QuadHands Stationary Arms

I don't think I could do enough to say how great this thing is! I'm a hobbyist and have been for 55 years. I've worked with microelectronics and 'micro-microelectronics' in many of my soldering jobs. I have three different 'holding jigs' that I paid almost as much for as I did this "QuadHands" device and I can say that in each of those purchases, I was hoping it would be better than the one I had.Enter "QuadHands Helping Hands" third-hand holding jig: WOW!!! It almost instantly turned the other three jigs I owned, into fishing weights.At first sight in the ad, I'm thinking "...yeah, the 'plastic-segmented goose-neck' trick. The tension strings break and everything winds up on the floor...." NOT!! The consistently great reviews on this simple looking “contraption”, (as one reviewer called it), were too many to ignore, so I bought it.“Quick list of highlights”:*Solid steel construction and high quality materials/*.270” (6.87 mm), thick & heavy steel base-plate/*Easy to assemble with large no-slip rubber feet/*High-quality gooseneck arms, (also steel)/*High quality, unobtrusive, alligator clips that can be orientated and locked into position, (each with a pair of ‘soft-jaw’ sleeves)/*Very well thought out, ingenious, design that makes incredibly reliable use of the ‘simplicity’ behind it!Just as all the reviews will tell you; this jig is NOT cheaply made! It's made of real steel and even the gooseneck arms are comprised of steel. The weight of this jig is a very important factor to its success.It's much heavier than it looks and much, much heavier than all of my previous jigs combined! That weight, (sorry, I don’t know exactly how heavy), isn’t all that keeps this jig in place. The four, large, rubber feet under the base add to this jigs immobility!However, that's just the beginning; I mean, EVERYTHING about this jig is high quality, right down to the large, no-slip, rubber feet that attach under the thick steel jig plate.As soon as I got it, I used it on a project that lasted 4 day, and the jig didn’t budge at any time while making an adjustment of the clips and/or goosenecks. Seriously, that jig stayed where I put it down and didn’t move until I wanted it to!The alligator clips are not only of a high quality steel, they’re designed to be as unobtrusive as possible. Their jaws are long and narrow and have the ability to be adjusted and orientated for a precise position.These clips by themselves prove that a lot of thought was put into this tool. Each clip is removable and each is kept in the orientation you select, by a locking thumbscrew at the collar.Just loosen the thumbscrew, rotate the clip to the orientation you need, and lock the thumbscrew. It’s quick & easy to do and in the time it took me to write that last sentence, you could have completed the adjustment of all four clips that way.In addition, each clip comes with a removable rubber sleeve, which slips over the upper and lower jaws. This means you can keep from scratching polished surfaces of jewelry or avoid an electrical short, (if the PCB is under power from a capacitor or two).The four, large, no-slip, rubber feet have an undersized center hole. As a machinist and mechanical engineer, I’m sure this is NOT due to unforeseen ‘cooling-shrinkage’ (when the rubber feet are removed from the injection-mold).The undersized through hole in the rubber foot acts as a locking nut and helps to keep the bolt from loosening as the arms are bent, turned, and twisted as you work.It’s ridiculously simple yet incredibly ingenious idea and certainly cost effective. In my 25+ years of machine shop and manufacturing experience, I cannot remember seeing this great retainment design on any device with a similar mechanism.I had to fight my urge to go on about how well I liked that idea, (which I’m sure many of you are happy to know)! This jig is filled with these ‘simple, cost-effective, approaches to the design, which is why we’re not paying twice as much as it would have cost otherwise!Each rubber foot and gooseneck arm are held in place with a single, long bolt that is fed up through that ‘undersize hole' in the rubber foot. In fact, I recommend you ‘screw’ the bolt up through the rubber hole as if it was a threaded nut. The bolt is then pushed through a hole in the steel plate where it is screwed into the threaded hole of the gooseneck arm.I obviously recommend this QuadHands jig to EVERYONE, hobbyist, and non-hobbyists alike. This jig can do something as simple as holding a spool of thread, or help in separating tangled line or wires, on to maneuvering a PCB filled with microelectronics that requires a lot of sensitive soldering.The four, gooseneck arms, are strong and even stronger when they’re working together. This means that the jig can hold a size and weight that no other holding-jig in its class can hope to bear.Mark Richards, (the founder of Alphidia LLC), may have even been the inventor/designer/engineer of this QuadHands jig. I don’t know if he is, but I can say that I’m truly impressed and actually surprised at how impressed I am over this jig’s design and quality. Mr. Richards, you hit ball right out of the park!Rich

I usually don't do product reviews unless I feel the product is exceptional in its build quality and materials, plus value versus money spent. All I can say is wow! This thing is a piece of art in itself. I got the newer version with the powder coated base. Its a slightly off color yellow but a very beautiful color. The arms are not coated with any rubber coating and they bend very easily and stay in place exactly where you put them with no springy action like some reviewers noted on the older models. The rear arms are also 100 millimeters longer than the previous models at around 15 inches long. The alligator clips are the perfect size, not to big but not to small. There is a locking nut on each clip to adjust the rotation of the clip for the perfect hold. I added a very high quality heat shrink tubing to each clip as to not mare anything I'm holding and to not eat into any wire insulation.I have been soldering for over 35 years and in that time have gone through about 10 of those cheap China made helping hands. You know the ones I'm talking about. The ones that tip over easily and made with the world's cheapest hardware. Those are just junk. I made a pattern of the base to have my bother-in-law who is a machinist laser cut me a cover plate that can easily be removed out of heavy gauge galvanized steel to protect the finish on the base. This way if any solder drops it wont damage the beautiful powder coated finish.I also model in G, 1/43 and HO scale trains. I will use this to hold figurines and other items for hand painting. I can have four things going on at the same time. Me and my son recently got into electric RC cars and trucks. The arms are long enough to reach up into the chassis for soldering items for repair. I'm sure I will find many other uses for this as well. The problem is, is this is so nice you might not want to use it at all, you will want to put it on a shelf for display. I know this will outlast my lifetime and can be handed down for generations to come.Was this QuadHands expensive? Yes but not overpriced. Is it worth it? Yes, every single cent. All I can say is buy it. You wont be disappointed.

I expected a great product based on other reviews for the QuadHands, and I was still surprised at how good of a product it is. The QuadHands has a very good wide base with a nice weight to it so you're unlikely to push it over. The arms are also easy to work with and they keep their shape very well without springing back when you move them. The clamps have a good strength to them and they have teeth. If that's a problem for you, my QuadHands came with a little card that had instructions for emailing the manufacturer, who will then send you silicone clamp covers for free. I use the QuadHands for holding PCBs and other small, very light things, but I would imagine that if you happened to try to hold something that's a bit heavier the arms would collapse. For reference, I clipped one of the arms to a Manfrotto super clamp, which weighs 0.88 pounds (according to Amazon), and the arm collapsed.TIP: It took me a minute to figure out how you're supposed to adjust the rotation of the clamps. It turns out that you're supposed to slightly unscrew the clamp a little and get it rotated to where you want, and then the end of the black arm has an adjuster that you screw out to tighten the clamp again.Overall, I am glad that I purchased the QuadHands and it gets five stars from me!