How does your workspace look? Could it be tidier? I know that mine always could be, but with the daily addition of different tools, components, boards and general tech, it can be hard to keep on top of it all. Then when it comes to working on a circuit board or similar, it's a mammoth task to clear off the workspace and get everything in order. Even when that is taken care of and you are sitting down trying to hold two things in place and work on them; the lack of appendages you have available can be incredibly frustrating!
You've probably seen the common helping hand tools around, a milled steel baseplate with rods & butterfly clips controlling the awkward axes of movement terminated by alligator clips. Our experience with such tools is that you can rarely get your helping hand tool to hold your component how you need it to, not to mention they are usually small modules; causing you to hunch down level with the attached magnifying glass to see whats going on. By this point, you're moving away from an exciting and fun experience of making and into the realm of frustration. Well, it might not be as dramatic as this, but we know that a decent vice and helping hand tool can make all the difference in knocking over a project.
Panavise is an American company that evolved as an answer to this frustration, developing vices and modular tool heads that can sensibly hold, rotate and manoeuvre your project however you need it. They branch out from a typical vice holder into some more helpful tool heads; like the PanaVise Solder and Iron Holder or the Tray Base Mount. Now you can combine the 3-4 separate tools on your workbench into a carefully considered, practical workstation option.
The complete package option weighs in at a hefty 2kg, stands 350mm high and comes decked out with a circuit board holding vice, a Parts tray base mount, the patented split-ball 300 series standard base and a Solder Station, all in the one package. There's a single control knob that you tighten to lock your vice in place and when loosened offers 90° and 360° rotation to your project. It's called the Electronics Work Center and it will revolutionise your workbench experience! These PanaVise tools are all equally sensational! That said, they don't give you the extra hands you need; they are more suited to holding your project while you're working on it.
Hobby Creek is another brand renown in the maker sphere for their fancy-looking, modular Third-Hand tools. Breaking free of the madness inducing butterfly clip design of the 'traditional' helping hand tools, and utilise Flexible Coolant Pipe styled arms that have the ability to move, curl, coil, and most importantly hold and position you desire.
These arms are all terminated with silicon coated, alligator clips so that you can hold your components completely worry-free. Hobby Creek is a newer company, only bringing their first product to market in 2014 and they've recently added a couple of extra arms to their maker arsenal; the Fume Extractor Arm and the Universal Holder Arm.
The best part of Hobby Creek's tools is that they recognise the importance and versatility of the PanaVise equipment and have made a PanaVise compatible Third-Hand tool! You just sandwich the Hobby Creek PanaHand between your PanaVise 210, 301 or 350 Vice and Tray base mount and you will have a stack of arms and options for working on your next project! Throw a Fume Extraction Arm and Universal Holding Arm into the mix, and you will have a seriously impressive looking Work Center that caters for every single need you will ever have when working on your next project!
So what are you waiting for, go ahead and pick up a third-hand/vice tool today, these modules are all of a fantastic quality and built to last! If you found anything mentioned in this article to have been particularly thought inducing, incorrect or even if you just want to add your own 2 cents to the discussion feel free to let us know in the comments section below!
