Not a Panavise, but worth the money!
I was a bit doubtful when I ordered the 'rotisserie' , but I figured that with a new Panavise PC board frame and base cracking the century mark with shipping, I'd give one of these a try. I'm glad i did.
We've been doing a lot of SMD work lately, and it's tough enough without chasing the board around the bench.
Now I'm sorry I suffered for so long, a couple more of these are on the way.
It had disassembled itself in the box, with the screws in the bottom loose, and the thread plates slid out of place, but after a couple of minutes, it was together.
It has surprisingly heavy steel base rails (filled with something heavy), which along with the nice deep rubber feet, serve well to keep it from tipping or sliding around the workbench. There are 2 slotted board holders which rotate 360 degrees if your board is not bigger than about 8” deep. It handles widths to around 9 inches if you hang the base rails off the side a bit. It does take a little practice setting it up to the proper width. One of the board holders has a spring so it end loads the shaft and holds tension on the PCB, keeping it in place well enough for most work, and still allowing intentional rotation or back and forth adjustment.
If you want it really solidly locked down, there are 2 thumbscrews that lock the shafts.
These thumb screws are the only negative to this little gadget, and it's not because they cheaped out, rather the opposite. They used these fancy molded knob screws, which are difficult to tighten.
This is especially true of the ones that secure the base rail width adjustment. The molded heads are so close to the rails, there's no room to tighten them adequately by hand, and if you don't get them tight enough, the tension spring will make the uprights slip. You will eventually pick up the pliers.
Before I ruined something using the pliers, I opted to replace the 4 of them with standard machine screws. MUCH BETTER!
The rotisserie has captive steel nuts at all 4 adjustment points, so there's no danger of stripping them if you don't try to, and I for one always have a screwdriver handy at my bench.
All in all, it's a great tool. It only lost a star because of a minor limitation on large or heavy boards (such as ones with large transformers or electrolytics), and the screw issue. Neither is a deal breaker, and I would have given it 4 ½ stars if I could.
It's a great tool for thru hole or SMD, service or construction. It also makes a great test stand, keeping the board up and insulated from errant tools and hardware.
Once you use it a couple times you'll wonder how you got along without it.Read full review
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: New
