anyone build their own vice using threaded rod?

[Mike Gager]

borg sells large diameter 3/4" ? threaded rod. i was thinking it might be easy to build a vice using it and some nuts but was wondering if anyone had done it already. would be a lot cheaper then buying one

[Greg Cole]

Mike,
For very light duty stuff it might be ok. But if you look at vice rods thread, you'll find the thread to be much like an "acme" thread. There's much more material in that style of thread to take a good amount of force, as any threaded fastener is nothing more than a spring really.
With standard threaded rod, there's not much material ("v" cut thread) in the "spring" to allow the rod to stretch, hold and return to its original state.
You can buy acme style threaded rod & nuts as easily off the net as run to the borg... a little extra work required to make the 2 a vice though.

$0.02

Greg

[Matt Meiser]

You might take a look at Lee Valley, who has these (http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=2&cat=1,41659,41662,41664&p=41664) bench screws for $39.00. I'm expecting a pair to be delivered today.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

I believe that Portland Bolt sells 1" threaded rod stock and the nuts to go with it.

They have an interesting article about the difference between rolled and cut threads. According to them Rolled is cheaper and you get less material as the actual thread. They claim it's OM and meets Engineering specs because the stronger parts of the thread are closer to the minimum diameter (in the root) so the missing points along the major diameter are pretty much window dressing.

I take some exception to this but the data is there to back the claim up.

And the hell of it is that companies who use rolled threads in their machinery include Advertising material that claims that rolled is somehow better, more precise, etc.
It's not. Precision threads are ground - period.

If you can get buttress threads on the rod and nut you will have the best thread geometry for a vice. Buttress threads engage flat surfaces that are perpendicular to the axis of the threaded shaft. They are strongest in one direction and pretty much like all other threads in the other.

Acme is a compromise and is easier to form. It's a perfectly good thread for highly stressed applications though.

[Joe D'Attilio]

Actually. Rob Rozaieski and I are currently working on wooden vises; right down to the screws; We work together usually once a month in his shop, as he shows me the ropes and gives me a good push "down the slope"

I picked up 1 1/2" dowels and a thread kit from Woodcraft, 2 weeks ago we cut the screws and fitted the heads with pegs. We are going to be making twin screws - I'd have to check with Rob as to what he has planned for the length of the jaws.

They look great and the "test nuts" worked like a dream

Here are some pics of the screws in the background :

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2234/2413528494_3ee7f9836b.jpg?v=0

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3126/2400943680_3e2d81e2d0.jpg?v=0

[Greg Cole]

You might take a look at Lee Valley, who has these (http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=2&cat=1,41659,41662,41664&p=41664) bench screws for $39.00. I'm expecting a pair to be delivered today.
Diving in to the build a twin screw eh? Cool deal, I'm looking forward to the progress pics & info.

Mike,
Sorry for the side track.
The LV offering Matt references is most likely what you're after for a decent price.
Greg

[Robert Rozaieski]

I'd have to check with Rob as to what he has planned for the length of the jaws.

Jaws will be about 27" long with about 18-19" between screws but this is simply based on getting the most material possible for 2 vises out of a single 10' 8/4 board. The beauty of the wooden twin screw vise is that you can really make the jaws however long you want if you have the material. I thought about putting 24-25" between screws, which would allow wide pieces like case sides to be clamped between the screws, but my bench is only 7' long (and Joe, I believe you said yours was only going to be 6') so I did not want to take up too much real estate along the front edge. However, another upside of the wooden screw vise is that you can easily remove it just by unscrewing it from the bench so really the length can be as long as you want.

[Kurt Loup]

Mike,

I made a tail vise with screws and nuts from Home Depot on the bench I built for my son. I also built a twin screw wood face vise using threaded acme rod and nuts purchased from Enco. I'd go the acme threaded rod route. The threads are coarser taking less turns to open and close the vise.

Kurt

http://www.loup-garou.net/sitebuilder/images/tailvisehardware-495x335.jpg

http://www.loup-garou.net/sitebuilder/images/Paulbench-493x331.jpg

Vise Construction Photos (http://www.loup-garou.net/apprenticebench.html)

[Gary McKown]

My "auxilliary" vise on the front of the bench consists of threaded rod inserted through holes in the outer vise jaw and screwing into T-nuts embedded behind glued dowels in the bench front edge. Yeah, it doesn't have machine-vise strength but it will clamp just about anything tight enough for hand work.

Use of very large eye bolts instead of threaded rod provides ready-made handles.

[Rick Malloy]

Thanks Matt, never been to this site before. Now I got a front end vise on it's way.

[Matt Meiser]

Kurt, your son has a nicer bench than I do!

[Kurt Loup]

Matt,

Thanks. It's overkill, but it is made out of oak that I got out of a dumpster so it didn't cost me anything except a couple weekends of time.

Kurt

[Jim King]

Yes and the castings also.
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?p=803284#post803284

[Ted Jay]

Here is an old one I picked up on the Bay about a year ago for when I build a bench. I wouldn't mind building one just like it though.
Ted

[David Bodkin]

I did. Its made from scraps I had at the time. I mainly built it to see if I could make it work and it works well.

I'll try to describe it from front to back..

There is a square nut that is recessed inside the back of the walnut handle that you can barely see in the second picture. The nut on the front of the walnut handle is tightened down and holds the handle to the all thread rod.

Next, there is a washer between the recessed nut and the oak front face of the vice to keep from rubbing a hole in the oak.

The inside of the oak face has a hole drilled in it larger than the rod about 1/4" deep. At this location I drilled hole through the all thread rod to put a pin in. This pin keeps the front face of the vise with the handle when you open the vise. The two 1" oak dowels go half way through the oak face...aka through the larger of the oak pieces and butts up against the smaller oak piece.

A 4x4 piece of pine actually mounts the vice to the underside of the bench using a bunch of wood screws. It has holes to clear the all thread rod and the two 1" oak dowels.

On the back of the 4x4 pine there is a piece of Oak with a square nut recessed in it as seen in the third picture.

All in all I'm very happy with it for the money I've invested. I wished I'd have made the front face flush with the top of my bench...and that may get fixed one day.

It generates enough clamping force to hold boards for jointing their edges.