Another Panavise user (
376,
315, and
303 heads with a
300 base). Used a steel plate for the base mount.
You can also DIY some helping hands that actually work from segmented CNC coolant hose, such as
Loc-Line (inexpensive stuff from China is stiffer than expected, so will work). Jeton is another name brand (COO = Taiwan), but the pricing is about the same as Loc-Line brand. Any of it will work though.
Take a look
here for some links to examples (photo of the Desk Squid).
Base mounted tweezers can be useful as well, such as tinning wire or used to DIY your own custom helping hands as well (alligator clips, tweezers, hemostats, ...). You can also get the parts separately, or just buy an entire helping hand with double jointed pivot assemblies (disassemble for parts, as it's less expensive if you mean to make more than one).
Flexible metal tubing used for camera mounts could be useful too (threads = 1/4"- 10, length = 1/4").
FWIW, the following type of Dial Gauge Holder could be handy as a tool or probe holder as well.
Based on what I've seen for eBay pricing, the DIY ideas above are reasonable on your wallet too.