PCB Holders

Your post was very timely for me.

I use the through hole device you presented. I have a few of the others you mentioned also.

You answered the question I was going to ask and that was "How do you hold components to solder once you flip them.?" I will find a piece of foam and give it a try.

Seriously, blu-tack is the way to go here as they don't move at all once stuck down - the only thing to be aware of is avoiding getting blu-tack stuck in any empty holes!  I picked that tip up from Shabaz.

Contacts contamination risk.

Never, ever, ever been a problem.  Do as normal: clean the PCB with IPA after soldering.

I have seen it a few time from pros to DIY jobs. Some connectors needed replacement. 

Blu-Tack is about as harmless as anything, perhaps there is a chance of finger oils on the board/components or handling the solder causing more contamination. 

Blu-Tack is also useful to raise some components slightly off the board (this can be done without the blu-tack touching the wires if desired, but it's hard to see that being an issue for anything apart from space-lasers or other critical stuff. There's no need to wedge Blu-Tack into connector pins, just a couple of blobs can support each end.

Besides, the Weller clamp has plastic pieces and foam, there's a chance of contamination from that if the soldering iron accidentally touches and melts it.

I use a similar tool vice as Doug, but a lightweight aluminium version. Main downside is that it can't handle boards much bigger than 60mm, but that covers 80% of the stuff I work on.

It has a V-notch that's handy for circular connectors, but recently I've been thinking of making some 3D-printed clamp for one or two circular connectors that can get particularly awkward. No time to work on it : (

I have a couple of cheap plastic vises with this form factor, but find they are too light (they slide around too easily) and they can't hold even a moderate sized card. That one looks pretty stable though. They were omitted from the video because I use them so little for holding PCBs, I probably looked right at them without remembering they could be used to hold PCBs...

Yes it's great. It's lighter than iron or steel but not super-light. I think it's a clone of this, which is 500 grams:

I use it on this ESD mat (really excellent mat too, and surprisingly low-cost for the size!), and it doesn't slide around:

The jaws have a large flat top surface, and I end up using that as a "staging area" when soldering same-value SMD resistors etc! 

There's also often blobs of blu-tack tacked on the top of the jaws, so that I can quickly hold a board down if it's too awkward for the jaws (e.g. if there are parts right to the edge, such as side-mounting right-angle SMA connectors etc!). 

This one on Amazon looks so promising, and can handle boards up to 130mm wide! It is alu, 1kg:

However, it's pricey : ( plus, the depth is 13mm, and there could be components taller than that off the surface of the PCB.

Also, the recess for the PCB is just a bit too much (4mm).  It's a shame, it is so close! But good from far, far from good : (

blu-tack is new to me. I have used Frog painters tape in the past. It is a real pain in the *** to use but I haven't discovered an alternative. Shabaz recommendations are top shelf. I'm curious to know more.

Can you use it like a foam bed to hold multiple components in place while you flip the PCB to the soldering side?

It is a genius material, so many uses. It comes in a sheet form, between waxed paper. The first time it is used, it just needs to be stretched a bit, and it becomes sticky (without leaving any residue). The properties of blu-tack remain approx. forever, i.e. the material is always reusable and never dries up.

It can hold multiple parts at once, the photo below shows a couple of parts being held down. It's strong enough that the parts don't move when soldering, and afterwards, it comes off in one piece, with no residue left. If it is in an awkward place, then dabbing it with a larger piece of it will lift it all off.

I suppose it may leave a micro-film of oil, but probably no more than finger oil. When Blu-Tack is removed, the surface is dry and zero visible residue. Even if it gets hot, nothing seems to happen to it. It's as benign/inert as one could hope for I guess.

An example of holding a larger module; here the module was deliberately raised off the board slightly, just to demonstrate that Blu-Tack holds the item in a controlled fashion, and doesn't sag/slip in normal use:

It's super-useful for pin headers, LEDs, large capacitors, etc., it holds them all in vertical alignment!:

I also use it for holding down ICs too, connectors, pretty much anything. 

The photos above show the board in an aluminium tool vice, and the top flat surfaces are ideal for Blu-Tack too,  e.g. if there is a large PCB to be held down, or to temporarily hold wires in position, etc.

