Quality helping hands?

Hey guys,
Sorry to have to make this thread I actually have searched quite a bit on line and i have bought 3 different sets of soldering helping hands and they are all complete garbage. 2 off ebay and 1 from harbor freight. One of the sets was not really cheap, $18 and was still junk the other 2 have fallen apart after just a few uses. I have searched google but since the Chinese market is so internet dominated I can't find anything that seems to be quality. Is this just how these tools are made? Cheaply or are there good quality versions? Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

Those are always a problem, I have a good one with a lighted magnifier with 2 LED lights in it that I bought on Amazon, I don't remember what it cost but I think it was more than $20. Just get the most expensive one you can and hope for the best. :crackup: The main problem with these is that the damn base is always too small. If you work at a small and thin table like I usually do then you may be able to clamp it to the table to hold it in place, but a better method is to attach the base to some piece of wood or plastic to make it stable. Mine has a holder for my soldering iron but the base by itself is too small to support the weight unless it's turned only in one direction. :wtf: If you get one with the lighted magnifier you will also have the battery compartment in the base, so you can't permanently attach something to the base but you can tape something on there. If I didn't have those batteries in the base I would permanently attach something to it.

Alan

I feel ya, theres a lot of junk out there. I got these: Amazon.com: TEKTON Helping Hand with Magnifier: Office Products The clamps are the screw in type, not those crappy rotating sleeves that just bend apart, and they are fairly stable (don't just fall over). And they are cheap, so that's nice

I have the cheep HF ones but made them a little better by adding a thick block of steel to the bottom of them.

I bought this when we were over there but haven't used it yet

FRYS.com | ECLIPSE

Helping Hands with Magnetic Base

?

These look decent.

3 5X 12x Third Helping Hand Clip Type Magnifying Magnifier Soldering Iron Tool | eBay

I have one like this red one which works best for me:

Endurance R/C - Third Hand

The Lightning Stalker said:

These look decent.

3 5X 12x Third Helping Hand Clip Type Magnifying Magnifier Soldering Iron Tool | eBay

Click to expand...

I tried those but they fell apart. The light was a nice touch though.

Alaskan said:

I have one like this red one which works best for me:

Endurance R/C - Third Hand

Click to expand...

I think these are going to be my next set. This was exactly what I was hoping to find! Thanks.

Great options and links everyone, much appreciated as always.

While it's not exactly what you asked for, you could build one yourself.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmUJk9AAb9Y
and similar videos and Google directions exists.