Soldering Station with Helping Hands,Soldeing Tool Third Hand 6 Pana Flexible Arm with Aluminum Base USB Fan for Soldering,Electronics,Assembly, Repair, Modeling, Hobby, Crafts

This is the most weirdly pleasing, completely awkward thing I think I've ever ordered.You have to mess about putting the ball-end of the arms in the freezer, and the sockets in boiling water (you have to translate this from the bizarre chinglish email you receive, and I quote :-" it's might be convenient to put in the standard package but we found the problem of re-assemable the 6 separate helping hands. Therefore, we write the e-mail to ask the exactly suitation of this item. Installation method is boiling water used (100c) on socket end, and ball end left in freezer (-20c) over night. and then install,If you customers have the problem of re-assemable the 6 separte helping hands, you could write back our message through this order id, "But the resulting thing is REALLY cool, it looks beautiful and is VERY sturdy. It is so weirdly satisfying in a way that is hard to explain

When it originally arrived the arms were a bit long, it's not too hard to pull them apart to adjust but it is quite hard to pop them back together. I noticed you could get black on the box that arrived but sadly no option on Amazon. Quite happy with the price I paid, although crocodile don't securely lock into their holding, I'm sure it's not something a bit of superglue can't sort out.The heat shrink tubing protection around the crocodile clips also didn't come shrunk, I guess it gives you the option to remove it if you like, but like I said it's nothing special like durable rubber, just a bit of heat shrink.

I read comment about this unit need a lot of strength to assemble. With the unit we got, the arm screw onto the base in about 30 seconds. So super easy. I'm not sure what the older reviewers are talking about, I can only assume the assembly mechanism has changes.The clips that fit onto the end of the arm aren't the best though. They just push in, but also pull out easily. A drop of glue has fixed this, but screw in would have been better.Otherwise the arms cary a good weight and it does exactly what we needed.

Redesigned base and arms means no 'wrestling' (mentioned in other reviews) to assemble, it simply screws together.

All 7 arms pre-assembled, just needed screwing into base which was trivial.For those who dont know, these arms are originally designed to squirt coolant at a machine tool, hence the odd nozzle at the end, into which you put the crocclips.In my case the croc-clips felt a bit loose when put in the outlet holes but in the end I decided they were usable and I can always fill the hole with some glue.The fan is ok but feels like a bit of surplus stock thrown in, rather than a thought out peice of the product.Could do with a stand or a designed way to attach to the clips. Having said that.. I didnt buy it for the fan. On the other side, if you dont have a fume clearance fan I guess its handy.My only other niggle is .. 7 arms, 6 holes. Couldn't they have machined another hole (or supplied one less arm)?Does it have 7 arms because a competitor was supplying one with 6?

Good product! Don't be put off by reviews saying that it requires super human strength to assemble it. I'm neither 7foot tall or crush rocks with my bare hands for a living and I still managed it.The arms come in two parts so there's a plastic ball and socket joint that need to be pushed together.Ensure there are no burrs from when the plastic was moulded so they can clip together smoothly. Dip the receiving socket part into boiling water for a couple of minutes, apply firm pressure and they will snap together. I found using a teatowels for grip and leaning against the wall for extra leverage helped.

Have been doing alot of soldering on drones lately so ordered this to help out. It went together easily just screws in.The bad points are the clips don't fit very well so they can fall out very easily, also there is a little bit of heat sink loose on the end of the clips but while I've been using them the heat shrink has fallen off numerous times. It's worth shrinking it as much as you can before using it.For the money I think it's very over priced, not the best quality.

I found scraping some material from the sockets of each split piece with a stanley blade and then soaking the socket in hot water made assembly manageable. Positioning pretty easy, Firm but not massively springy