Vises
Last updated on Thursday, February 16, 2012 06:53:12 PM Eastern US Time Zone

Mill Vises, Indicating Animation, Drill Press Vises, Screwless Vises, Sine Vises,
Bench Vise, Bench Vise Animation, Soft Jaws, Pin Vises, Hand Vises, Anvils

A vise is one of the quickest & easiest ways to securely hold a rectangular or round part.
Thus it follows that you can't have too many vises.

Mill Vises

6", 75 lbs. Parlec mill vise mounted on the RF-25. Massive, precise, durable with very high clamping forces.
The Kurt-like closing mechanism has a wedge that applies downward force as the jaw is tightened.
Parlec PWS-6900 Single Station vise parts list.

Indicating Animation

Indicating the Parlec solid jaw, animation. The slot on the top of the solid jaw can also be used.
The Interapid indicator has 0.0005" resolution. See instructions on how to set tip geometry & see illustration.

Indicating the vise bed animation.
Note in the center location, only the small needle moves showing that the large needle changed by 0.030".

5-axis milling stop with ¼" rod; strong construction & versatile low-profile positioning (USA).
The metal-constructed locking handle can be easily repositioned by lifting upward & rotating.
One end of the steel rod is squared-off (diamond ground) while the other end is hemispherical.
Made a blind hole slipover aluminum handle, held on with 6-32 setscrews, for the ¼" hex wrench.
The three flush hex setscrews positively engage the flat. Left off the knurling so it would not hold dirt.
The stop rod engages the square 5C fixture edge. The 5C collet has a depth stop screwed into its end.


A 4-inch 37 lbs. Kurt-style milling vise (manual) that has moderate accuracy.

Swivel base for the 4-inch mill vise.

Quick-mount bar clamped by another mill vise. Note, a vise in a vise uses up a lot of Z.

Drill Press Vises

4-inch, low-profile Delta drill press vise.


Eron 3-inch drill press vise (Japan). Sides are also ground flat & true.

Palmgren 1½ inch, variable angle drill press vise.



Palmgren 3" wide, 1⅛" deep, 6.5" square base, 13lbs., cradle-style, variable angle drill press vise (import).
Positive pin stops at 0°, 15°, 30°, 45°, 60°, 75°, & 90°. Hand-tightened lock at all positions; 0 to 90° by 1° scale.
Solid jaw has vertical & horizontal grooves. The base has ½" shoulder slots for bolting down to a drill press table.

The Palmgren vise color is now a dark gray & has a metal nameplate attached.

This vise has moderate accuracy. Cradle-style vise manual.

Screwless Vises

Top to bottom: 3-inch, 2-inch, & 1-inch screwless vise size comparisons.


3-inch screwless vise mounted on the Taig mill. This style is vise pulls the movable jaw down as it closes.

Changed the toe-clamps from aluminum to steel.

An adjustable, pivoting, solid-jaw mounted work stop. An M6-1 cap head screw holds the bracket to the vise.
The adjustable 8-32 screw has a pressed-on knob, a tip that was diamond ground flat, & a knurled lock nut.

2-inch screwless vise.  Screwless vise exploded diagram

The stop can pivot out of the way or simply be removed.

2-inch vise being used in the hand tapper.

Detail of the spring-loaded ball bearing detent for adapter retention in the precision ground spindle.
The flat spring has been rotated to expose the ball bearing detent. The vise is allowed to float in two
 directions enabling easy tap/hole alignment. The example shows tapping eight, #7 holes, with ¼-20
threads. A rotary table was used to drill every 45°.

Mounted in t he RF-25 mill, showing a #2 center drill which was then followed by a #21 drill.
Held the part in a smaller vise so the setup could be easily transferred to the hand tapper for threading.

Hand tapper being used to cut 10-32 threads.

1-inch screwless vise with built-in parallels.

Very small pieces can be held in the miniature vise, then held in other vises or set-ups.
The small vise can be transferred from machine to machine while still retaining a part's orientation.
 Parallels (steps) are ground into the jaws. The movable jaw is not as wide as the solid jaw allowing
it to be adjusted while still clamped in a larger vise. Tolerances are ± 0.0002"

One-inch screwless vise mount on a 4-inch Sherline rotary table.

One-inch vise adapter for the sine plate using MIC-6 aluminum.

Sine Vises

2-inch & 3-inch wide sine vises that are both 4-inchs between rolls.
See sine vise/bar angle calculation.

The ubiquitous, obligatory Bench Vise.

Upgraded to a 5", rotating-head, Palmgren bench vise. The mount uses a ½" thick sub-plate & hex bolts.
Three, ⅜-16, six-inch long mounting bolts (with washers) pass all the way through the bench's edge.

 High-grade steel & three types of replaceable, hardened steel jaws. The movable jaw & slide bar are one piece.
 Full 360° rotation with 12-positions (every 30°) with a spring-loaded detent that holds head position during setups.
I would not buy this type of vise if it did not have the detent mechanism to hold a given jaw position during setup.
56 lbs. of precision machined vise made in Taiwan. Attached the bench to the wall for maximum stability.

