Stickvise PCB Vise with Durable Nylon Jaws for Secure Gripping

Nicole Kepner: The media could not be loaded.  My boyfriend uses this all the time he fixes mother boards and other electronic devices. However if a board has a component on the edge it doesn’t hold as well.

United States on Aug 07, 2023

Amazon CustomerAmazon Customer: 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.

United States on Apr 06, 2023

Nuclear Powered Finger Puppet: 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...

United States on Mar 06, 2021

Patrick S. Sweeney: 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...

United States on Oct 27, 2020

Rick: 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...

United States on Sep 18, 2018