QuadHands Deluxe with 5 Arms

This Helping Hands set is exactly what I expected it to be after reading the description. It is heavy, solid, simple and well made. Starting with the careful packaging, the attention to detail shows. Included is a small bag with non-scratch discs to place (at your option) on the magnet ends of the arms. There is also a small card describing the effect of doing so. Ultimate hold strength is diminished by using the discs, but if they are used, its easier to slide the arms into a location without scratching the base. I felt the arms held well enough, even with the discs installed, so I elected to install them. The clips themselves are much nicer than those on helping hands sets I have owned before. The clips are stainless steel and have a strong spring. They thread onto a post on the end of the arm. There is a knurled lock nut which allows you to spin the clip to any position, then lock it there. In my case, I needed something a bit bigger, so I removed the clips on two arms and installed plastic spring clips. This was easily done by drilling a hole in the handle of the spring clip, then using the knurled nut to clamp it to the arm. I think many items such as a light or a magnifier could be modded to fit on these arms since the thread is a standard pitch. The arms are so well made that they could easily find many purposes in other locations. I wondered if I would need all 5 arms, but I am glad to have them after seeing the build quality. I haven't even mentioned how nice the yellow powder coating on the base is. The weight feels right, and the size seems perfect. Highly recommended !

I'd mostly only used the cheap 2 clip + magnifying glass third / helping hand tools in the past. The ones you pick up for 5 dollars because you need something and, its just a few clips why spend the money right? This product is why you spend the money. No more having the tool twist around on you because it weighs nothing, no loosening, adjusting, tightening, rinse, repeat the joints. This is built to last, it has the perfect amount of heft to it that you know it's not going anyway, and looks and feels like a solid well built product. The adjustable magnetic arms are great too, move them wherever you need, and they hold some hefty items, I used two to stabilize a peristaltic pump to solder connections on, not the heaviest item but if it can keep that stable I have no concerns about PCBs, wires, etc. The magnets maybe border on too strong, but that is good, they aren't moving anywhere when you are working, and will slide around with a little force. I just make sure to place them gently now after having the first one almost snap my finger in between it and the board.

Everything as claimed. No hype. Solid as steel construction. This won’t break.

The is the Deluxe model of the QuadHands product and is fully manufactured in the USA (the General Vacuum Vise, also U.S. made, shown at the center of the pic, is a separate product). My order arrived safely packed, brand-new sealed, and delivered fast by Amazon. This tool was brilliantly designed and manufactured in terms of practical usable functionality complemented with heavy-duty material quality and workmanship guarantied to last like an heirloom for my yet would-be grand children a couple of decades from now. To begin with, the base plate is made of heavy steel (I wasn't really expecting the weight to feel like lifting a small dumbell). The thick powder coating feels resistant to scraping which would be a consequence of constant repositioning of magnetic arms all over the base plate surface, and also appears to be thermally resistant to molten solder. Overall, the heavy-duty quality of materials and finish should provide sufficient protection from corrosion, oxidation, usual wear-and-tear, including a bit of handling abuse during use for electronics assembly. Once placed on on my lab desk, it does not easily budge, it's solid as a rock. The magnetically respositionable arms are flexible yet sturdy and whatever is held in mid-air will keep that position. Also, the strength of the magnets can be dangerous to your pinkie if you get careless with your handling, they are unexpectedly super duper strong...and this is not to exaggerate. The metal clip jaws have a steady solid grip and comes with removable rubberized protectors. It will not leave marks on the material being held but can be taken off when soldering so the clips function as heatsink to diffuse excess heat. This tool is upgradeable and additional arms in different length sizes maybe incrementally added when needs arise. Overall, this is a must have electronics workbench tool for DIYers and professionals alike, who work on complex soldering/assembly of intricate pieces and discrete components including small SMD boards. I previously had to call my son, if not my Dad, when I needed extra hands. But this genius tool enables sturdy fixed positioning of multiple components/wires for joining and is my answer to making a perfect solder joint to connect several simultaneous parts/pieces in one single stroke. Plus factor...it can integrate other clamps and vices to further extend its "Helping Hands" capability (as shown in the pic). This is one of the best investments on tools I had ever made.

