Shop made Vise designs

[Matt Evans]

I would be interested in seeing traditional bench mounted vise pictures, designs and such. Old, new, theoretical, etc. Looking for Tail, Wagon, Shoulder, leg, and face vises.

[Jerome Hanby]

I would love to see a better breakdown/tutorial on building the Nyquist tail vise...

[Andrae Covington]

I would be interested in seeing traditional bench mounted vise pictures, designs and such. Old, new, theoretical, etc. Looking for Tail, Wagon, Shoulder, leg, and face vises.

Ok, you asked for it.:)

I built two leg vises for my roubo ala schwarz bench, one through the left front leg, one as a sliding vise. They were mostly shop-made, I bought the screws from BigWoodVise.

I will talk about the sliding vise, as it involves more bells and whistles.

What I will call the "base", for lack of a better term, is built up from three pieces of 2x6 (I used old-growth douglas-fir construction lumber for the bench). The front two pieces are glued together, while the third piece is attached with bolts and nuts for assembly / disassembly. The third piece fits up into a channel in the underside of the workbench top, which I cut out before glue-up. On the bottom, the base slides on a long strip of white oak that is a truncated triangle in section. The base has a corresponding notch cut out.

199577199578

The screws are 2" diameter. I had some concerns about friction with the screws turning in a 2" diameter tunnel through the leg / sliding vise base. So I decided to drill the holes at 2-1/8". I then worried that with the nut on the back, the screw would be cantilevering quite a ways, with a heavy white oak chop. So I designed a "bushing" out of 1/4" red oak to sit flush with the face of the leg / sliding base. The inner diameter of the bushing is 2", the outer is 3-1/2". These decisions overcomplicated the build, which is one of my specialties.:rolleyes:

199579

The chop is white oak, 8" wide by 1-5/8" thick. I decided that I wanted to flush-mount the garter for the vise screw, and I decided that the outside of the garter had to be a circle as well, similar to the bushing, but 5" diameter. I ended up using 1/4" poplar because I blazed through all the 1/4" red oak I had with numerous trials and errors. Again, I really overcomplicated this process. The garter could be square on the outside, and surface-mounted. One other note: the recess for the garter on this vise screw is 3/8" wide, but the garter is only 1/4". This provides some slop, which I thought might be necessary in combination with the parallel guide... e.g. there is a little bit of inherent vertical racking in the vise when I tighten it down on a workpiece. More on that later.

199580

The parallel guide is also white oak, about 1" thick and almost as long as the screw. (Maximum opening between the chop and the front of the bench is about 9".) The parallel guide has 3/8" holes drilled in an offset pattern. It is attached to the chop with a mortise and tenon. I ended up with such a snug fit on the m&t that I didn't even glue the parallel guide in place. Normal operation of the vise merely pushes the tenon into the mortise in the chop. The pass-through mortise in the sliding vise base (or the leg) is larger all around than the parallel guide. When tightening the vise, the chop tilts inward along an imaginary pivot point at the garter / screw, so the parallel guide tilts upwards in the mortise... difficult to explain in words, but as I said earlier, vertical racking. It is effectively zero when the thickness of the workpiece matches a hole position in the parallel guide, and only slight when the workpiece is something inbetween. Is it bad that the vise firmly grips the workpiece at the top of the chop but there might be a slight gap further down? I don't know, it seems to work fine in my experience.

199583

Despite my penchant for elaboration, I did not add any wheels or rollers or other gadgetry in an attempt to support the weight of the chop on the parallel guide rather than the screw, and provide smooth gliding without any racking. So I can't spin the tommybar and watch the chop push out from the workbench. Nonetheless, I don't have any difficulty moving the chop in and out, and with two threads per inch, it moves fast enough for me.

I glued a piece of ~1/8" leather to the upper part of the chop, with the suede side out towards the workpiece. I did not put any leather on the face of the workbench top. The leather seems to provide some extra grip.

199584

I use both vises, but I seem to use the sliding vise more than the fixed one on the left leg. I think I just prefer working in the middle of the bench. I use the two vises in tandem when planing the edges of long boards, or to hold a wide panel for dovetailing, etc.

199586

[Matt Evans]

Jerome, I pull up software when I look up Nyquist. . .Any link to what you mean?

Andrae, I like that sliding vise much better than the deadman. Gives me an idea. . .

as far as buying vs. making screws. . .If everyone made their own screws we would have a lot less furniture to look at. Screw making is expensive in setup time and, depending on how you do it, materials.

I don't mind metal screw vises too. . .just looking for the different mechanisms folks have come up with to make vises for their individual needs or bench setups.

