I’m still not fully convinced of the wisdom of a wooden soldering station clamp/vise, but it’s been serving me well nonetheless. It’s my DIY PanaVise! Why buy something if you can make it yourself, right? 🙂
The frame is made from some scrap 3/4 maple, with a steel rod from an old printer’s carriage mechanism and a $3 threaded rod from Home Depot. The legs come off for storage, and they’re scraps from a Dell server shipping pallet. The jaws were originally maple wainscot from a nearby remodeled clubhouse.
I didn’t have the right size metric drill bit for the steel rod, so the clamp isn’t perfect — it’s a little loose and as a result grabs better at the back. I’ll remake those at some point (when I get the right drill bit), and probably make them a bit wider as well. Also it’s just clamped with a little hex nut right now, which is a bit annoying, but I got used to it pretty quickly.
The bit held on with a C-clamp allows me to flip the work up and hold it here if necessary. It’s pretty easy to work with.
