Hakko Omnivise PCB Holder (C1390C)

A bit tall, but works good. They need to make one half the height.

This holder is built to last. This is assuming that the washer holds up against heat and pressure over the years. The form factor and concept is the best I have seen for the purpose. I like that it is heavy enough to serve as a solid mount for soldering and inspection. Ease of use is efficient. It does cost too much; however, I believe that it would not be easy to make the product for less and still turn a reasonable profit for a top of the line item. If I go to larger boards, I may even buy another one, since two of these could be used to firmly hold a large board. I also like that it doesnt take up much room on my bench when not in use.

Liked it so much I ordered a second one.

These are really terrific! They function extremely well while being, well, cute :) They have a really solid heft; you definitely dont want to drop one on your foot. That means they stay where you put them, along with whatever PCB you have clamped in them. They work extremely well for preheating a PCB for surface-mount rework. Use in pairs for boards over say 25cm long. You can definitely see a master designers work in these; the simplest thing that could possibly work really well. The top even pulls up the top clamping disk when turned a little further counter-clockwise. This is handy as any little flux residue on the edge of the board tends to make the firm rubber pads stick to the board a little. I find these really satisfying to use for some reason; they just make me feel good having them on the bench :)

Very versatile and capable holder. Might buy another for larger boards.

Super dense for its size - Extremely bottom heavy. Definitely trust it to hold longer boards, and may buy another once I finish reeling from how expensive the first was.

This PCB holder is some serious kit. Itll outlast me, my kids and their kids. Its weight makes it a sturdy base to securely hold PC boards for soldering. Nice small form factor stays out of the way when not in use. Pricey, but a good investment over the long term.

I have used this vise at work for over 12 years. I decided to get one for home recently. Unfortunately, they cheapened the design such that it is no longer a vise, but pliers. For me the critical thing was that both clamping plates are parallel to each other no matter the the thickness of the material being clamped. The old design had a nut on the main bolt which held the top plate with the rubbery material in place. Even though it was loose, but not too much. The new design removed the nut and replaced it with just a small E-clip retaining washer. There is about 5 mm play in between the washer and the top plate. The top plate is so loose, that you get a wide swinging of the top plate. If you want to clamp material even as 10 mm think this really become pliers, one edge of the top round plate sitting on the edge of the bottom cylinder while the other edge of the top plate is clamping your material at an angle, like pliers. Since I liked the style, I decided to modify it to actually create a vise. Here are the steps: 1. I replaced the top washer in between the top plate and knob with one with much bigger diameter. I used SAE washers and enlarged the center holes to make them snug 8 mm in diameter. 2. Placed two washers at the bottom of the top plate. Second one is not visible in the picture since it fills the hole in the rubberized material. The other one is there to fill the space to reach the M8 x 1.25 thread since the thread ends early to accommodate the E-clip. The second washer must be made less than 15 mm in outer diameter to drop into the hole in the bottom cylinder. 3. That was not enough to reach the bottom nut, but instead of adding another washer I backed drilled the M8 nylon locking M8 nut for about 0.8 mm to make it all work. The M8 x 1.25 nylon locking nut replaced the E-clip and I was able to fine tune the play of the top plate. After lubricating the whole thing with PTFE there is no side wobble play in the upper plate while it still freely rotates and I have an actual vise. It took about 1.5 hours to modify two of them. Not worth the price without modification.

Very good product. Recommended

Where have you been all my life, this has been a great addition to my work bench. It is almost a third hand, but really it is so much more. I use it to hold circuit boards I am working on, and the only requirement is that you have a flat edge to put into it to hold onto.