Rusty Eads
10-03-2010, 11:46 PM
So I made one. I couldn't afford spending a hundred or more on a quality bench vise and I couldn't break down and buy a small cheap one.
I had recently turned in the motor of my old 9" craftsman radial arm saw for the recall and now had the stand and other pieces laying around. I got to looking at the height adjusting knob and began to wonder :rolleyes:. I had some 3/4" conduit laying around and some 8/4 oak and started to tinker. The results are in the pictures.
It definitely is not to the quality of a $150 vise, but it does what it is suppose to do, hold a board so I don't have to. It slides reasonably well and while it does have some flex, not as bad as I thought it might considering the guides are just conduit. I might replace the conduit with some black iron pipe or something a bit more rigid, maybe. It is 15" wide with a opening of 6 1/2". Since the pitch of the acme thread is not very steep, it does take a few cranks to open it all the way, if only I could design a quick release for it :confused:. All in all I am pretty pleased with how it turned out. It just so happens I have another RAS carcass and might build another one.
Total cost: $4.89 for a 15/16" spade bit since I didn't have one already. Actually I guess it cost me -$95.11 considering I got $100 from the recall :D
I had recently turned in the motor of my old 9" craftsman radial arm saw for the recall and now had the stand and other pieces laying around. I got to looking at the height adjusting knob and began to wonder :rolleyes:. I had some 3/4" conduit laying around and some 8/4 oak and started to tinker. The results are in the pictures.
It definitely is not to the quality of a $150 vise, but it does what it is suppose to do, hold a board so I don't have to. It slides reasonably well and while it does have some flex, not as bad as I thought it might considering the guides are just conduit. I might replace the conduit with some black iron pipe or something a bit more rigid, maybe. It is 15" wide with a opening of 6 1/2". Since the pitch of the acme thread is not very steep, it does take a few cranks to open it all the way, if only I could design a quick release for it :confused:. All in all I am pretty pleased with how it turned out. It just so happens I have another RAS carcass and might build another one.
Total cost: $4.89 for a 15/16" spade bit since I didn't have one already. Actually I guess it cost me -$95.11 considering I got $100 from the recall :D