The genuine stuff is "Bostik Blu-Tack", and costs just over £1 here for a pack. Interesting seeing the scores in the Amazon results below... Surprising that any reviewer could possibly give it less than 5 full stars! 

Wikipedia entry of uses for it:

It is a genius material, so many uses. It comes in a sheet form, between waxed paper. The first time it is used, it just needs to be stretched a bit, and it becomes sticky (without leaving any residue). The properties of blu-tack remain approx. forever, i.e. the material is always reusable and never dries up.

It can hold multiple parts at once, the photo below shows a couple of parts being held down. It's strong enough that the parts don't move when soldering, and afterwards, it comes off in one piece, with no residue left. If it is in an awkward place, then dabbing it with a larger piece of it will lift it all off.

I suppose it may leave a micro-film of oil, but probably no more than finger oil. When Blu-Tack is removed, the surface is dry and zero visible residue. Even if it gets hot, nothing seems to happen to it. It's as benign/inert as one could hope for I guess.

An example of holding a larger module; here the module was deliberately raised off the board slightly, just to demonstrate that Blu-Tack holds the item in a controlled fashion, and doesn't sag/slip in normal use:

It's super-useful for pin headers, LEDs, large capacitors, etc., it holds them all in vertical alignment!:

I also use it for holding down ICs too, connectors, pretty much anything. 

The photos above show the board in an aluminium tool vice, and the top flat surfaces are ideal for Blu-Tack too,  e.g. if there is a large PCB to be held down, or to temporarily hold wires in position, etc.

The genuine stuff is "Bostik Blu-Tack", and costs just over £1 here for a pack. Interesting seeing the scores in the Amazon results below... Surprising that any reviewer could possibly give it less than 5 full stars! 

Wikipedia entry of uses for it:

There are variations on a theme as well.  My (now) wife brought a pack of white tack with her when she moved in 13 years ago.  No idea how old it actually is but it has never gone off and inevitably it’s always the same bits that get reused and reused and reused….  One could think the stuff is an environmental disaster.  Or maybe along with cockroaches the only thing that would survive a nuclear holocaust!  

Hehe definitely indestructible material : ) 

I just saw this vice, wide enough for 100mm boards:

Still not fit-for-purpose since there's little depth, but the alu could easily be tapped and alu blocks screwed onto it to raise the clamping position.

I sort of feel that once you have to start finagling a tool to make it work better, you're better off buying a better tool in the first place!  The Duratool holder that Doug mentioned is fine for most hobbyist size boards - I've used it up to 15cm and it still has plenty of leeway.  Clamp the board in, place the parts, blu-tack them down, spin the board and solder away.  The height the board is held above the bench works well for me and I can rest a forearm on the bench whilst soldering.  It just requires the board to be positioned in such a way as to avoid spinning it when soldering; not that it freewheels but sometimes you want the board at an angle (rather than parallel to the bench) and you can inadvertently push it with the iron. It's dirt cheap to start with as well.

I'm the same, I'd generally rather buy a purpose-built tool, although I get the feeling these vices could be particularly nice to use for when a board is desired to be worked on flat. I have a bunch of optical alu blocks so I might modify a couple of them with grooves (for PCB and a notch if possible for round connectors; don't think I have any milling bit for that : (

Are they heavy enough to not shift around?  I know you don't apply a lot of pressure on the tip of the iron but if it's too light it may still move.

You could 3d print small pieces with grooves and stick them the the clamp blocks with blu-tack!

I've ordered one to give it a shot. I think it may be about a kilogram in weight (the two rails and thread are steel even though the rest is alu). I use an ESD mat, which will add a bit of grip. 

That vise looks like a pretty useful size and a decent price.

Buying the right tool is definitely preferred, but if you bought a tool that isn't quite optimal and it can be modified to work better, it can be worthwhile. I just modified a battery operated electric screwdriver to have a power connector so I can run it from a power supply. Running it from primary batteries made it useless to me, so I am much happier with the power supply solution. It can still run from batteries, but I don't ever expect to put batteries in it.

I ordered a package from Amazon to give it a try.

shabaz said:

Surprising that any reviewer could possibly give it less than 5 full stars! 

For the dollar I expect the moon!! 

After you shared this knowledge a few years ago, I bought something similar from the local dollar store. It worked ok, but it dried up over time. I’ll check if I can find the real blu-tak here in Canada.