PCB Vise with Standard Nylon Jaws

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.

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.

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.

I like it. This is a compact and convenient way to hold a circuit board, especially handy if you're using it under a microscope. The fixed end bar is held in place by a M3 setscrew (normally hidden underneath the nylon jaw plate), so if you unscrew that, you can also slide that end along the rod. That means, if you put a 6mm hole in a board to act as the baseplate, you can stand the whole thing up vertically, and it works like an adjustable-height optical bench component holder, for less money than those usually cost (albeit with a rod running up through the middle). If you have access to a 3D printer, it's easy enough to make specialty jaws to swap in and hold something unusually shaped, if necessary.

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.