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The low profile PCB vise


Hold your PCB flat

Give your arms a rest! Stickvise holds your circuit board flat so you can solder with stability at table level.

Simple Design

No half baked features, Stickvise just holds a circuit board in a simple intuitive way.

Hackable!!!

Have a special application? 3D print custom jaw plates or choose from many more tested mods to make Stickvise work for your application.

How it works

How it works

The movable jaw can slide to any position along the shaft.

How it works2

To grab a circuit board, gently squeeze the jaws against board edges.

How it works3

Tighten wing nut to fix the movable jaw

How it works4

Easily take circuit board in and out of spring loaded jaws

Specifications
Stickvise is designed with simple, high quality parts. The jaws are machined, bead blasted and anodized aluminum. The jaw plates are made with insulating Nylon 6/6. All all other components are metric standard sizes.

Outside dimensions

This is the size of the default Stickvise. Keep in mind that a longer, wider or taller version can easily be created. Checkout the section on hacking your vise for details.

Holding capacity

  • Max opening: 6.14" (155mm)
  • Room above shaft: .29" (7.4mm)
  • Room above table: .63" (15.9mm)

Vise mounting specifications

Stickvise can be mounted using M3 machine screws.

For larger jaw opening or PCB clearance, easily upgrade your vise.

Hack your vise
Here's where it gets fun. Stickvise is easy and cheap to modify. Below are some ideas for tailoring Stickvise to your application.

Off the shelf upgrades

Off the shelf upgrades

Pick up these parts at the hardware store or order online to mod your vise.

Learn More
DIY upgrades

DIY upgrades

Some ideas for upgrades that can be made with a few simple tools

Learn More
3D prints

3D printable downloads

3D printed vise jaws work really well. Here are some STL files for a variety of different jaw designs that are free to download.

Learn More
parametric jaws

Design your own jaws

All of the designs above were made from the same file by changing a few variables. OpenSCAD is an amazing free program that makes this possible. If you need custom jaw geometry or just want to learn something new, check out my OpenSCAD model.

Learn More

About

I work at a small electronics company where we have every PCB holder you can imagine, from swiveling vises to helping hands. Despite that, I found myself constantly making custom fixtures to perform the simple task of holding a PCB near table level. These flat PCB holders were great because your hands could rest directly on the table for fine soldering and probing. They also fit easily under a microscope and kept the PCB consistently in focus. After years of custom "one off" designs, I decided it was time to come up with a universal solution. I wanted to design a simple, flat PCB vise.

I went through many design iterations before arriving at my final design. Every part was carefully examined and the question was asked: Is this necessary? Why have two shafts when you only need one? Why have a base plate when the vise always sits on a table? Why use heavy duty clamps just to hold a PCB?

Another big design goal was affordability, so I used standard parts wherever possible. I opted for the lowly wing nut over a fancy lever or knob because it works better and can be found at any hardware store. I liked the wing nut so much I built it into the logo! Finally I wanted to eliminate confusing features, even if they might be useful. I wanted people to look at Stickvise and immediately understand how it works and what it is for. It is easy to dream up add-ons, so I thought I would encourage people to upgrade or modify their vise and add complexity as needed. This was the inspiration behind Stickvise.

Alex Rich
[email protected]

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