[Chris Griggs]

I'm a big fan of my slanted leg vise. Huge capacity and very little (but still some) racking. Here's a picture from the thread where I posted my bench.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?161979-My-New-English-Workbench-The-Official-Tour&highlight=

199690 (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?161979-My-New-English-Workbench-The-Official-Tour&highlight=)

I have been really happy with it so far - however, if money were no object I would use a wooden screw from http://www.lakeerietoolworks.com/ just because they have a bigger thread and thus move faster - if space AND money were no object (my bench is only 60 inches long) I would make a big honking 24 inch capacity twin screw out of these or the LN twin screw hardware.

[Jerome Hanby]

Page 132 on this link (http://books.google.com/books?id=BNGE4D70TyYC&pg=PA133&lpg=PA133&dq=nyquist+tail+vise&source=bl&ots=HWdHxCCMp9&sig=gdqomW5DqJuHL14fGljGBCE2VD0&hl=en&ei=pjIKToakLtOCtgfI3Jld&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CDcQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=nyquist%20tail%20vise&f=false)

It's built as an armature (Nyquist's description) that allows the vise to be used as tail vise mode or face vise mode without causing problems.


Jerome, I pull up software when I look up Nyquist. . .Any link to what you mean?

Andrae, I like that sliding vise much better than the deadman. Gives me an idea. . .

as far as buying vs. making screws. . .If everyone made their own screws we would have a lot less furniture to look at. Screw making is expensive in setup time and, depending on how you do it, materials.

I don't mind metal screw vises too. . .just looking for the different mechanisms folks have come up with to make vises for their individual needs or bench setups.

[Matt Evans]

Jerome. . .Nyquists looks like a pretty standard, albeit well built, tail vise. possibly an extra guide or two. . . .haven't built one of those yet though.

[Andrae Covington]

I'm a big fan of my slanted leg vise. Huge capacity...

The slant definitely seems like an advantage when clamping pieces that will not fit above the screw. Even though I have two leg vises and can clamp either side of a piece, I sometimes wish I had made the chops wider so that one vise would suffice in more situations.


...Andrae, I like that sliding vise much better than the deadman. Gives me an idea. . .

A deadman would be simpler to build, and arguably less obtrusive. Though so far I haven't really felt that the sliding vise gets in the way of other operations... or at least I can slide it to a position that is out of the action zone. I think only once have I completely unscrewed the screw and temporarily removed the chop / screw / parallel guide. I don't mind trading that rare inconvenience for the widely variable clamping capability.

I will have to say, having recently sawed a lot of dovetails for a tool chest I am building, that bending over the vises on my handplaning-height workbench was not kind to my back. I think I will have to build one of those twin-screw moxon gizmos that sits on top of the bench. This would partially negate the usefulness of the sliding leg vise.

[Derek Cohen]

I will have to say, having recently sawed a lot of dovetails for a tool chest I am building, that bending over the vises on my handplaning-height workbench was not kind to my back. I think I will have to build one of those twin-screw moxon gizmos that sits on top of the bench.

I cannot heap enough praise on the Moxon vise. It makes dovetailing easier, both in sawing and in marking. Every bench should have one!

Mine is a variation of the design that Christopher Schwarz published. I think that my modifications make it significantly better.

The article is here: http://www.inthewoodshop.com/ShopMadeTools/MoxonDovetailVise.html

http://www.inthewoodshop.com/ShopMadeTools/MoxonDovetailVise_html_57a8f820.jpg

And there is more ... :)

Regards from Perth

Derek

[phil harold]

I have not made mine yet but I got one of these adjutable scaffold screws ~30" long for less than 20 bucks
the al-p pictured here
http://www.ableexport.com/ADJLegs.htm

[Floyd Mah]

I have a slanted leg vise like Chris' above. Actually it's the same design from the Schwarz book. I made a small modification what is applicable to any leg vise. The width of the jaw opening is adjusted with a pin in the parallel guide at the bottom of the vise. Sometimes you may wish to clamp a piece that is intermediate in thickness (relative to the pin diameter and the hole spacing) and you might want to fine-tune the adjustable jaw so that the faces remain parallel. One of the ways to make the adjustment is to use a shim between the pin and the leg, effectively offsetting the pin position. I incorporated this concept by slipping a shim onto the parallel guide, about 1/4" thick. By including this shim between the pin and the leg, I can move the leg outward by 1/4" at the bottom. If I don't include the shim, the vise/pin functions normally. Anyway, it's always there when I need it. Another option, which I haven't needed, is to place multiple thinner shims for an even finer adjustment.

[robert dankert]

Hi, Derek
Like your design, how are the rear jaw and base attached?
thanks, Bob

[Derek Cohen]

Hi Bob

The rear board is glued and screwed to the front board. The front is then fared into the rear.

http://www.inthewoodshop.com/ShopMadeTools/MoxonDovetailVise_html_39ffc103.jpg

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Sean Hughto]

FWIW, if we are showing off our Moxon's:
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5069/5608136319_ca9b88c9ac_z.jpg
Beall threads and spin bars. Woo Hoo!

