QR Vices & Jaws...

[Greg Cole]

So... I have a pile of stuff accumulated for building a bench. Been a long time coming and I am finally UP TO HERE with the existing plywood behemoth. I'll save most of the detail for the bench thread to come. Mine won't be as stunning as the ones seen by Wallis and Dave... but will have a twist featuring some of my hybrid skills.:rolleyes:
Anyway, I am curious to the widest jaw that one should attach to a large quick release style vice? Specifically referring to the large Lee Valley one seen here (http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=2&p=54873&cat=1,41659,41661&ap=1).
I was dead set on having a twin screw vice (still am "one of these years") but with the wife finally leaning on me to replace carpet and some of the living room furniture in the last 10 days some of the luxury stuff has been shoved off the list.
Figured I'd have better replies here in the cave on a bench question.. but to the mod's....feel free to move as needed.

Thanks in advance.
Greg

[Mike K Wenzloff]

Ha. I have a long list of "vices" I suspect!

Now, as regards the width of faces on a vise, once past about 3" to 4", there will be more racking, even with the offset screw. I have not used the LV vise, though.

However, attach a face to the vise as long as you want. It isn't like you cannot put a different one on or shorten the one you do put on--or even replace with a longer one.

As a method of work, when I have a wide board held vertically in my face vise, I use a holdfast to secure the far side of the board. As well, if there is unacceptable racking, you can use a "shim" of scrap on the far side of the vise to equalize the pressure to prevent racking. I have a couple aids that have multiple 1/8" and a couple 1/16" shims with a dowel through one end. This makes quick work of obtaining equal thickness for the one side of the vise (rather than finding a piece of scrap the right thickness).

Plus, the dowel is long enough that it spans the distance from the benchtop to the top of the vise. This makes swaping out same-thickness boards (like when doing sets of drawer or carcass sides) without the aid dropping when the vise is loosened to change out pieces.

Take care, Mike

[Greg Cole]

Mike,
I didn't think the first reply would pick up on the "other vices", I too have a few.;)
Ya know how many cuss words have been ripped off after having shims find the floor over n over? The little things like the dowel shim make life so much easier.... they also tend to make ya feel a bit slow.:rolleyes:
The center to center on the guide rods is 7"... so maybe a 15" is a good start I can get at least a 12" space tween the dogs in the top face. I know changing it out won't be a big deal.. but the temporary things tend to become quite permanent or go on the "round-tu-it" list... so I'd just as soon not have to "deal" with any major racking etc from the on set. My current bench has been dealt with for too long and my work methods-habits are changing b/c the bench as my skills progress this is an issue.
Thanks Mike.

[Jeff Craven]

I have the Lie-Nielsen quick release (http://www.lie-nielsen.com/catalog.php?sku=quick), which is practically the same casting as the Lee Valley one. The instructions that came with it recommended a jaw that was 22" wide. During construction, that seemed kind of silly, so I ended up with a jaw that is about 17" wide. I think that gave me about 5" from the guide rod to the right side of the jaw. I'll have to check those dimensions when I get home.

Here is a bad picture of my bench, without the jaw installed, but you can see the backing plate and the holes for the vise.
http://img241.imageshack.us/img241/6774/0910082023fm0.jpg

[Greg Cole]

Jeff,
Thanks for the info. I was wanting to go wide as possible to emulate the twin screw.
The LV vices come with instructions to use but nothing in regards to installation etc. For those who don't know the righty tighty, that's handy. They also reccomend not putting your hands in the vice when closing....:eek:.
BTW, nice bench you've got going there... that one still in the works?

G

[Alan DuBoff]

I have the large LV quick release vise, and IMO it is not a substitute for the twin-screw, which I have on another bench.

I have a wooden chop on it, and it racks like crazy, so you will need to use a spacer in one side, but it's an annoyance to me. A quick release is not a twin-screw. I'll attach a pic, so you can see the size of the chop.

