Review on PanaVise 396 Wide Opening Head by Edwin White

Failed to load media. I used this 396 PanaVise model at work decades ago and wanted to use it at home. I ordered this. It came with a non-concentric connection between the threaded rod and the hand crank. This made it impossible to turn the crank to open or close the vise jaws without the use of two hands. The crank jammed in the same place with each revolution and from that point on had to be overcome by holding the vise with one hand and forcing the crank over the jam with the other. I thought this one escaped quality control so I sent it back and asked for a replacement. Replacement has arrived. with the same problem. You can clearly see that the threaded rod is not connected to the center of the crank but is slightly misaligned causing it to bind. This is a very nasty problem, but neoprene sponges retain heat so well when soldering that I decided to keep the vise and decided to use two hands to open or close the sponges. I hope PanaVise can fix this manufacturing issue as otherwise it's a surprisingly good vise.