Damion78 Posted February 11, 2015 Share Posted February 11, 2015 So I haven't had any luck finding a post vise and I've broken one of my bench vises so I'm building my own here it is so far. It weighs around 120lbs, stands 38 inches high, and has 5" jaws. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles R. Stevens Posted February 11, 2015 Share Posted February 11, 2015 That just might work ;-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swedefiddle Posted February 11, 2015 Share Posted February 11, 2015 The plus side of making your own, you will know how to fix it, to improve on it. Most people are afraid of crossing that bridge. All Blacksmith Tools were originally built by a Blacksmith. Where there is a need, there is an answer. :) :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted February 11, 2015 Share Posted February 11, 2015 Naw some hammers were made from stone... Good job on that vise. Keep you eye open for a faster pitched screw and I think it would work better; but no hurry that'll do! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Damion78 Posted February 11, 2015 Author Share Posted February 11, 2015 Thank you, it was a what do I have project so I went with the dumbbell screw, I believe it is 3tpi seems to work ok but I have plans on looking for a better one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
njanvilman Posted February 11, 2015 Share Posted February 11, 2015 Nice job on your handmade vise. If you know anyone going to Quad States in Ohio, maybe they could pick you up a vise someday. The last two years seem to be the years of the Vises. Many many to choose from, most pretty reasonable. I tried to sell a complete, heavy 6" two years ago for $100. No takers. So I took it home and traded it to a friend of mine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickOHH Posted February 11, 2015 Share Posted February 11, 2015 Nice vice! great ingenuity, i dont see many problems with as long as the welds are solid, maybe looking for a better screw, but your already on that idea. but well done, hope it works out well for you until you can upgrade, but it certainly get you going, im on the hunt for one once i have some cash in hand, hopefully before i break my bench vise!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chinobi Posted February 11, 2015 Share Posted February 11, 2015 looks nice and chunky and well built :) might want to look for a handle with a cross arm though, so you don't have to twist your wrist like you are working a pepper grinder to operate it, and you will get better torque to hold tighter. speaking of holding tighter, in the last pic it looks like the jaws meet up parallel and flat to each other when 100% closed, is that the case or a trick of the light? bench vises are built that way because the jaws are always parallel and open in a flat plane, post vise jaws open on an arc so when they are open enough to hold onto a piece of stock your jaw faces will now always be angled very slightly apart. seems most post vises are built so the jaw faces are parallel when it is open enough to hold a given popular size of stock (1/2" to an inch or so, but varies widely), and when closed they meet at the top but have a gap at the bottom. of course this is just my understanding of the beast from talking to and reading posts from those wiser than myself, so YMMV :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles R. Stevens Posted February 11, 2015 Share Posted February 11, 2015 Radiusing one jaw works well to (on the order of 12" like a hammer face) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Damion78 Posted February 11, 2015 Author Share Posted February 11, 2015 Putting a handle on is definitely on my list of things to do, it twists freely but that would wear a guy out and it would be hard to get it real tight. The jaws do come together flush. I haven't done anything to the face yet because I wanted to see how things would work, I'll look into dressing them. If I understand correctly the idea would be to have them squared at around half an inch or inch for a common stock size and a radius to give more contact to variable sizes? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted February 11, 2015 Share Posted February 11, 2015 perhaps a nice metal wheel instead of a handle, handles often lead to over tightening. (I've been looking at the screw based mechanisms used on irrigation ditches around here and going Hmmmmm must keep an eye open for them at the scrapyard---though the metal wheels seem to be snatched up immediately.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Damion78 Posted February 11, 2015 Author Share Posted February 11, 2015 A wheel would be nice. I have a small one on my band saw vice and I like it better than the other one I have with a handle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles R. Stevens Posted February 11, 2015 Share Posted February 11, 2015 The idea behind radiusing them is to reduce the contact area and not present any sharp areas to mar the work. But an aggressive radius will present such a small contact area as to act as a set of fullering dies in a press. As your jaws come to gether flush closed, radius from the top edge "back" tord the bottom, as apposed to from the middle "back" tord the top and bottom. As you close on progressively larger stock the contact point will be farther down in the jaws. You don't want the lower edge biting into the work. Vice tooling will be made to fit your vice. (Soft jaws, headers etc.) By leaving the stationary jaw flat (just break the edges) the stock will remain vertical il the vice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted February 11, 2015 Share Posted February 11, 2015 Nice job! My contributions critique wise being the jaws closing flush when empty mean the bottom corners are going to contact work first leaving marks. Radiusing the bottom corners will help relieve that little thing. The other off the top of my noggin thing is the hinge pin might want to be heavier but it's not so clear to my old fart eye so that's a bit of a stretch of a suggestion. Thomas: the hammer stone was just a stone till a smith turned it into a hammer, hmmmmm? I'll bet he made his own anvil too. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Damion78 Posted February 12, 2015 Author Share Posted February 12, 2015 Thanks a ton for all the pointers. The hinge pin is a half inch and It will be replaced with an appropriate bolt, I just didn't have one on hand when I was working things out . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Damion78 Posted February 26, 2015 Author Share Posted February 26, 2015 And it's done Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Cochran Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 (edited) Looks real good makes me jealous. What kind of screw is that? I thought about throwing one of these together using a screw from a screw jack. Edited February 26, 2015 by M Cochran Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles R. Stevens Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 Looks like you will be retiring the rail for an anvil as well Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Olson Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 Awesome vice! Wouldn't it be nice to have 2 forklift tines. The pivot could be right at the bottom (near the floor) and you could get more gripping power and the top would have that nice bend on each half and that thing would be strong! I found some on craigslist Minnesota but he wants $200 for a pair :-( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Damion78 Posted February 26, 2015 Author Share Posted February 26, 2015 Thank you.The screw is from an old carpenters vice I believe, I looked at some screw jacks also and they would have worked well I think but I picked this one up for a few bucks so I went with it instead. I had thought of using two forks at first and grabbed them because my idea was to build one like a wooden carpenters vice but went with this because I wanted to save the material for another project. I've found I really only use the rail anvil for light small work and I think I will still be able to utilize it in some aspects. All in all I am really happy with how it turned out. I may still need to do some dressing on the face but that can be done if and when I find a need to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max76 Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 Great job, I wish I could make one of these. How much do you think the whole project cost you? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Damion78 Posted February 27, 2015 Author Share Posted February 27, 2015 Thank you, I think it probably came to around $ 70. The steel I had picked up just to have the forks for whatever but paid around 30 for what I used, paid a few bucks for the screw, spent 30 or so on the hole saws I used to cut the holes. Then factor in the welding rods I had and the flap disc I used. Cutting the holes was the hardest part, I used a hole saw and a drill so if you can find a better way that would help. I also used files to elongate the hole on the moving jaw. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max76 Posted March 2, 2015 Share Posted March 2, 2015 $70 is not bad at all! Yeah I can imagine that would have taken a bit of time to get correct but it seems like it worked pretty well and maybe some people can use the same technique. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aessinus Posted August 28, 2016 Share Posted August 28, 2016 Really nice design! Gotta talk to our forklift rep about a couple of used tines. Rail plate for cheeks _ check Acme 1.5" - 5tpi screws/nuts _ check nice big base plate just begging for attention _ check Thanks for posting! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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