Helping hand that works
When soldering, you sometimes need a third hand keeping things in place. I got this idea from the eevblog forum ( https://www.eevblog.com/forum/reviews/a-3rd-hand-that-actually-works!/ ) and the excellent blog post here: https://www.engineerable.com/single-post/diy-the-best-helping-hands-for-electronics-soldering-pcb-work-jewelry The thing is, that cheap "helping hands" or "third hands" frankly sucks. I'm thinking on the ones that look like this: I've used these ones and the mechanism is limited and the crocodile clips are annoying and don't grip well. You can improve them slightly by adding some heat shrink tube on the teeth. I do use also other kind of tools, e.g. a regular vice: This is an excellent vice for the price. The model is RÖHM 863421 , and it's perfect for small hobby projects including drilling and cutting. I also have this holder for PCBs. It works OK: Now I did have one of these magnetic holder stands for dial indicators. But ...