This thing is a tank! I am an EE student, and soldering in small spaces on small components and PCB's can be a pain sometimes. I have tried other similar products, but the arms were always too weak, and the bases were never heavy enough to prevent the station from sliding around or tipping over. The QuadHands makes the rest of them look like toys. The base is a solid plate of steel that is heavy enough that it's not going anywhere, or ever tipping over. The bendable arms are really strong, and stay where you put them. They actually solidly hold objects in place when you set them and do not move around flimsily like some of the competitors I have tried. Also, the alligator clips are sturdy and tight. The magnets that hold the arms to the base are shockingly strong as well. I am seriously impressed with this product. Also, the company that builds and sells these, Alphidia, is top notch! The founder, Mark, took the time to personally respond to me when I reached out to the company. Top notch product, even better customer service!!! You will not be disappointed!

The magnets are very strong and the plate is nice and heavy. I'm interested to see if any attachments are available, like a lighted magnifier. The ability to rotate and lock the clip on each arm is extremely useful. The flexible part of the arms don't adjust very finely without some rebound which can make it challenging to arrange small delicate parts or get an angle square but that seems to come with the territory... I haven't found helping hands that do any better. I'd say these are in the top 20% I've used in terms of stability and fine adjust-ability. Only one little issue this causes with my OCD... the plastic protective layer on the bottom of a couple arms' bases are not properly aligned with the arm base (photo). I'm not sure how they attach to the base of the arm so I am hesitant to try and peel them off and re-apply in the correct position. Normally I wouldn't even comment on a product defect like this but at this high price point my expectations are also high.

I have purchased well over 200 items from Amazon over the years, and I don't think I've ever taken the time to write a review. This product deserves a great review. It is outstanding. I will use it for soldering small stained glass projects where I need 5 or 6 hands and sometimes magnification and additional lighting (I also purchased the add-on 3x magnifier and it is well worth it). It is the best made product I have ever purchased from Amazon. I honestly believe it could last 100 years or more. I'm not kidding. The rare earth magnets are very strong. The clamps are high quality, and the base is heavy, sturdy, and perfectly done in a powder coated finish. I can't make a direct comparison to competing products, and there are some that are admittedly much cheaper, because I didn't buy those. If any of them come even close to the quality of this product, I would be shocked. The packaging was very good, and it included a note from the owner that stated, "Our purpose is to provide you with a high quality product and excellent service. Did we get it right? What could we have done better? If we missed the mark in any way, please let me know. I will make it right." That's what the owner said, and I believe him. However, I don't expect I'll ever need to test that promise. This product is rock solid. I am very satisfied and highly recommend this.

I've waited several months to write a review of this product because I was concerned that it might not hold up. I use it daily in a professional capacity and probably beat it up more in a day than the average hobby user would beat it up in a month. I use it exclusively for electronic soldering and rework, mostly of printed circuit boards. From the first time I used it I loved it. You've probably used "helping hands" devices as have I, but the thing about those is that they only work in two dimensions. This device works in three dimensions and allows you to position your work piece precisely. So if you have a connector in one of the arms and a wire that should be soldered to it in another arm, they need to be offset by 90 degrees to make the connection properly. No problem with this device. The one thing that worried me was whether falling solder onto the board would cause it to damage the coating on the frame. It does stick, but when you scratch it off with a fingernail the underlying coating it still ok. After several months the base does not look like new, but it does look like it has quite a long live ahead of it. Oh, by the way, mine was shipped with insulation on all the clips so there was no issue of the clips damaging my work piece. This thing sets an entirely new standard in "helping hands"... I wish I had one a couple of decades ago. Having said that, I do have a couple of suggestions: I really wish there was the option to buy clips with wider jaws so I could use, say, coaxial connectors with this device. I'd be happy to pay extra for this. Second, I purchased the 8 1/2 x 11 surface and I love the workspace, but I really didn't need to have 5 arms with clamps. Might be a good idea to allow users to specify the size of the base and the number of arms separately. On the other hand I can see how standardizing this might reduce the cost. This thing is reasonably priced and if you do much work in electronics it is to die for. Truly a wonderful tool.