Making a leg vice

[Staffan Hamala]

I'm planning to replace the front vice on my bench with a leg vice. Still in the planning stages, so I haven't ordered the vice screw yet. Until now, I've been planning on ordering the Veritas tail vice screw for this.

One thing I've been thinking about is how to make the vice chop, and specifically how near the floor the bottom end should be. I saw a video where the bottom end of the vice chop was literally on the floor, where it had to be lifted to make it move when turning the vice screw.

My plan was to have it end a little bit over the floor, but now I'm suspecting that would make the screw bind because of the downward force.

Browsing youtube for leg vice designs, I happened to find this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWe32IDX-Ec

It's the Benchcrafted gliding leg vice. It looks really remarkable. I've never seen that one before. Or never noticed the little detail that makes it so great.

The little wheel under the parallel guide is a brilliant idea. I might do something similar, but with the Veritas vice screw. It should turn rather effortlessly if I make a similar design.

I must say, however, that the benchcrafted leg vice is tempting, even though it would cost 10 times as much.

[Staffan Hamala]

Someone else has had the same idea. :-)

I found this:
http://oudluthier.blogspot.com/2008/...e-rollers.html
http://oudluthier.blogspot.com/2008/...akthrough.html

[Michael Peet]

Hi Staffan,

The more distance there is between the parallel guide and the screw, the more force you will be able to apply at the top of the vise.

I have the BC leg vise, but it is not fully installed yet. It does open and close nice and easy. Plenty of folks have made their own version of this vise. Note that there is a also a roller on the back of the leg above the parallel guide.

Mike

[Tim Sproul]

The bottom of the chop needs to accommodate the parallel guide. The parallel guide can be quite high or it it can be very low. So, the chop can go down to the floor or it can be quite short of the floor.

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

Someone else has had the same idea. :-)

I found this:
http://oudluthier.blogspot.com/2008/...e-rollers.html
http://oudluthier.blogspot.com/2008/...akthrough.html

Well, I don't know if it's someone "else" - that's still Jameel from Benchcrafted, I believe. But that's cool, I never saw his early stages of the BC design. I've been thinking the same thing - as much as I'd love to buy the BC vise, that you could construct your own roller assembly fairly easily. Of course, the other half of what makes the Benchcrafted vise so cool is the wheel-style crank handle, that in combination with the roller assembly lets it earn it's "glide" name. That part I wouldn't know the best way to tackle.

[Erik France]

One drawback of having the chop really close to the floor is that most small things dropped, like screws, will bounce or roll right under it Mine sits a little over an inch off the floor. The floor mat makes the clearance big enough for little things to get under, but troublesome to get out.

I think a gravity well has formed under mine, little stuff always ends up there.

[Staffan Hamala]

Never noticed that!

I'm thinking of using roller blade wheels instead of those. I don't have a lathe, and I think a rollerblade wheel or two would work just as well. Maybe not as good looking though. But nobody's going to see them anyway.

[Mike Siemsen]

Google St. Peters cross and see how they used to do it.
Mike

[Andrae Covington]

The more distance there is between the parallel guide and the screw, the more force you will be able to apply at the top of the vise.

The bottom of the parallel guide on my fixed leg vise is about an inch above the bottom of the leg. The guide on my sliding leg vise is several inches higher. Though the longer fulcrum probably does provide more force, I can generate more than I need on the sliding vise. Moving the parallel guide up higher means stooping less to change the stop, so that's one thing to consider.

Jameel's original vises using screws from BigWoodVise were my inspiration for the vises I built (using the same wooden screws). However... (a big however), I did not do the roller guides. I'm sure that would make the vises move in and out more smoothly, but mine work ok without that feature. Most of the time I'm only moving the vise an inch or so back and forth, which is two rotations of the tommybar.

workbench1.jpgworkbench2.jpg

One drawback of having the chop really close to the floor is that most small things dropped, like screws, will bounce or roll right under it Mine sits a little over an inch off the floor. The floor mat makes the clearance big enough for little things to get under, but troublesome to get out.

I think a gravity well has formed under mine, little stuff always ends up there.

Yeah, I have a hard time getting the broom under my vise chop as well. If I were to build the bench again, I'd raise the bottom of the leg vise up a little.

[Joe A Faulkner]

Andrea, great looking bench. I've yet to build a real bench, but hope to start soon. Your top caught my eye. What are the dimensions, and how did you laminate it? I note you do not have any dog holes or hold fast holes. Are these to be done later or something not needed in your craft?

[Tom Vanzant]

Ah, Professor Edsel Murphy's infamous law of selective gravitation is alive and well.

[Andrae Covington]

Andrea, great looking bench. I've yet to build a real bench, but hope to start soon. Your top caught my eye. What are the dimensions, and how did you laminate it? I note you do not have any dog holes or hold fast holes. Are these to be done later or something not needed in your craft?

My top is a little less than 8 feet by 2 feet, about 3" thick. I glued the top in sections of four boards, which is about all I can move around on my own. I experimented with different methods for holding the sections together, ultimately ending up with using long lag screws, plus sliding dovetails underneath. There's more detail in one of my posts in the epic Show us your Bench thread. I designed the bench to break down for moving. In retrospect, I think I overdid it. I should have just glued the whole top together.

I have added holes for holdfasts later, one or two at a time as needed. I don't have a tail vise so not much need for a row of dog holes. However I currently have three holes near the front edge, in the second board of the top, so if I ever do put a tail vise on, I could continue that pattern.