works just personal opinion). Well worth the money.

This circuit board holder works very well. Much better than the "extra hands" things with a couple alligator clips. I like that it is very heavy and stays where you put it without having to clamp it to the desktop/worktable.

I just received this and assembled it today, you have to watch the video n Amazon or do a little bit of fiddling to get it assembled, as there are no written instructions. It is very sturdy, the yellow pad is heavy steel, and I believe all the black parts (except the knobs and board grippers) are aluminum, as they are very rigid and strong. Quite impressed with the quality, ease of adjustment, and ability to rotate my projects quickly.

Good:* Low cost* Wide base and (mostly) hefty metal components* Capable of holding a wide range of boards* Jaws can clamp with different widths, avoiding components* Easy assemblyBad:* Jaws are plastic, which ensures they won't damage any boards but leaves them vulnerable to heat. Easily worked around with insulation.* Manufacturing is hit-and-miss on some things and the instructions suck, fortunately the device is simple and quality enough that they can be worked around without issueUgly:* The thumbscrews for the jaws are absolutely awful, and can't be tightened enough to stop all movement. They get tight enough, but the plastic caps are crap and had lots of flashing that had to be trimmed. Looking into replacements.