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
| Material | Powder Coated Steel |
|---|---|
| Brand | QuadHands |
| Item dimensions L x W x H | 8 x 8 x 16 inches |
| Color | Mellon Yellow |
| Tensile Strength | 1E+2 PSI |
| UPC | 793936910818 |
| Style | Classic |
| Manufacturer | Alphidia |
| Part Number | QX4 Helping Hands Device |
| Item Weight | 3.21 pounds |
| Product Dimensions | 8 x 8 x 16 inches |
| Item model number | QH4 |
| Is Discontinued By Manufacturer | No |
| Size | One Size |
| Item Package Quantity | 1 |
| Batteries Included? | No |
| Batteries Required? | No |
