The low profile PCB vise

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
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