Bill Huber
09-11-2014, 5:56 PM
I have and inexpensive (cheap) pattern vise on my bench and the bench is just a work bench, not a real nice woodworking bench. I use the vise for everything, and lots of things that I shouldn’t, like holding rod to cut it off and things like that. After a while the pine faces I have on it get kind of beat up, little slip with a chisel here, a little glue there, some finish and just generally a mess.
The faces are held on with 4 screws, 2 in the front and 2 in the back, the fronts are easy to get to but the backs are a real pain. To get to the back 2 screws I have to unbolt the vise from the bench, this is a pain. Then after I put the new face on I have to reinstall it, holding it up with one hand while trying to get the nuts on with the other....
So today I came up with a little different way of doing it. I cut the faces (2 sets) and then with a picture hanging / keyhole bit in the router table I made 2 slots in each face. I replaced the 4 screws with T bolts and nylon lock nuts. I tighten the lock nuts up just to the point that I can slide the face on and off with a little bit of pressure. I did have to drill 2 holes in the face of the bench for the nuts on the back.
That’s it, now when the faces get bad again I can just pull them off and put a new set in in about 2 min.
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The faces are held on with 4 screws, 2 in the front and 2 in the back, the fronts are easy to get to but the backs are a real pain. To get to the back 2 screws I have to unbolt the vise from the bench, this is a pain. Then after I put the new face on I have to reinstall it, holding it up with one hand while trying to get the nuts on with the other....
So today I came up with a little different way of doing it. I cut the faces (2 sets) and then with a picture hanging / keyhole bit in the router table I made 2 slots in each face. I replaced the 4 screws with T bolts and nylon lock nuts. I tighten the lock nuts up just to the point that I can slide the face on and off with a little bit of pressure. I did have to drill 2 holes in the face of the bench for the nuts on the back.
That’s it, now when the faces get bad again I can just pull them off and put a new set in in about 2 min.
296501 296502 296503