Bench vice FTW

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Bob Gleason
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Re: Bench vice FTW

Post by Bob Gleason »

I wrote to Lee Valley and they told me the room needed under the bench depends on the thickness of the wood jaws you make. They said if you use jaws that are 1 1/5" (odd measurement) thick, you would need 14" of clearance under the bench top for the screw mechanism.-Bob
ruby@magpage.com
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Re: Bench vice FTW

Post by ruby@magpage.com »

Bob

The critical dimensions are 1) length of screw, 2) thickness of movable jaw, 3) Thickness of stationary jaw.

As an example, on mine I just measured 1) 16-1/4" 2) 2-1/2" 3) 1-1/2"

So closed, there is 12" of screw sticking out the back/underside of the stationary jaw, and fully open I have an 11-3/4" opening.

The "nuts" for the screws- one at either end of the screw- are placed on the front/outside of the movable jaw and the on the back/underneath on the stationery jaw.

I have included a couple of shots of my installation. The second one shows the piece I installed between the screw and the bottom of the benchtop so that I would reduce any sag as the opening is increased- not sure it helps, but it doesn't hurt.

John - hope I'm not hijacking

Ed
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Ed M
Morecowbell
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Re: Bench vice FTW

Post by Morecowbell »

John - thanks for posting. Great solution to something I hadn't really thought through. This thread is giving me some ideas, which is always dangerous. And kudos on the vintage Lyon bench and the shop kitty!

Ed, thanks for posting also. I have to confess I was aware of the twin screw vise but always sort of went, "Huh, that's interesting, wonder what you would use that for?" but now I get it, makes a lot of sense. And beautiful bench.
"Facts seldom sway an opinion." - John Hall
"The difference between theory and practice is that in theory there is no difference." - Van de Snepscheut
Bob Gleason
Posts: 412
Joined: Fri Jul 03, 2015 2:45 pm
Contact:

Re: Bench vice FTW

Post by Bob Gleason »

So Ed, just to clarify because I got a little different info from Lee Valley, with the dimensions you gave on your setup, no more than exactly 12" of clearance would be needed for the screw? Correct? I only have about 11" from the bench top end to the leg and don't want to end up adding a lot to the bench top. Thanks, Bob
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