Vise for Hobby Creek Helping Hands by nzeut

Last crawled date: 3 years, 1 month ago

OVERVIEW
This was part of a class project. Each student in the class was challenged to design and print a working vise design of your choice (PC board, helping hand, etc). The design required at least two printed parts and use at least one ¼”-20 threaded bolt/rod and nut.
I do a lot of PCB board mods and work for installing electronics into arcade sticks used on video game consoles. I also do similar work for PCB mods that are incorporated into arcade machines. One of my favorite helping hands tools is the Hobby Creek Helping Hands Third Hand Soldering Tool (http://a.co/bVCI6BG). One downside to this helping hands tool is the lack of a centralized vise to use for supporting the boards I work on. I own other helping hands and a PanaVise “Junior”, but I’ve always wanted something that would fit in the center of the Hobby Creek tool.
CURRENT VERSION
Pictures included show the current working design. There are four separately printed parts: base, two jaws, and a knob. It is mounted to the helping hands tool via large zip ties. Hardware used:
• 4” long ¼”-20 hex bolt
• 1 ¼” nylon lock nut
• 3 ¼” nuts
• 1 ¼” lock washer
• 2 ¼” flat washers
• Hot glue
The stationary jaw is secured to the base using some hot glue. An attempt was made to allow it to be stationary but floating, but this did not work at all in real use. The moving jaw’s nut was hammered into place using a rubber mallet. The knob was attached by heating the hex head with a hot air gun and pressing it into the knob. The lock nut and a washer are on the outside of the stationary jaw, and a washer, set of nuts and lock nut, are on the inside to keep the bolt from moving side to side.
Opening and closing the jaws is a little counter intuitive, but it functions. Opening is done by turning clockwise. It’s recommended to open the jaws just a little wider than the PCB to be secured, slide the PCB in the stationary jaw, and then secure and align the motion jaw. All four orientations can be tight enough without requiring a lot of pressure.
IMPROVEMENTS TO MAKE
Currently, the vise is usable. Improvements that could be made to the design include:
• Merge stationary jaw with base
• Make jaws capable of having interchangeable heads
• Adjust movement mechanism
• Different channel design for motion of jaws
• Improve mechanical design elements