Benchcrafted Criss-Cross: Type choice & Installation Questions

[Curt Putnam]

Inasmuch as Benchcrafted provides no readily apparent means of asking questions not covered in the FAQs, I'm asking for help here, Fundamentally, I am trying to choose between the two types of Criss-Cross. Thank you in advance for any help you can provide.

1. - The retro uses machine screws tapped into wood. BC assumes hard maple but my leg is poplar and the chop will be a glue-lam of soft maple with edge grain aimed at the bench. I'm thinking that poplar is too soft for the machine screw approach. Would the same size in a wood screw work or should I just got a through bolt for the leg? I'm assuming soft maple is iffy - but is a wood screw adequate since a through bolt does not work in a chop?
   
2. - The solo might be easier since I need only drill two perfectly aligned 4" holes. This idea also raises questions. Is my Ridgid drill press likely to be capable of the required precision even if I can lay out that precisely. Will poplar be strong enough to restrain the bearing pins? I assume soft maple will.
   
3. - Does anyone make a drill bit that will go straight for 8" in an inexpensive wood drill press?

FWIW - I'll be using a Lake Erie Wood Screw if that matters.


Thanks again, Curt

[John Keeton]

It sounds like your leg isn’t installed in the bench and if that is the case I would do the solo crisscross. I think it is a stronger application and you don’t have to do the extra mortise for the bracket. On drilling the holes, I used a forstner bit to drill as far as I could and then used a long shank 3/8” electrician bit to drill on thru using the hole as a guide. Feed the longer bit in the hole and then chuck it in the drill press if you have a floor model. If not, then you can probably get sufficient alignment drilling on thru with a corded hand drill using the first hole as a guide. I would try that before I would attempt two opposing holes.

I think poplar is sufficiently strong enough so long as you have the 2 1/2” thickness.

[ken hatch]

Inasmuch as Benchcrafted provides no readily apparent means of asking questions not covered in the FAQs, I'm asking for help here, Fundamentally, I am trying to choose between the two types of Criss-Cross. Thank you in advance for any help you can provide.

1. - The retro uses machine screws tapped into wood. BC assumes hard maple but my leg is poplar and the chop will be a glue-lam of soft maple with edge grain aimed at the bench. I'm thinking that poplar is too soft for the machine screw approach. Would the same size in a wood screw work or should I just got a through bolt for the leg? I'm assuming soft maple is iffy - but is a wood screw adequate since a through bolt does not work in a chop?
2. - The solo might be easier since I need only drill two perfectly aligned 4" holes. This idea also raises questions. Is my Ridgid drill press likely to be capable of the required precision even if I can lay out that precisely. Will poplar be strong enough to restrain the bearing pins? I assume soft maple will.
3. - Does anyone make a drill bit that will go straight for 8" in an inexpensive wood drill press?

FWIW - I'll be using a Lake Erie Wood Screw if that matters.


Thanks again, Curt

Curt,

You didn't post if this is new construction or a retrofit. If new go with the "Solo" crisscross. The two 3/8" holes are easy to drill on almost any drill press. If a retrofit then of course use the retro, I wouldn't worry about the screws holding. With a good fit of the support brackets in the mortise there will be almost no stress on the screws. All the crisscross is doing is supporting the weight of the chop and keeping it aligned.

BTW, if you worry about alignment drill from both sides to meet in the middle or use the Retro and make a good mortise.

Good luck with your build, I'm interested in how the BC crisscross works with the wood screw. With the BC screw it is slicker than snot.

ken

[John Keeton]

Ken, I think the crisscross does take some pressure when the vise closes. The toe in gap closes and that means the lower pivots are pressing on the bearing plates and correspondingly, the top pivots are being pushed together and that would put some pressure on the cross pins or retro bracket. I don’t know that it is a lot of force, but I think that is why BC doesn’t want the bottom of the mortise on a glue line, but wants it in solid wood.

[Curt Putnam]

Thanks guys! Yes, this is a new build. I began acquiring the parts in 2012 but health issues delayed me a little (8 years). I had originally planned to go with Jim Ritter;s Chain Leg Vise but that requires floor level installation that I am no longer capable of doing. If the wood screw is still straight, I'll use it, otherwise I'll dither over Benchcrafted vs. Lake Erie vs. Hovarter leg vises. Already have the HNTGordon end vise. It will be a 7' split top, 38" high with a 1' overhang on the left and 2' on the right - leaving 4' in the center.

I think it will be a split top. The undercarriage is being built that way. The front ~4" will be hard maple and the remainder soft maple. Primary reason for the split top is that is all I can handle (with my wife's help)