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798 Review
39 Karma

Review on Aven 17010 Adjustable Circuit Holder by Redfish Rosenhoover

Revainrating 3 out of 5

Minimal functionality is good enough if you don't intend to use it often

From a purely functional point of view it works and is better than nothing. The casual amateur can handle it. The construction is very cheap - thin lightweight plastic, ill-fitting threaded knobs for adjustment, and no vertical adjustment. The claim that it allows 360 degree rotation is mostly false. Technically, this is true if you're running on a very small board. But it only has 2 inches of vertical clearance above the bottom rail. So if your board is more than 4 inches wide you will not be able to rotate 360 because your board will touch the bottom rail. A lot more vertical spacing would make a big difference and it would be great to adjust to that. No fixtures to hold a board that is not square/rectangular. You need at least two parallel straight edges to use this tool. Round/oval/odd shaped boards will not work with this tool. Also doesn't work with very small boards <1" in diameter - the tool holder covers the entire board. You need at least 1/4 of the margin on each board edge between the board edge and the first component/track. The shank is needed for the board to fit in the board holder. The twist lock is very, very weak, and although there are two of them, one on each side, it doesn't hold the board when you press it down with a soldering iron, and you can completely forget about using a screwdriver on heatsinks and other items with Phillips screws - the board only rotates when you push the screw. Half of the adjustment knobs are on the wrong side of the instrument as the two pins on each side are the same piece but one of them is turned the other way. It was necessary to make it non-directional so that the adjustment screws were in front on either side. Plan to go backwards to find the set screws on the right side post. You could just use the left side to adjust - but did I mention the rotation lock is weak and you have to adjust both to pray your board stays still? All in all, I wouldn't recommend this tool to anyone except the very occasional hobbyist. General/intermediate hobbyists and professionals should look for a better instrument. But you get what you pay for I guess.

Pros
  • Sturdy metal construction
Cons
  • Not bad, but...