Not sure if anyone has bought Panavise equipment in the last little while but...
I remember back 35 years ago the Panavise circuit board holders we had where I worked. My memories of them were, that they were very well designed and precision made. A pleasure to work with. It was on that memory that I went ahead recently an bought a 315 head and 305 base for PCB build and rework.
I have to tell you I am very disappointed. The forks of the 315 head fit vey loosely on the bar so that the clamping screws cause the forks to be misaligned when tightened. The bar does not fit snugly into the stem and twists enough to loosen the undersized screw holding it to the stem. The fork tightening screws have rough, unfinished ends that bear directly on the bar causing it to get burr marks on it. The 'ball' in the base has casting flashing still on it and seems unfinished and hence it's operation is very rough. And the stem of the head does not fit snugly in the base socket, even when tightened so that it can move unexpectedly when the slight force of a soldering iron is placed on supported PCB. They are just the major things.
All in all, the quality seems very poor for an US made product and for the price. I am not impressed.
I have a question for all the old-timers. Is it just my memory of Panavise 35 years ago that is bad, or is the new stuff really not up to the quality of those times past?
I remember back 35 years ago the Panavise circuit board holders we had where I worked. My memories of them were, that they were very well designed and precision made. A pleasure to work with. It was on that memory that I went ahead recently an bought a 315 head and 305 base for PCB build and rework.
I have to tell you I am very disappointed. The forks of the 315 head fit vey loosely on the bar so that the clamping screws cause the forks to be misaligned when tightened. The bar does not fit snugly into the stem and twists enough to loosen the undersized screw holding it to the stem. The fork tightening screws have rough, unfinished ends that bear directly on the bar causing it to get burr marks on it. The 'ball' in the base has casting flashing still on it and seems unfinished and hence it's operation is very rough. And the stem of the head does not fit snugly in the base socket, even when tightened so that it can move unexpectedly when the slight force of a soldering iron is placed on supported PCB. They are just the major things.
All in all, the quality seems very poor for an US made product and for the price. I am not impressed.
I have a question for all the old-timers. Is it just my memory of Panavise 35 years ago that is bad, or is the new stuff really not up to the quality of those times past?