soft jaws

[azzrock]

Hi every one.after some of the easy to use fantastical made, cleaver and stylish tools and bits of tooling ive seen here from forum users.. Id like to see what people are using for soft jaws on the vise jaws.
A piece of aluminium angle works fairly well and is dead set easy. the only problem is how do you get them to stick. to the vise and not fall out.
I have been using a similar soft jaw for years when the right material is available.
made out of copper sheet they extend back past the jaw to give extra protection to the work and help the soft jaw stay in place. fairly simple . here is some photos of a set i made for my best mate. .
181558181559181560181561

[BobL]

When I restored my free Dawn 6" offset vice I decided not to use hardened steel jaws and instead I made mild steel replacements. I also use ally and brass angle, and also some Zinc Alum angle with leather strips, but like you say they don't stay on all that well. Both my ww vices are leather lined.

[Stustoys]

Here are mine. The magnets hold them in place well. swarf can be a pain but less of a pain then picking them up off the floor lol

Stuart

[Big Shed]

I bought these (https://www.machineryhouse.com.au/V053) at H&F at their last sale, also got a pair of the rubber lined ones (which I haven't used yet)

They are used on my metal working vise, I have 2 big Dawn quick release vises for woodworking, they are lined with, you guessed it, wood:D

BTW, H&F seem to have a revamped website, still shows ex-GST in red and in a lrger font than the GST inc price:(

[azzrock]

there's some good ones.
bob can i please see a photo of your leather lined vices. If you have one there.
I thought magnets would pop up some where with soft jaws
Stuart are the one pictured aluminium and are they very long wearing?
Fred I like these ones as well there great . they fit right in with all your other kuta tools.
I didn't think to look a commercially available ones

[Stustoys]

Yeap aluminium. I made them a couple of years ago from extrusion I picked up cheap, they seem to be holding up very well. I guess the alloy and temper of extrusion is better suited than folded sheet that I have used in the past.
Stuart

[Oldneweng]

I currently use ali angle the lenght of the jaws. They land on the floor often. I have some material to make another pair which will have a tab left on the vertical section of the angle. Clamp in position in vise and hammer the tabs to wrap around the ends of the vise jaws. The vise jaws usually stick out a bit. The idea is to have the ali extend past the jaws and in a bit so that it has to be lifted up past the jaws to remove. The ali tab forms a slot to fit over the ends of the vice jaws.

Dean

[Anorak Bob]

I have a pair of rubber lined extruded aluminium jaws complete with magnets. They are great. Used them yesteday to hold my Panavise. The majority of the time I use some 25 x 25 x 1.6 aluminium angle. And everytime I open the vise jaws, the vise is quick release, the angles fall off and onto the floor. Been picking them up for maybe 15 years:doh:. 'Bout time I sorted something out. The other Record vise I have has a pair of Record clip on fibre jaws. Nice but I seldom use the thing.

BT

[smidsy]

I use these:
https://www.timbecon.com.au/assets/popup/productimages.aspx?ProductID=8500

Magnetic, rubber coated and quite cheap.

[azzrock]

the reason i asked about these soft jaws is because Ive been using the same type for over twenty years and never seen any that were similar. there base on the first metal working job i did as an apprentice. made with a hack saw and files.
http://www.woodworkforums.com/attachments/f65/181559-soft-jaws-img_0238.jpg

in fact for six mounts. the only tools we had were files. About ten. hacksaw. cold chisels hammers. dividers and calipers and of course rulers. we would of spent at least 4 hours a day standing in front of a vise.
making different jobs out of cast iron,steel and brass. some of them tools like toolmakers clamps, scribing blocks and sliding g clamps. they very rarely would fall of the vise.
we never where allowed to use any powered tools excerpt drilling machines.
so it seems like the simple first metal working job i did when i was 17 has served me
well.

[bob colles]

I have 'drop in' copper jaws on my 8"bench & 6"machine vices for fiddley brass jobs. Always have belt them back into shape after I have used them

[Metalman]

In an early issue of MEW Peter Rawlinson wrote up about his patented vice jaws. I made up a set and they are one of the most used items in my workshop.
The original jaws of the vice are removed and replaced by two identical parts with grooves top and bottom to accept the inserts. I made 4 insert sets, two sets are steel with horizontal and vertical grooves and two sets are polyethylene. The inserts require a woodruf key cutter or a shaper to make the undercut on the jaw inserts but are otherwise straight forward to make. The inserts never fall off and can be moved off centre to grip items vertically as shown.
Mm.

[azzrock]

hay there great.i think would suit a drill vise as well thanks for posting

[jhovel]

plus you could make matching aluminium or copper or urthane or whatever inserts! Brilliant!