Pipe & V-jaws.

Bench Vise Animation

12 position, rotating vise head animation. Two O-rings were placed at each end of the sliding handle.

 A Columbian 4½ inch (USA) bench vise. Milled, smooth-finish, soft aluminum replacement jaws.
To remove sideways play in the slide bar, I drilled & tapped (¼-20) the vise body for a setscrew (other side).
I put a small (3mm) length of Teflon rod in between the screw & slide bar to reduce friction.

Pin Vises

This pin vise stores drill bits in the handle (USA).


The chuck has a ¼" (0.25" or 6.35mm) capacity.


This pin vise has a reversible collet to hold both 1/16" (0.0625" or 1.6mm) & 3/32" (0.09375 or 2.4mm) sizes.

Hand Vises

Custom-made hand vise with an aluminum head & handle. After reviewing the pros & cons of many different
designs available for purchase, I decided to make one that incorporated the desired mechanical attributes.
This hand vise was specifically made to hold hardened pins while they are being diamond ground.

Both sides were fly cut.

The jaws are opened & closed using a lead screw that has both left- & right-handed 10-32 threads.
Using this type of lead screw moves the jaws at twice the single-thread rate.
The non-threaded center section of the screw has clearance via short counter-bored holes.
The movable jaw is guided by a ¼" dowel pin riding in a 0.251" precision reamed hole.
The movable jaw has a blind hole with a 6-32 setscrew that holds the pin as it slides through the fixed-jaw hole.
The movable jaw's bottom surface also slides on the fixed jaw which greatly reduces any twisting.
Jaw size: ½" W x 1" D x ¾" opening. Aluminum jaws are fairly soft so part marring is minimized.

The fixed jaw has two V-grooves to clamp round parts. The knob was threaded 10-32 &
then a 6-32 setscrew was installed. A 4-40 pan-head also screws into the lead screw's end.

Shown for scale, a ¼" x 2" dowel rod is clamped in the larger V-groove.

The 9/16" knurled aluminum handle is attached using a hardened, one-inch long ¼-20 setscrew.
The other end is tapped for 8-32 to hold another head.

This long-nose hand vise was made for grinding delicate parts.
These jaws also open & close using a lead screw that has both left- & right-handed 10-32 threads.
Using this type of lead screw moves the jaws at twice the single-thread rate.

V-grooves were cut to hold small round parts. Jaw size: ¼" W x 2¾" D x 1-1/16" opening.

A long 8-32 setscrew holds the lower brass guide rod & the handle. A 4-40 setscrew holds the upper guide.
The brass rods slide in precision reamed ⅛" holes. A 4-40 pan-head screw at the end of the lead screw
limits the overall travel. The knurled brass thumb adjustment knob is held by two, 6-32 setscrews.


The same knurled handle is used for both vise heads: 8-32 left & ¼-20 right.


Two different styles of drop forged hand vises (Germany). Acme thread for extra strength.
Narrow spring-loaded jaws: ½" W x 1" D x ¾" opened. 3¾" OAL.

Wide spring-loaded jaws: 1⅜" W x ⅝" D x 1" opened. 4" OAL.

It has a V-groove for holding round parts.

A hand vise designed to clamp long wire (Germany). The tightening screw & handle have clearance holes.
Jaws: ⅝" W x ½" D x ¼" opened. 4⅝" OAL.

Replaced the original wing nut with a higher quality part. Replaced the steel washer with a brass type.

Made a washer out of oil-impregnated bronze to ease operation of the wing nut.

A universal work holder (India). It has 60 peg slot positions & is supplied with eight, 3mm steel pegs.
Aluminum vise head dimensions: 2" diameter (head only) x 3¼" W (head plus thumb screw) x 1⅛" H.
Max pin-to-pin opening is 2-3/16". Overall length, including the detachable wooden handle is six inches.

Silicon soft grips for the 3mm pins (from JDB Cardmodels).

To store all eight pins with the tool, I sometimes clamp them onto a soft plastic tube.


Another custom-made aluminum hand vise that uses the same 3mm pegs with or without their silicon grips.

The stepped base allows easy clamping in a larger bench vise. 6-32 setscrews hold the dowel rods in place.

The movable jaw runs on two, ¼" dowel pins in precision-reamed holes. The adjustment screw is M6-1.
The spring compresses into two, 9mm counter-bored holes allowing complete jaw closure.
A custom-made Teflon washer makes turning the screw smooth & precise. There are 50 holes.

Anvils

Low-cost anvil.

Round, hardened anvil for parts assembly & disassembly.

Mill Vises, Indicating Animation, Drill Press Vises, Screwless Vises, Sine Vises,
Bench Vise, Bench Vise Animation, Soft Jaws, Pin Vises, Hand Vises, Anvils