Thread: Installing a HNT Gordon face vise -- or some such

Originally Posted by ian

A few of us gathered at Brett's (FrenceFurniture) place for lunch today.
Unknown to us who trekked to Katoomba for the company (and Brett's boiled eggs) Brett had an ulterior motive behind inviting us. Everyone has to sing for lunch or go without (...or bring their own).

A new, HNT Gordon face vise (with a wheel handle) in need of installation.

a very simple operation -- once we had

lifted the 50 kg slab FF was working on off the bench A wild exaggeration. It's 40 kgs, tops.

shown FF how to disconnect the full extension slide on the top drawer on his bench so that he could get at the bolts holding the bench to it's base. (much simpler than partially dismantling the drawer !) Just checking yer work.

grunted and groaned to turn Brett's ironbark monster over Yes, thankfully pre-eggs, judging by my aftermath.

but the trickiest bit was finding a drill the correct size to drill the pilot holes for the mounting screws.
(Now arranging drill bits by size I get, but arranging metric and imperial bits in one line by their diameter in MM I just don't get.) There's, ahhhh, no answer to that.....

Anyways the vise was easily mounted -- even if we did use roofing screws rather than coach screws -- and FF later reported happy times using it.

I know, I know No photos means it didn't happen, but I'll leave those to FF to post.

Well the pics will come, and very soon at that. I have to say that this vise, with a hand wheel, and I suppose 2-3 days muscle memory, will be the lizard's gizzards!

Always gotta have a project for the day when the chaps show up. I mean, when you have 2 competent forearms per person in the yard, with 5-30 persons at any given opportunity....you'd have to be nuts to, errrr, not provide some entertainment.

I looked at the drill bits, wondered for a short time and didn't bite, drill sizes quoted down to 2 decimal points defies explanation. It was awesome lunch, great company as ever and the vise fitting went well. I did spill some beer into Fletty's soup but he reckoned that just made it better.

Originally Posted by Chris Parks

I did spill some beer into Fletty's soup but he reckoned that just made it better.

Well, from where I sat, it was more a shove with that left elbow, than a (gentle) spill. However, I did note that you were aiming for the beer to land on the floor, and it only ended up in the soup because the flett-meister has the reflexes of a Jaguar when it comes to spilt alcohol of any kind, and so any receptacle for saving the overflow will do. He had a pie-eatin' grin as it ran into the bowl too....
I swear his mo even changed colour slightly too....

Originally Posted by Chris Parks

I looked at the drill bits, wondered for a short time and didn't bite, drill sizes quoted down to 2 decimal points defies explanation.

Oh man, 3rd time today...Why are people so unkind? We have a choice: Imperials in one line, metrics in another. Two types of bits. Four lines. Four bit holders. You want the size in between this one and that one. (in a quick voice now...) Looking looking looking, up and down, up and down, up and down....what was the middle bit again?

Or,

Put 'em all in one line, stupid bloody Imperials with two decimal places, and a stupid bloody Imperial measurement with a green Dymo label AND a white metric two decimal places label.

What could be simpler?

"Mate, have you got a bit that is around 0.18mm bigger than this 9mm which is JUST too small?"
"Well, it's so funny you should mention that. Open your eyes, and it's the bit immediately to the right....yeah that's it....the one that says 9.18mm"

What could possibly go wrong?

Yez are just jealous that yer not OCD.

Originally Posted by FenceFurniture

Well, from where I sat, it was more a shove with that left elbow, than a (gentle) spill. However, I did note that you were aiming for the beer to land on the floor, and it only ended up in the soup because the flett-meister has the reflexes of a Jaguar when it comes to spilt alcohol of any kind, and so any receptacle for saving the overflow will do. He had a pie-eatin' grin as it ran into the bowl too....
I swear his mo even changed colour slightly too....


Oh man, 3rd time today...Why are people so unkind? We have a choice: Imperials in one line, metrics in another. Two types of bits. Four lines. Four bit holders. You want the size in between this one and that one. (in a quick voice now...) Looking looking looking, up and down, up and down, up and down....what was the middle bit again?

Or,

Put 'em all in one line, stupid bloody Imperials with two decimal places, and a stupid bloody Imperial measurement with a green Dymo label AND a white metric two decimal places label.

What could be simpler?

