New Bench Top

[Kevin Herman]

Re-mounted the twin screw vise today, with the new chop. The screw-to-screw distance is 24", so the chop is pretty massive, about 36". It takes up roughly 1/2 of the front of the bench, which is maybe problematic. I'm not sure yet.

I had forgotten how painful installing the chain cover for this thing is. Does anyone have any tricks to share? Or, maybe even better, an alternative?

I'm planning to work with it for a little while and see how I like it, but there's a chance I'll go back to the Eclipse face vise, which would take up a lot less room.

[Kevin Herman]

Here are some pictures of the nearly finished bench. You can see there is a gap between the two sections of the top. I'm trying to close it, but no luck so far. I've tried planing down the high points of that section, but now I have gaps in the opposite area. I tried using a lag bolt below to pull the two together, but no luck. Two strategies I still have in mind before giving up and gluing:
1. Drill holes in the back side and use 3-4 lag screws to pull it together.
2. Use end caps on both sides with lag screws to hold the sides together.

Any votes one way or the other?

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[Jim Koepke]

An outside of the box solution might be to plow a groove for the full length and drop in a fitted lamination.

jtk

[ken hatch]

Kevin,

I can think of three fixes in addition to just starting all over. Do what Jim suggests, open the grove and fill with a lamination. Fill the grove with fast set epoxy(you can even make it chic by mixing the epoxy with colored powder). The third would be to split the slabs so the grove is wide enough to hold chisels and saws and maybe even a planing stop.

My pick would be to leave it alone and use the bench to build a new bench. You would be surprised how useful, once a new and improved bench is built, the old bench can be for your wife to use in the back garden.

Just one more question, do you love the twin screw vise?

ken

[Marinus Loewensteijn]

I would be incined to turn the gap into a 2-1/2" ~ 3" tool tray with a thick piece of ply screwed underneath to keep the two pieces more or less aligned. Handy for holding small stuff e.g. a chisel, pencils, a ruler.

[Kevin Herman]

I'm not sure I need to start over! I'm actually pretty happy with how it's going. It's just a tiny gap and I'm confident I can (at least mostly) close it. I'm not a big believer in a bench needing to be flat/perfect to NASA tolerances. I could definitely work on this bench as is, but I'd to close this gap, mainly because it's annoying to look at. I like the idea of using the split-top lamination to close the gap. I'll see how that goes.

I don't love the twin screw vise. I think it's a little over complicated and I don't think it's lack of racking provides that much of an advantage over a regular Record-style face vise. My Eclipse rarely racked and other conveniences it provided (quick release) more than made up for it.

So, why did I use the twin screw again? I had it as an end vise previously and it was underutilized, largely because of flaws in my previous bench (plywood top mated with mahogany end cap/end vise rear jaw). I want to see how it functions as a face vise. Based on limited use so far, I can see that it holds long pieces against the front of the bench top with supreme stability.

I'm planning to install the Veritas inset vise as a wagon vise. I realize it's going to get a little crowded up top, but I look at this all as an experiment. Once I get a last few things fixed up, I want to get back to making furniture and I can revisit the bench down the road.

Hopefully, in 2-3 years we will move to a house with a spot for a dedicated workshop. There's only so much I can do in my little outdoor nook. Especially now that we are entering Ho'oilo, the wet season.

[Kevin Herman]

I took some of the above advice and today made an inset for the gap in the style of the gap stop from Benchcrafted's split top Roubo plans. I routed out two 12" long recesses in a 2x4, about 1/4" deep and then glued a 1x4 over it. To preserve room at the back for a tool tray, which I still want, I removed about 2" from the back laminate, keeping the full depth at about 18".

I'm going to glue some wedges to the underside of the gap stop just offset from where it rests on the stretchers. Then, sliding it in either direction will raise it slightly so that it can be used as a planing stop. The wedges don't need to be too high, maybe 1/2". I like the fact that I can pull the middle section out for clamping too.

Revisiting the twin screw vise... I think that thing's days are numbered. I find it largely more aggravating than it's worth. My trusty Eclipse is staring up at me longingly from the ground. If anyone really loves the Veritas twin screw, I'd love to hear what I'm missing. Thanks again, everyone.

[Kevin Herman]

Not sure if anyone is still following this, but I enjoy talking to myself anyway. I switched out the twin screw for the Eclipse today. Much happier already. Having the bench top being so much smaller now, the Veritas was taking up way too much room. I have the face vise to the far left and I'll put the inset vise on the far right, and it will leave me plenty of room in the middle for working. I had to remake my gap stop after switching the vises, because one of my tool slots was directly over the vise screw. Also putting my planing stop in just to the right of the vise. I think most benches install them to the left of the vise, but I don't have room on this bench. On my old bench it was to the left of the vise, but I always felt like the vise was in the way when I was planing. The only downside I can see is that you can't plane a board that is quite as long, but I almost never plane something over 4'.

[ken hatch]

Not sure if anyone is still following this, but I enjoy talking to myself anyway. I switched out the twin screw for the Eclipse today. Much happier already. Having the bench top being so much smaller now, the Veritas was taking up way too much room. I have the face vise to the far left and I'll put the inset vise on the far right, and it will leave me plenty of room in the middle for working. I had to remake my gap stop after switching the vises, because one of my tool slots was directly over the vise screw. Also putting my planing stop in just to the right of the vise. I think most benches install them to the left of the vise, but I don't have room on this bench. On my old bench it was to the left of the vise, but I always felt like the vise was in the way when I was planing. The only downside I can see is that you can't plane a board that is quite as long, but I almost never plane something over 4'.

Kevin,

Good move with changing out the twin screw. Having it in the face vise position left you no room to work.

ken

[Kevin Herman]

Kind of neglected this thread, but here are some pictures of the finished bench, in use.

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[Frederick Skelly]

Looks very functional!