More recycled bits of plumbing

[BobL]

I had these saw vice pieces cut out some time ago but was uhming'n'ahing about what clamping bolts to use. So I rooted arounding again in the plumbing box, applied the buffing wheel and came up with the following.

Picture one shows the whole thing. The main clamping forces come from the two brass threaded pipes at the top.

If you are wondering what the brass tap handles do, they're still attached to the top part of their respective taps. When you wind them in (ie close the tap) they leverage the bottom part of the verticals out which applies additional force to clamp the blade even tighter at the top (see picture two).

Picture 3 shows how the saw vice holds a Disston 12. Despite the serious clamping mechanism it's just a tad too sloppy at each end. I'll probably have to use some quick grip clamps at the ends for extra force to keep the blade steady during sharpening.

For added whimsy I added the tap bottoms to the top threaded pipes to act as turning handles. Just in case you are concerned to see me use brass taps, the valve seats in these taps are pretty well shot, besides I still have a dozen or so taps left in the junk box.

Cheers

[Andy Mac]

Hi Bob,
Love it! Good use of old bits and pieces, as usual. I save all sorts of handles and knobs, even off old British car doors, but haven't thought of taps before!
Regards the sloppiness, it would be a shame to resort to an added (and commercial:eek: ) clamp. My initial response, from the photos, is the boards that face the saw blade need to be further down in their clamping uprights. The top of the uprights should be closer to the teeth of the saw, if you get my drift. Is it possible to allow clearance between the board and upright, so only the top part of the upright effects a clamping action?
Anyway, that's my 2c, well done anyway!:D

Cheers,

[journeyman Mick]

Bob,
would planing a slight hollow in the clamp section at the top maybe increase the clamping force at the ends? (Hopefully without making the middle lose its grip :rolleyes: ) BTW, I saw an old saw vice at a garage sale on the weekend, was monted on a ball joint fixture which clamped onto a benchtop, meaning you could adjust the angle of the saw, presumably to get a better working angle. I thought of buying it to see if anyone here wanted it, but thought better of it as I had visions of being landed with another thing I didn't need. It was complete except for the clamping bolt and it had some surface rust but no pitting (that I can remember). All the threads were seized up with rust, but as the rust was light I daresay a bit of electrolysis would sort it out. If you or anyone else is interested I can go back sometime and see if it's still available.

Mick

[BobL]

Hi Bob,
Regards the sloppiness, it would be a shame to resort to an added (and commercial:eek: ) clamp. My initial response, from the photos, is the boards that face the saw blade need to be further down in their clamping uprights. The top of the uprights should be closer to the teeth of the saw, if you get my drift. Is it possible to allow clearance between the board and upright, so only the top part of the upright effects a clamping action?


One of the reasons for the sloppiness is that the clamping boards are made from left over jarrah skirting which has a large angled lengthwise taper (sorry I can't remember the term for this) along the board. Photo 4 shows this reasonably well.

This means
a) the ends of each clamping board are relatively thin and so can't grip very much. I can make this thicker by removing 5 - 7 mm off the top of each board.
b) The verticals or uprights can't be moved upwards without cutting an angled joint into the uprights - this is probably worth doing.

Cheers

[BobL]

Bob,
would planing a slight hollow in the clamp section at the top maybe increase the clamping force at the ends? (Hopefully without making the middle lose its grip

Mick I though of this but the clamping boards are already not vertically parallel and only really grip along the top edge. This is because the tap handles at the bottom of the non-fixed side move the clamp out at the bottom, and in turn in at the top. The problem is really only the last 1- 2 horizontal inches of the clamping edge where the vertical width of the clamping board is narrower because of the need to accomodate the saw handles. This narrowing looks overly generous but is needed to accomodate smaller tenon saws.