"Mate, have you got a bit that is around 0.18mm bigger than this 9mm which is JUST too small?"
"Well, it's so funny you should mention that. Open your eyes, and it's the bit immediately to the right....yeah that's it....the one that says 9.18mm"

What could possibly go wrong?

Yez are just jealous that yer not OCD.

Excellent return serve!

Here we go.

HNT FACE VISE 1.jpg


HNT FACE VISE 2.jpg


Very quickly getting used to the amount of spin required. I'll be up Sarah Huckabee's level pretty damned soon. Spicer level may take a little longer.

I just LOVE the way it closes and stops. I noticed that when I first started operating one of Terry's vises - it rotates until it doesn't.

I tell you what, that HNT Gordon vise is amazing. I was rather impressed by the ease of operation and the holding power. When Tony wants his bench back and I have to make my own, I’ll definitely be considering one.

All in all, it was a good day with excellent company as always. The humble boiled egg with the pesto was definitely a highlight, I must get some more next time I’m up there.

Ian, something we didn't consider AT ALL, was how close the right bottom corner of the vise was to the top drawer opening......we just placed it in an arbitrary position to leave width for a timber face to be added later.

As pure blind luck would have it, it clears the draw by about 8mm......

Originally Posted by groeneaj

I was rather impressed by the ease of operation and the holding power.

Yeah, and that's without a suede face glued on.

Meant to offer up pesto to whoever wanted some, but like Holly, I'm easily distracted.....

Originally Posted by FenceFurniture

Oh man, 3rd time today...Why are people so unkind? We have a choice: Imperials in one line, metrics in another. Two types of bits. Four lines. Four bit holders. You want the size in between this one and that one. (in a quick voice now...) Looking looking looking, up and down, up and down, up and down....what was the middle bit again?

Or,

Put 'em all in one line, stupid bloody Imperials with two decimal places, and a stupid bloody Imperial measurement with a green Dymo label AND a white metric two decimal places label.

What could be simpler?

"Mate, have you got a bit that is around 0.18mm bigger than this 9mm which is JUST too small?"
"Well, it's so funny you should mention that. Open your eyes, and it's the bit immediately to the right....yeah that's it....the one that says 9.18mm"

What could possibly go wrong?

Originally Posted by Chris Parks

Excellent return serve!

9 mm or 9.13 mm (23/64) or 9.5 mm are all essentially the same size. either the fitting passes through or it doesn't

The exact size of a drill bit really only matters when you are going to tap the hole made by the particular drill bit -- AND then the exact size does matter.
woe betide he (or she) who taps what is claimed to be an M6 x 1 thread in hole made with a 5.16 mm drill.

Mixing metric and imperial drill bits by size does serve to keep them all in the one place. I am left wondering why the imperial bits are all labelled in mm.

mick

Originally Posted by FenceFurniture

Ian, something we didn't consider AT ALL, was how close the right bottom corner of the vise was to the top drawer opening......we just placed it in an arbitrary position to leave width for a timber face to be added later.

As pure blind luck would have it, it clears the draw by about 8mm......

pure blind luck ?? arbitrary position ??

nah, I'm calling it my well developed eye for detail and balanced dimensions plus my incredible ability to persuade others



(just don't try bolting the top back on it's base.)

Crikey, what a bloody great palava about some poor useless bastard's drill bit labelling

Maybe this will answer the run of questions and we can return to discussing an excellent face vise.
Here are the brad points with the Imperials labelled in Imperial and Metric. Works for me.

IMG_5689.jpg


Here are the twist bits, but only the first few are labelled in Imperial where appropriate. Either I ran out of green Dymo tape, and couldn't give a crap,
or
I realised that I never really work in Imperial anyway, and couldn't give a crap.
Either way I won't be finishing labelling the Imperials anytime soon, coz I still don't give a crap.

IMG_5692.jpg


And yes, the Forstners are all labelled and stored like the Brad points, but with the inclusion of a silica gel sachet to stop the tool steel from rusting.

Nice looking vise there Brett. I’ll be posting pics of mine installed through the apron of my workbench shortly. I like the handwheel!

Originally Posted by FenceFurniture

Crikey, what a bloody great palava about some poor useless bastard's drill bit labelling

I would describe your standard of soup and pesto making (and boiled egg peeling) as being well beyond that of a "poor useless bastard"


Thursday was the most tasty tomato soup I've had in a long time. I might even invite myself back for more