[John Schreiber]

Has anyone tried the shim that screws in and out. I've heard that it works well on the Diefenbach benches. Here's a picture of Mark Singer's bench which I pulled from another thread.
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=56383&d=1170124029

[Greg Cole]

Alan,
I'm pretty well aware the QR is not a twin screw. As mentioned initially, this is a stop gap measure til the wallet refills some. I can always find a use for the QR vice when the time to upgrade rolls around. Thanks for the pic though. Every little bit of info helps.

John,
I'd looked at the Diefenbach benches awhile ago and talked to Gabi ohhh about 2 years ago, just could never bring myself to spending the $ on one. I didn't know about that threaded shim on their benches. Thanks for the info on the threaded shim, it's the first I've seen heard of it. Clever indeed, looks to be pretty simple to retrofit if needed.

[Alan DuBoff]

Greg,

As long as you understand what it is, no harm in having a stop gap measure til the wallet refills some...but in all honesty, you could buy two screws cheaper than the QR vise, from LV for $32/each.

Ironically, those don't substitute for a QR vise, same puzzle on the opposite side of the board.

I feel the chop I used is marginally functional on the vise. It might also be the reason I went through a QR nut already as well, which Rob Lee replaced for me free of charge. Welcome to the world of making decisions, good luck with your choice.

Speaking for myself, that bench was only a stop gap until I was able to build a real workbench. I use the bench mostly for metalworking and it now hosts a South Bend lathe on it. I still do use the vise from time to time, mainly because it's the only wood vise I have in the garage.

[Greg Cole]

Hi Alan,
I have full access to a mill n lathe here at the day job along with a ton of misc metal fabrication stuff. I'm no bonafied machinist, but I can use the tools pretty well...... BTW the hybrid part of the bench I eluded to is going to be the base. I am going to make a steel base for my bench... and make it out of stainless steel 4x4 tubing and 2x2 tubing. Should be one off or one of a kind.
I've never had my hands on a twin screw, but looking at them online & others benches... me thinks I could most likely make one. But 'tis another project for a project.:rolleyes: I've set my pea brain on getting this bench done ASAP. Seriously I've been driving myself wonky without one for too long and not having one is a roadblock per say. So, that said I opted for ordering a bench kit to help speed up the process. It won't be a temporary bench but some of the fixtures will be. Ultimately, I will make a more "traditional" bench but that will be a good while. I broke down and bought a 72" x 30" x 2 1/4" hard maple top ( I know I know I know... but I only have so many hobby hours in a day-week-month even "worse" I have some 12/4 stock I was going to use to make a top with), have all the hardware ie vices, dogs, holdfasts here piled up. The skirting and chop material is milled and ready to go as well.
So if the day job isn't jumpin' today, I'll get some time for gov't work... and much of tomorrow will be spend with a tig torch in hand burning metal.:D

Cheers.

[Alan DuBoff]

Greg,

Now that is just way cool! I like the concept, and the fact that your doing all the welding and such, that is pretty cool...:cool:

I just forge welded a billet of 1080 with N20 nickel last night, and it was a lot of work to get the pieces together before I draw it out and start folding it. That, along with a few small forge welds is the extent of my welding knowledge...but a friend continues to prod me to get a welding setup with gas or electric.

I think turning the screws for a twin-screw is very doable. More doable for me, than welding up a base like your talking about. :o

I was forging with coal last night, one of the worst fuels on earth for our health, so I'm convinced...but it sure burns nice...I had one heck of a heat going to weld that steel/nickel together. Another couple hundred hours and I'll have my billet done...:rolleyes:

[Greg Cole]

Alan,
I opted for a steel base for a few reasons...
#1 being the stainless is free. :D
#2 time. I can cut to length, machine true and weld a base in the time it'd take to simply dimension wood parts.
#3 strength. I guarantee if you rack the base, you did it with a freight train.
#4 just 'cause.
Pics et al of the hybvrid bench to come soon!

Greg

[Jeff Craven]

I took another picture of my vise. It's location determined where I put the last two dog holes.

http://img381.imageshack.us/img381/4064/workbenchfrontvisebo3.jpg