Thread: Tail Vice

There are other bench designes which use a tail vice screw, or a shoulder vice screw (which is slightly cheaper and works the "opposite" way. They don't rack because they are narrow and confined between the outer and inner faces of the bench. Typically they have some sort of guide like a groove cut into the fixed faces and matching tongues on the sliding block. Some of my favourite bench designes are from woodsmith magazine. There are half a dozen over the years and they seem to cover every situation.

Screw clamps can be had off ebay or lee valley or any of the other usual sources by mail order if you prefer to go that way. I would find that solution frustrating as it's a very slow way to clamp up.

You could I suppose mount one of these vertically:

Carba-Tec® Small Front Vise : CARBA-TEC

but it is a mess solution also. Lee valley have some rather expensive options. They have their adherants but the twin screw vice for example is basically 2 of the carbatec ones you link to plus a chain between them. Seems awfully dear to me for what it is...

Veritas® Twin-Screw Vise - Lee Valley Tools

likewise they have:

Tail Vise - Lee Valley Tools

which addresses your concerns but with shipping will still be expensive.

Veritas® Surface Vise - Lee Valley Tools

Might be just what your looking for. Limited for higher workpieces but only requires dog holes, no sliding components no complex bench top design. Also can be positioned anywhere on the bench as required....uses round dog holes though...

Finally:

Veritas® Inset Vise - Lee Valley Tools

but if you really want to use a screw clamp then mail order a screw clamp....

Great thanks Damien. I think I'm going to go with the tail vise screw.

Contact Carbies in Brisbane - they are only too happy to ship interstate

Originally Posted by MatFinish

Great thanks Damien. I think I'm going to go with the tail vise screw.

Mat - making a traditional tail vise isn't half as bad as it looks. I'm still using the first one I made after more than 25 years. Just take it slowly & make sure each part fits snugly & you can't go wrong. The most anxious part of the build is glueing up the main frame. This has to be kept dead square, for smooth operation, so take special care when you get to that step. It's a good idea to make yourself a jig (nothing more than a square piece of thick scrap ply) to keeep it square until the glue sets.

Here's a couple of pics of mine, so you can see how it works. I've used a 50mm wooden screw, which is held with a split collar - a couple of examples shown. In some ways a wooden screw is easier to fit than the metal one, because the nut is tapped into the end of the bench, & doesn't get in the way, but you'll work it out. A mistake I made on my bench was to place the dog holes at the same spacing on bench top as well as the vise. Had I put the dogs closer together on the vise (half the bench top spacing would have been ideal), I could have saved myself a lot of winding in & out over the years.

The design of the traditional vise is such that it prevents twisting & wracking. However, mine has a bit of wear on the internal guide (allowable after the number of times it's been back & forth!), which lets the jaws close slightly off-parallel under some situations. It's not a problem, yet, but I will have to look at replacing it down the track. The job itself will be trivial, just a matter of putting in a new piece, but it involves dis-assembling the whole end of the bench, so every time I think about it, I decide it isn't urgent....

Cheers,

Originally Posted by IanW

... , but it involves dis-assembling the whole end of the bench, so every time I think about it, I decide it isn't urgent....

Cheers,

Bit like the gutter outside - only a problem when it rains

helpful post BTW

Originally Posted by Sawdust Maker

Bit like the gutter outside - only a problem when it rains

Exackery!

I to am doing up plans for a new bench, and a tail vice is part of it. Have already purchased the tail vice from Carbies, so your photos and ideas are also much appreciated here,

Cheers..

Try Timbecon they list the tail vise crews on there web site.

Catalogue - Clamping - Vices & Accessories