Lake Erie and Anchora (AYS) leg vise retrofit.

[Christopher Charles]

Scott,

Very glad to see the vise worked out well. That's quite a beast! I too have had little trouble with seasonal changes--I have to adjust the chain tension about one and a half turns of the stop nut every six months to keep it working butter smooth, but is remains perfectly functional if I do nothing. Hope you enjoy the next project! And this might be sacrilege, but one of my favorite applications of my chain drive vise is this

IMG_6561.jpg




Best,
Chris

[Scott Winners]

one of my favorite applications of my chain drive vise is

I have a blue million pictures in my phone the last few months, and I can't pick "one." Everything I have thrown at it, this Lake Erie 2x/ AYS combo has handled.

I was impressed by the 8x8 scrap pictured earlier. I wouldn't chop a mortise on that in this vise, but for layout and sawing tenons or shoulders, no problem.

I was impressed when I was making a wrench for my milspec fuel cans, a different thread here: https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread....ape&highlight= for the fuel tank lid wrench I closed a 3/4 sheet of plywood (by the edges) in the vise after drilling and got the whole interior shape out with a jigasaw, not having to repostition in the vise.

I have had ax/adze length oval handles in there with a deck of cards, no problem.

Nominal square/ rectangular stock up to 8x8 inches is bliss. If I had one I would toss a 12x12 inch scrap in there just to see, but I am confident the vise could handle it. It was total close to US$600 plus a week of agravating free time, but it should last my life time and it just doesn't rack. No wracking as it tightens down on anyting I have thrown at it. Yes it waddles on its way home, but once it starts closing up it finishes closing up square and stays square (or conformed) as it gets torqued in.

Open invite to any registered user here, if you are coming to Fairbanks and want to try my lifetime vise just drop me a line. My call schedule is already locked to January 2022, so I do need at least three months notice to guarantee you more than 10 minutes in my shop playing with the vise, otherwise my phones are likely to interupt. I would buy again, but for the money I am more likely to move this vise forward to my next bigger bench and put something smaller on this bench when I upgrade.

Six months in the Lake Erie 2x and the AYS chain system are both keepers. I am not likely to chop on it. When I get around to say shaping a chair seat with an adze, not a chore for workholding with a vise, I got holdfasts for that. I don't even chop mortises for rinkly dink tables in a vise. If I am going to use a mortise chisel I got hold fasts and a benchtop for that,