Thread: Tail Vise - Brilliant!

I just saw this post. I bought your HNT tall vice last year. I have just finished assembling the two pieces for the top of my new bench. I was wondering if I should post a build. Timing is everything!

Pedro, how is the build coming along?

I would guess ... just a guess ... that the HNT Gordon is better built that the one in the video

... but for those who enjoy building their own ..

Regards from Perth

Derek

That bugger has pinched my idea! I made mine out of one from a Mercedes Benz though, as with all German engineering, even the mechanism for the jack is perfect. I'll finish it and install it one day. got a few engineering projects on the go at present.

The build is as you see in the photos. Tops just back from local school. They put them through their big drum sander to flatten then for me. Saved me a lot of work. Legs today. Social distancing works for this sort of project. Heaps of time

And here is one from 3 years ago in our backyard.


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Well Shane, Pask did his 3 years earlier. That bugger in the video I posted appears to have ripped him off, not just in the concept, but even in the method of build!

Regards from Perth

Derek

I'm a very keen follower of Pask and to my of thinking is probably the best You tuber anywhere.

I too have loved his videos.
Although I like Kuffy's channel too... when he posts something (yes, hoping he sees this and posts more )

Originally Posted by rwbuild

I'm a very keen follower of Pask and to my of thinking is probably the best You tuber anywhere.

As good as Pask is I think the best title belongs to Clickspring but let's not get too far off topic. I read some of the comments and one pointed out that his video had been ripped off which I thought was somewhat ironic.

Interesting idea and both linked here almost get a good usable tail vice .

But . A big BUT .
If you don't have a dog at each end of that tail vice that can be tapped down after clamping pressure is applied then you don't have a useful working tail vice.

A dog with a top wider than the rest is not right.

You have to have the ability to tap the dogs down so it pulls the work tight to the clean bench top . Or else your planing curves into your work .

It normally means place the work between dogs and apply pressure . Tap down to bench then check and adjust pressure if needed . The piece may have slightly to much pressure and the middle is bending up .

If you cant tap both dogs down, then when pressure is applied the ends will lift up and off the bench .


So if your building this, it needs a bit of a re design.

Rob

Originally Posted by auscab

Interesting idea and both linked here almost get a good usable tail vice .

But . A big BUT .
If you don't have a dog at each end of that tail vice that can be tapped down after clamping pressure is applied then you don't have a useful working tail vice.

A dog with a top wider than the rest is not right.

You have to have the ability to tap the dogs down so it pulls the work tight to the clean bench top . Or else your planing curves into your work .

It normally means place the work between dogs and apply pressure . Tap down to bench then check and adjust pressure if needed . The piece may have slightly to much pressure and the middle is bending up .

If you cant tap both dogs down then when pressure is applied the ends will lift up and off the bench .


So if your building this, it needs a bit of a re design.

Rob

Hi Rob,

Can you explain to a novice what you mean? I'm a little confused.

Many thanks

Adam

Hi Adam,

Let me have a crack at trying to explain what Rob was referring to.

Consider thre following setup, with a fixed dog in the bench and a travelling dog in the end vise. Well it is a temporary make shift dog in the end vise as my son and I snapped the proper one yesterday testing out crossbow bows, but I digress...



Looking closely at the near dog with no clamping pressure observe that the timber is flush on the bench.



Now as clamping pressure is applied, the board will lift off the bench a little, with the dog.



This is resolved by tapping the dog down again, which will then hold the board flat onto the bench firmly.



I hope that explains it clearly.

Originally Posted by taz01

Hi Rob,

Can you explain to a novice what you mean? I'm a little confused.

Many thanks

Adam

Hi Adam .

Lance has captured what I'm talking about well with his pictures. The tail vice is tightened and the board lifts a little .

You need a dog each end that can be tapped down until its below bench top level . A Dog with the traditional shape cant go right through , the little step out at the front top of the dog prevents that . And a bench dog hole is shaped to receive that type of dog . This means your not picking dogs up off the floor if their loose enough .

To get some boards sitting just right you have to have a few goes at tapping dogs and adjusting pressure. For it to work well You set a dog higher than first wanted , tighten vice , Tap down both dogs and inspect the board . If its not right you may be adjusting and then wanting a second or third go at it . Its very common for this to happen . You don't want to be running out of dog .

The last thing you need is for the dog to have no more room to move down by either being shaped like the T shaped dogs in the first and second link . The second link only has one T shaped dog at one end , the other end is a dowel and is OK if it goes down below bench level but not so good for probably being able to drop through .
The other bad part is the thread goes through the end piece in first link so a dog hole cant go right through . On second link The end piece may be longer and the dog could go through ? Not sure ? The dog design still prevents that happening .

You also need to grab thin stuff and all above applies to that as well .

So if you did the car jack method for a tail vice . Have the end block longer so the thread is back from the dog hole .
Not like link 1 but possibly link 2 . I didn't catch a good view of what link 2 had and gave up searching .

And have a dog design that goes below bench top level and doesn't drop right through by having a side spring so it grabs the side of the hole or shaping to the top of dog and bench that prevents such a thing . The side spring and shaping is what I have so I can set the dogs an inch out of the bench top and they stay there until their holding the wood . Not dropping away and needing me to fluff around lifting them by hand while adjusting the tail vice .


Rob

Thanks Lance and Rob,

That explains it perfectly.

Regards,

Adam