Thread: Dawn Wood Vice

That looks to be well with the 'normal' range of castings. The jaws should be out of parallel too, with the top edges meeting first, so that when you tighten the jaws they tighten up to parallel because the screw is well below the centre line.

When you fit the vise you have a choice of two methods to make it open parallel to the bench top - either carefully shave a bit more off the bottom of the cutout in the skirt of the bench, or do what most people do (or if you tried method 1 & cut too much out )- make a couple of thin shims out of grey tape, ply, old tin cans, plastic sheet, fridge magnets or whatever and just pack out the back jaw until its right - you can adjust it if things change by just backing off the bolts & rearranging the packing.

my vyce has screw holes in the back jaw. I screwed the back jaw so it is correct then bolted the back with spacers as required.
les

Originally Posted by les88

my vyce has screw holes in the back jaw. I screwed the back jaw so it is correct then bolted the back with spacers as required.
les

Thanks for the help guys.

I have mounted a host of vises in my time on mine and the school's many benches. The best way is to secure the vice to the underside of the bench at that point the jaws should be perpendicular to the bench surface, If not, then shim the mount till it is... Now for the close fit to the edge of the bench, Usually not a big concern for school benches but for a home shop we may want a tight fit, shave back the edge of the bench to fit the vise. Snug up and re-tighten the mouting lags.

All casting are radiused and uneven, machining is not necessary and in fact it weakens the jaws. Shims and profileing the maiting surface is the answer.

I have finally sorted out what i'm doing and will post some pic's up of what step i'm up too.

My other question wood be, " what wood be a good timber too use for the vice jaws ?

I have always used scrap off-cuts but if I were to select anew.... I would go with a firm but forgiving wood, one that will accept dents from work pieces but not put dents on work pieces, Local would be Basswood, Soft Maple, Poplar, etc. but with your locals you need to make that determination. I would not use a hard dense wood, as it will want to mar the workpiece.

My bench vise has no wood, I lined it with rubber pad. Holds great, leaves no marks, work doesn't slop and leaves for a wider jaw space than thick wood liners.

Using Rubber Cement, I simply glued a piece of a rubber pad (piece of Conveyer belt, given to me by a friend) when it is worn I can peal off and reglue another.

Thanks Hickory for your help

I said i would pics up and here they are.
The first one is only with a template piece of timber so i don't ruin the good piece.

The large holes are for the front of the vice to slide through and attach to the back part.
The small holes are going to be what holds the timber on but the screws will be hidden behind on the new piece.

I have put the back of the vice in it's spot just up a little so you can see it but that is not it's correct position.

The third is how it will sit when finished. I will do the same with the front plate as i have done with the back.
In other words the template you see will be times 2