PANAVISE Model 201 "Junior" Miniature Vise,Silver / Black

I got this and a pair of the Model 301 vises to facilitate working on a model ship I'm starting on. I read the few negative reviews at Amazon on both models but went ahead with the purchase because I prefer to buy American on those extremely rare instances where it's possible. Bam! Score! Both models are exquisitely well made and functional. They do exactly what I need for them to do and I couldn't be happier. Excellent quality. One "feature" I needed was the option to mount these to a board I could move around my worktable. Most other options were the kind that c-clamped to a tabletop. Those would not work for me. That narrowed down the field as well. I need to clamp both ends of the keel of my 48" model ship to a fixture that will allow me to move the ship around while I work on various parts of the ship. That's what the model 301's will be used for - attached to either ends of a 1" thick MDF base. This 201 will be used to hold individual smaller parts while I'm working on them - masts, spars and the like. I'll mount this to a small board as well to provide a more solid base for the delicate work or shaping, polishing, painting, rigging etc. on small parts. Expensive compared to the off-shore models offered in great numbers at this site? Yes, they are. Worth every penny? Indeed!

For years I have seen the PanaVise Model 301 vise in stores and never purchased one. I never liked the design of the 301 head for what I need a small vise for. Then I discovered that Amazon carried all the PanaVise models and accessories. I liked the look and design of the Model 201 PV Jr. At first I was skeptical about the plastic jaws thinking they would be cheap even though the specs said thermal plastic. And the rest of the black parts on the head assembly would be plastic also. Well the only plastic parts on this vise are the jaws and adjustment knob, and they appear to be of the same high quality thermal plastic nylon. It has a very fine thread to open and close the jaws (which is what I wanted). It just takes a while to go from full open to full close. Don't worry PanaVise makes a speed control handle (Model 239 and on Amazon for less than $3.50) that will speed this up using all your fingers like on a door knob or just a single index finger in the hole and spin. It's made of the same high quality thermal plastic and snaps on firmly with no tools. For the model railroader (like myself), PCB builder and other delicate craft and hobby users you will love this vise. I do. If you want to add an additional base to this vise then I would suggest the PanaVise Model 308 cast iron base (also on Amazon). It weighs in at 5 lbs and makes this vise rock solid. For delicate work get the Model 204 neoprene jaw pads. You will not be dissapointed with this vise.

When I started my latest project I found that I needed something solid to hold the components while I do my soldering. After looking at a few options I chose the PanaVise because the base was metal and the vise looked flexible enough to hold the multiple positions required while soldering boards. The vice is a perfect size for my workbench and holds things solid even when not mounted to the table. The grip has a couple nice notches that work great for holding PCB boards. The nut to tighten things is solid and doesn't require much force to cinch up and hold things steady. The vice also has a nice range of movement and works well for soldering small components.

As long as I limit use of this vise to the intended purpose and recognize the limitations...this is a handy little vise. However, as you know, does not replace the need for a 6" cast-iron vise on the garage workbench. Also, go ahead and purchase the #239 'speed control handle' with the #201 Junior for another $3.49. I don't understand why its not already included by PanaVise? So I really give this little vise 5 for functionality/concept and manufacturing quality. But material quality (more so material selection) is 3-4 at best. Time, and limit the abuse, will tell the durability story. One feature, included intentional/unintentional in the design, is the end-of-travel stop on the lead-screw comes off if the vise jaws are opened beyond the maximum 2.875-inch. Not sure if this was intended to prevent user from stripping lead-screw threads in the opening direction...#10-24 lead-screw and spindle-nut are a ferrous metal. Vice jaw is a nylon material and the base is cast aluminum... Modification; I had some (roughly) 2-inch diameter round-base magnets (RB50CX6) on hand so I decided to attach them to the #201 Junior vise. The magnets had ~13/64-inch (5mm) hole in the middle that I enlarged to 1/4-inch to match the the vise base mounting holes. I added some 2-inch wide Gorilla Clear Repair Tape to the bottom of the magnets to protect surface from damage during attachment/removal of the magnetic base... Mod allows me to attach the vice to a QuadHands base-plate for stability and increase usefulness of the both the PanaVise #201 Junior and the QuadHands Deluxe workbench. In addition, the weight and surface area of the magnets attached to the base also improved vice stability when just setting on the workbench. Overall I recommend this little vice for hobbies / electronics and other lite-duty projects.

Functional for holding PCBs while working on them, in addition to “helping hands”, for which it is not a replacement but rather a complementing tool. I was a bit disappointed with the plastic jaws at first, but they seem sturdy enough (at least they are non-conducting). The best feature – sits stably on the table and doesn’t go anywhere once placed. Holes for permanent installation are present, but if your electronics lab needs to go into storage after use (temporary setup on the kitchen table, for example), the stability without any fastening gives this vice a whole new dimension. Would buy again, would recommend.

Versatile use in part a kit

I screw it on a heavier base. Works great!

Great product

Product is "tuff", study and great for the price