(Note: on the diagrams below, if you can’t read the writing, click the enlarge/view full size button)

http://home.comcast.net/~samson141/small_welded_tail_vise_A.bmp

http://home.comcast.net/~samson141/small_welded_tail_vise_B.bmp

http://home.comcast.net/~samson141/small_welded_tail_vise_C.bmp

http://home.comcast.net/~samson141/locating_hole.bmp

This past weekend I finished installing my LN Small Welded Tail Vise on my bench. As it came without instructions, I made some calls to LN for some general advice (they were great), read the Fortune-Nelson tail vise section of the Workbench Book for the 27^th time, and dove in. While I may not have done everything precisely as a seasoned expert might do it, I thought I’d share some details in case it might be of some help to others out there.

I even drew a few diagrams (attached to the top of this post) in hopes that they’d be worth a few thousand words. Check those out first, as the following will likely make more sense with the diagrams in mind.

Most of what follows is common sense and very similar, in theme at least, to the Fortune-Nelson process (i.e, I don’t claim to be terribly original).

First let me say that the “Welded” aspect of this German made vise makes it simpler to install than the classic non-welded type. The welded rectangular tabs both on the back of the guide plate (to allow the sliding plates clearance – i.e., no need for a routed groove or recess for the bolt head) and attaching the sliding plates (to keep them parallel) allow a simpler core construction and less hassle in getting to smooth operation.

My bench is essentially a close adaptation of the Fortune-Nelson design with most variance being in the details of dimensions and stock member sizes (i.e., the base is beefier, the top slightly wider, the dog holes slightly farther apart, etc.). On advice from LN, I left a notch in the top to house the tail vise of roughly 5 3/4″ deep and 16 1/4″ wide (the face where the plate mounts is a little over 5 inches tall arrived at by adding blocking to the bottom of the roughly 2 3/4″ thick maple top).

What comes in the package: The LN small welded tail vise comes with (1) the guide plate; (2) the two sliding plates assembly; (3) the screw (no handle); and two specialized bolts for mounting the plate. No wood screws are included, probably because the sizes needed will vary some with each user’s specific configuration. Step 1: Mount the guide plate. The key here is to make the top of the plate as perfectly parallel as possible with the bench top. A combination square works well for assessing and achieving this. Once the plate is bar clamped in place on the front face and parallel (distance from the top will vary depending upon how thick your core cover piece will be), use some short #10 screws to fix it temporarily in place in a couple of the 6 spots. If you are going to use them, drill some pilot holes for the special sleeve bolts (see diagram) that allow a screw into a sleeve that ends in a 3/8th” bolt. I used the bolts for the bottom holes at each end of the of plate by using a forstner bit to create a recess in the back side of the blocking to both achieve the right depth and house washer and nut. I drilled the sleeve hole 1/32″ oversized to allow for slight play before tightening so as to insure the all-important parallelism was maintained. If one wanted to use the bolts in a thick top, some routered recesses would be needed. The bolts would be easiest to use with a thinner top and apron configuration, as they could just go through the apron.

Once the bolts are in place and you’ve tested the sliding plates and screw, remove the plate. Now tighten up the screws holding on the main screw “nut” from the back of the plate for the last time and then remount the plate checking parallel again and again as you drill and drive longer and heavier (#12 or #14) screws into the 4 non-bolted holes. Check the face of the plate for square with the benchtop too. If the plate is not square, some shimming might be in order. I didn’t have to deal with this luckily, but it was what I was ready to do if the square said it was necessary.

Step 2: Build the core: this is an exercise in gluing up and cutting to size the various pieces that together will form the wooden part of the vise. A thickness planer helps a lot in terms of making lines match up with those in the bench top – getting really close to the thickness on the top and side, etc.

Throughout this process, I found it easiest to make most parts oversized and trim the assemblies only when necessary as they were assembled. For example, part A (top of the core) was overly long when I began, and I trimmed both glued up ends on the table saw (in multiple passes due to thickness) after everything was set to achieve the cleanest and squarest ends.

Pay attention to the grain directions as you assemble so that when it comes time to hand plane the vise during assembly, to level its top with the benchtop, etc., everything is running in the same direction.

Also, throughout the process, I kept assembling and disassembling the thing to keep track of my progress and make sure I kept all clearance issues etc. straight. For example, part B in the diagram has to clear the guide plate and is therefore narrower than part C which does not.

I started construction with piece A in the diagram routing a couple of grooves to accommodate the welded brackets between the sliding plates. I then laminated up the end pieces (B & C) and trimmed them to rough size on the SCMS. To find the center of the 1 1/8th” diameter hole to accept the 1″ screw, I positioned the block first beside and then on top of the plate assembly and utilized my combo square (touching the outer edge of the screw on all four sides) to draw lines forming a box, then joined its corners to find the center of the circle (see diagram “locating hole”).

Next, I cut part D to size and thickness and glued it on.

Step 3: the rest: After that, attaching the dog hole strip (I routed the 3 degree slant holes and blip with a simple jig), additional strips, and end cap are all very straightforward. I glued the strips on while the vise corse was in place on the bench using long bar clamps across the top of the bench for the top half and shorter ones reaching to the back of the blocking from the bottom half (i.e., to get even pressure across the whole face).

Screwing the sliding plate assembly to the wood is straightforward, and the allen wrench blots at each end of that assembly allow easy adjustment of the slide from below.

Hope that was of use to some.