Help with Moxon vise

[Brian Sommers]

I think I need to drill my holes a little larger in the front so that the board can slide on the screw. The problem I'm having now is it's a little too tight and the board doesn't slide out. What else could I or should I do or am I on the right track?
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[Chuck Saunders]

You're on the right path Brian, the holes need to have some clearance to move easily.
Chuck

[Brian Sommers]

Good to know. As a total noob it's good to know that where I'm going is the correct direction.

Those holes were 11/16". I'll try a 3/4" forstner bit. I can always bump it to a 13/16 if I need to.

[Andrew Pitonyak]

Looks Nice.... Let us know how it works out... Where did you get the hardware?

[David Eisenhauer]

When I built my Moxon, I used 3/4" Acme thread and had to drill out the holes in my chops with a drill bit sized either 1/64" or 1/32" larger than 3/4" to get it to move. The 3/4" hole I originally tried was too tight, but it works perfectly now. As an added bonus, the moving chop tends to stay out at the front end of the Acme thread (my Moxon sends the excess thread out the back of the back chop) and does not usually have to be manually pulled out to create an opening for use after being fully closed.

[Augusto Orosco]

I have the Benchrafted Moxon vise, which I built using their hardware and their plans. In the instructions, the holes for the movable face are elongated horizontally, but not vertically. This is important, because it allows for play (even to clamp some irregular boards, for instance), without loosing the proper vertical alignment along the edges of the vise faces. You could download their plans from their website; they explain that better than I do. As a result, my vise is very easy to use. Another good tip is that they make the movable chop a little wider than the fixed one. When you assemble them flush along the top, you then have a lip on the bottom that makes it very easy to set the vise on your workbench. Simply push it until the lip contacts the edge of the bench and you are ready and aligned.

[Javed Akhtar]

I elongated mine horizontally as well. The vertical dimension is exactly equal to the pipe diameter (mine is made with pipe clamps on 1/2" pipe - Jay Bates made something similar in one of his videos). It's very easy to use and the horizontal clearance in the holes allows the vise jaw to rack as needed.

[Brian Sommers]

I drilled it out to 3/4" and now it works well. I'm a little beat out that I didn't use a bigger cleat to clamp on but for now all is well. I'll see how it works when I start sawing wood in it.

forgot to say , the hardware came from Rockler, the press screw http://www.rockler.com/9-press-screw

[Kevin Hampshire]

Brian, +1 on opening up the holes horizontally. I'm not sure how well a Moxon would work if the front jaw didn't skew.

I've kept the vertical dimension tight so the top of the jaws register and the front jaw doesn't droop.