Workbench | Helping Hands Soldering Stations | Soldering Iron Helping Hand Tool with 2 Magnetic Arms | Designed for Soldering Tools | Steel Base for Welding Table Top with Locking Grips

This has got to be one of the best purchases I've made on Amazon. It's the best thing to happen to the art of holding since hands were invented!I am a professional electrical engineer and this tool is right at home on my desk. The smallest size is perfect for working on small-to-medium-size circuit boards.I bought this tool after many years of frustration with typical helping hands. The alligator clips would always fall off or rotate when doing extremely delicate work on microelectronics.As my father would say, these are "built like a brick "****house". A very sturdy baseplate made with CNC'd steel with a pleasant yellow paint job. The magnetic arms are extremely... magnetic. They are also usable with any metal base, like a microscope base or what have you. Very versatile.The feature that should be patented if not already are the alligator clips. They are high quality, strong clips, with a nice crimped standoff in the base that threads them onto the all-metal adjustable arms. You can adjust them to any rotation and lock them sturdily in-place with the knurled thumbscrews. Extremely clever and very effective.The overarching reason I bought this item over others is that the construction is all metal. I can (and do) reflow circuit boards with two hot air guns -- one at 250 degrees C (482 degrees F) for pre-heating the board and the other at 400 degrees C (752 degrees F) to reflow the solder. Even the silicone grips that are included have held up to the heat.Try doing that with anything else -- you'll likely end up with a puddle. Or the clips will fall out of it before you get started.It's amazing this is made in the USA. No corners were cut in the construction (except the fillets on the CNC'd base) and the price is very fair. You can even buy individual parts from the manufacturer in case you ever run it over with your truck or something (because that's the only way you'll be able to break it... even then the base plate will be fine).Now you have two options. For the same price go buy 6 regular helping hands and constantly fiddle with each one until you discard them out of frustration or buy this and start taking quality, stable helping hands for granted.I hope to see these become available on other sites that sell engineering tools -- they blow all other competition out of the water. And I just bought the mini version!I will be raving and recommending these to all my colleagues.

When I opened the package (and the packaging was excellent), I had to literally pull apart the arms, the magnetic quality is so strong and good. The table is of excellent, high quality material-it carries some weight. Here's the summary point: When I put an arm close to the platform, it began to grab and attached to the platform with a resounding clink. The arms move and attach everywhere on the platform. The arms are sturdy; well made, yet bend easily. The end clips are not cheapies; they are of good quality. It is not often anymore, with foreign junk quality invading the U.S., but this product is 100% well made. It's more expensive than the comparatives (and I was nearly swayed into buying another brand because I'd get more arms, but not the universal magnetic base), but I am super happy with this product and recommend it. It is complete quality, well made, versatile, and a buy for the money. This unit will definitely last a while. Buy it over the comparables.

I bought this for holding small parts when soldering but have found dozens of other uses for it. The base is nice and heavy to keep your work from sliding around on the work bench. The arms are flexible but strong enough to hold their shape as needed to support what you're working on.

I ditched the rubber feet and mounted this to an oak board to make a terrific station for soldering guitar electronics, pedals, and pickups. The magnets are very, very strong, so this solutions is really stable. I highly recommend.

I purchased the unit to hold small objects (mostly flowers, leaves, etc.) still for macro photography. It works well for this purpose, although a couple small improvements would make it even better. The flexible arms are not as flexible as I was expecting them to be; while you can bend them into a variety of positions, it is not an infinite variety. The alligator clips are strong, but they do not rotate easily and I have not yet been able to turn the knurled locking knobs, even with one pair of pliers holding an arm and another trying to rotate the knob and, since they are plastic, I am afraid of damaging them. Nonetheless, this has proven to be a useful accessory overall.

One of the big problems with solder station work benches is arms that don't stay put. Most products like this the arms recoil a bit when attempting to place the arm where you need it, an annoying problem for those who work under a magnifying glass with incredibly small components. Not a problem with the QuadHands. Not only are they stable, they are flexible and STAY PUT throughout their range of motion. The ability to place the hands where you need them is masterful on this device.One little thing that I wish were a bit better, the clamps are stingy in their opening. A mere 8 mm gap between the maximum distance between the teeth with no silicone and about 5.8 mm with the silicone. This has lead to a bit of cobbling together of alligator clips on alligator clips when I need a wider clamp. Aside from that these this is damn near ideal and I hope to be buried with it some day, it's that good!

I bought these specifically for their magnetic arms because I knew I would be working underneath and around my vehicles in some awkward positions. They were a HUGE help. It honestly made all my soldering jobs a ton easier.The only thing that i would improve is some better coverings for the alligator clips at the end. They are just covered with some rubber type tubing and you have to make sure to get the wires in the right spot so they stay sturdy.The base is solid and heavy enough that it is very stable when using the arms with it.The magnets are strong and worked great even when not attached to the base.I plan to buy two more arms for the setup in the future.

Strong, useful item. Used for projects, and RC car builds.