ELMERS Xacto X-Tra Hands with Magnifier (X75170)

In the past when I was preparing to solder some wires or other metals, I used to spend a ridiculous amount of time trying to carefully arrange the objects to be soldered -- propping them up and precariously balancing them together -- only to have them wiggle apart right at the crucial moment of applying flux and solder.This hands-free tool from X-Acto is a huge help. While it's moveable arms can be a bit difficult to get to the exact position you want, once in position they hold your project nicely in place. The holding clips are pretty strong, so take into account the delicacy of the item(s) to be clipped. You can always add a bit of electrical tape to the clips or coat them with latex/rubber to lessen their grip if necessary.The 2X magnifier arm is a nice addition and sufficient for many jobs; although I have a much larger floor-mounted magnifier for more intricate work.The base isn't very wide and seemed likely to tip easily. However, it's well weighted, so holds its position fairly well.Soldering now takes me a fraction of the usual time that I used to spend.I think it will also come in handy the next time I'm trying to do one of those tricky delicate gluing projects. You know, the ones where you have to hold two tiny pieces together until they set or dry? And about the time you decide that they're adhered enough to lay them down, they fall apart? X-Acto X-tra Hands to the rescue... Just clip the two sections, add adhesive, and push solidly together. Should work, right?

Bought this over other product because its made from x-acto, a brand name I know and trust. I saw picture of the product online (not at Amazon) and it clearly had X-ACTO etched into the black base so I figured it was either manufactured by x-acto or custom made for x-acto by another company. Mine didn't have X-Acto on the product itself (just on the packaging). Which leaves me to suspect the most of the helping hands on Amazon that look exactly the same, are mostly made by the same manufacturer and you might as well go for the ones that care closer to 9 dollars (but I can't be sure of this). But I guess you get warranty support from X-acto on this one.. if you consider that a plus. The product itself seems to work fine. The product was manufactured by HUNT in Taiwan.

The base of this product is nice and heavy and the arms stay put when you move them. One nice feature is the alligator clips can be replaced with just about anything that can be cut to fit the clamp hole (including other clips when they eventually wear out). The only downside for me is that my project is a bit bigger (doing wireframes for an art piece) so the cross bar is a bit short for that. Also I wish the bottom had a clamp so I could clamp it to the edge of the desk so it could hold more weight without tipping over. Right now I would guess it can hold about 2 lb (unsupported) with the arms outstretched. On the bright side, it wasn't too hard to fashion my own clamp since the bottom is flat.

OK, look. This is an (relatively) inexpensive bench tool, so as long as it's not a complete piece of garbage, I can see why lots of people are giving it five stars, but honestly, I don't think an average performance warrants it. The tool is pretty solid, but the machining of mating surfaces in all the joints is careless at best. The parts are obviously stamped out in mass quantity and otherwise not cleaned up or finished much, so there are a lot of rough, even sharp, edges, and these just interfere with any smooth operation of the joints. The knobs are so carelessly stamped that most of them are off center. It arrives completely unlubricated, so between that and the surface quality, loosening knobs and moving joints is a two-handed job that often leaves you wanting a clip a little to the left or a little to the right but not staying where you really want it.Again, having said all of that, all is has to do is hold something while I solder it, and it does that. Three stars because "it's just OK."

The positive reviews of Xacto X75170 surprise me. While it is a rather simple and inexpensive product, Xacto really pushed the envelope on low cost, low quality manufacturing. In fact, on closer inspection, the acto X75170 X-tra Hands resembles extremely cheap hardware that began flooding into the US from China in the early 80s. The casting of the base is so irregular that it wobbles when placed on a flat surface. One simple way to address this deficiency is to place four small rubber feet on the base. Yet, Xacto's quality control department should have prevented such a poor casting from leaving the factory.Another gripe about the Xacto X75170 is that the metal hardware is of low quality. For example, the shafts of the alligator clips are made from stamped, thin-walled metal that is likely to collapse over time from set screw compression. At the same time, all of the set screws have the feeling of being cheap and mechanically imprecise.Despite quality concerns, this product more or less serves its purpose. The cast base has mass that, with my aftermarket rubber feet, provides stability. For some of my projects, I could have benefited from longer appendages but this is a matter of personal preference. Most users will be able to use the Xacto Xtra Hands as-is. Personally, I would have preferred to pay a few additional dollars for improved quality.ConsQuality control problems with malformed cast metal baseThin, cheap metal hardware (screws, alligator clips)ProsBasically does that task at handVersatile