[Matt Evans]

A few decent ideas here.
Sean, I like your Moxon style vise. . .hmm

No way to embed a 1.4 MB PDF here, so linking to my google documents page for a PDF of the wagon vise I am currently building.

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0BwjCmd8dJxdtZWQ1NGVhMmYtYjUyZS00ZjE2LWJiZDU tNTRhMmJlZDk1N2Yx&hl=en_US

[Fitzhugh Freeman]

Old thread here, but Phil, I'd like to hear if how those scaffold screws worked out for you?
Thanks!

[Mike Holbrook]

This thread got me all fired up about a Moxon type vise. I am a little concerned about the wooden screws in my underground, concrete wall basement though. Benchcrafted had apparently been making some top notch hardware for tail & leg vises and came up with metal threaded stationary screws, especially for a Moxon vise, with a fast adjusting wheel that looks interesting. Not sure I should post a direct link but it is easy to find.

I am thinking about using the Benchcrafted hardware in a Derek Cohen inspired vise design. What do you guys think about woods to use? I see Benchcraft uses leather in the jaws of their "finished" model where Derek determined that his wooden jaws did not need the leather. Of course Derek used wood that I'm pretty sure I will never even see.

[Jim Matthews]

After reading the inestimable Mr. Cohen's posts and website, I soldiered onto the battlefield myself, bearing the Moxxon banner.
As a Swamp Yankee in training, I attempted to make mine with locally available materials - and used pipe clamps instead of threaded actuators.

There is no lining, to the jaws as yet.

The important consideration was using the same board for the front and rear "jaws" so that regardless of humidity, the vise closes without gaps.
My variant has significant play in both lateral and vertical planes. This allows for clamping irregular shapes; I need not have a board SFS before cutting.

Two things to consider if you try pipeclamps instead of the screws;
You'll need some method to cut two parallel holes, spaced far apart, through a pair of thick boards.
The pipeclamps should be cleaned of oil and dust but NOT polished as friction holds the works together - clamping pressure is undoubtedly lower than either wooden or metal screws.

2111760

[Derek Cohen]

Derek determined that his wooden jaws did not need the leather

By-the-by, my vice is lined. The jaws do not need lining for grip, but I added a face of chamois leather to avoid scratches. This is quite cheap - just a cloth from an automotive store, and contact glued on. I've used it this way for some months and it is holding up very well.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Mike Holbrook]

Wow those are some nice pipe clamps. I don't think I have seen them with the threaded tightening mechanism before. I can see how the "play" in the jaws might have some advantages when one needs to clamp objects with irrregular shapes, like the plane wedges I am working on at the moment. I have been looking for a clamping solution for such objects.

The Benchcrafted hardware is designed to work in yet another way, different than a standard vise:

" Instead of the handwheels rotating the screws and being restricted by the weight of the movable jaw, we’ve fixed the screws to the vise itself (they don’t move) and tapped the handwheels, allowing them to move in and out on the rigid screws. The mass of the wheels and the polished acme threads allows the hand wheels to spin freely and do the work of drawing the jaws together effortlessly. Setting one wheel for the workpiece thickness, the opposite wheel is massive enough to literally push the jaw to the workpiece and hold it there solidly with only a quick spin of the wheel. In most cases, that's all that’s necessary to hold the work."

So it looks like the special features here are speed of operation and a secure purchase, an apparent attempt to create something along the lines of a quick release metal vise. Of course any feature may be a benefit for one user and a problem for another.

Just wondering what users of these vices might think about the Benchcrafted acme screw & cast iron hand wheel hardware in this application? Benchcrafted also mentions that this vice could be added to the end of a workbench, a possibility in my case since I have a bench that I am thinking about redoing. I suppose the disadvantage of building this vice into the end of a bench is the height gain may be lost in some situations.

[Paul Chiasson]

I wish I took pictures, but here's how I made my wagon vise with a veneer press screw:
1) build bench top with tenon for breadboard end
2) cut notch (about 10" deep by 2" wide) in from end
3) rout grooves in sides of notch sized to fit 3/8" metal channel stock and press-fit channels
4) cut approx 4" long block to fit snugly into notch.
5) drill a pair of 3/8" holes crossways through block for steel rods (at same height as grooves and near ends of block)
6) drill a pair of 3/4" dog holes down through block (space holes as far apart as you can, but position them to miss the crossways holes)
7) fit rods for length, press through block, and slide the block into the track
8) dry-fit breadboard end and drill hole for press screw.
9) put everything together. Pin the breadboard end really well so the screw won't push it off