Easy PCB Vice

thingiverse

Up until now I've been using a drill press vice to hold circuit boards during soldering. The problem is that that type of vice is a hard clamp and won't hold the board well unless you squish it hard enough to risk damaging the board. So I designed a super simple model based on springs that will effectively hold pcbs firm. I thought about adding some more features but decided that simple was best here. Attached is a pdf drawing for those of you who want to make custom jaws. Instructions Print all parts with at least 30% infill, 2 perimeters. The shafts are 5/16" diameter oak dowel rod, 8" long each. The clamp uses (1) 8-32 bolt 2" long with a butterfly nut. The two springs can be any compression spring with an ID slightly above 5/16". The two part A pieces of the vice are identical. To get the fit you need use a 5/16" drill bit to cleanup the holes on the part of the vice that slides. Use superglue on the other end to keep it in place.