Hello,
after putting thick MDF board on my workbench my vice is not longer performing very good. The problem is that the working height does not allow the vice to close correctly.
I was thinking about making new vice which would be bigger and can hold wood better. But I am not sure which kind of vice would the best, any ideas?
Thanks.
Replies
Why haven’t you tried making a new jaw. In the first pic you can see exactly what the problem is and why it’s not holding.
Because I am not sure which kind of vice should I build or buy, since there is no place to put it securely.
I would prefer roubo vice but not sure how to put it on my workbench. Legs of my workbench are thin.
Were it my bench, the first attempt would be a taller front vise face to match the new bench top. Possibly at a slight angle where the top edge of the vise face touched the bench first. I can't see enough of your bench structure to suggest a plan B.
Keep the vice, change the bench.
I have the same issue with my front vice. I added a 1/4” steel
Plate to the back of my jaw. It helps but doesn’t solve the problem completely.
Well, my workbench is quite bad, but since I managed to stabilize it somehow and it is flat, I am not ready yet to throw it away.
The problem that I see is that the vice (wooden part that is connected to the vice rods) is bending since it is too tall. The rods are located too low, which worked fine until I put additional MDF on it.
I would maybe explore other ways to hold my work pieces. I use this vice to plane edges of boards only. Sometimes to cut the dovetails but that is all. I do not like it that much since it is not very fast to open and close.
This post explains the problem much better than the original post but no one knows the construction of the bench for attaching vises. Stabbing in the dark I would have to suggest installing a Moxon vise flush with the top.
As far as opening and closing it more quickly there are a number of vises and vise hardware kits that are quick opening and closing. Simply search for "Quick Release Wood Vise" in your favorite search engine and you'll find many options. Woodcraft and Lee Valley both have many options. Both all metal vises that you can add wooden jaws to and kits for building your own out of wood. If the jaw is flexing then making a new front jaw out of thicker material wood help. My experience has been that if you have deep jaws then they will open up as you are seeing on a front or end style vise. The solution I have seen described many times over the years and the one I find works well is to taper the moving jaw as has already been suggested so that it is slightly thicker at the top. I'm going to guess you will want the front jaw about 1/16 to 1/8 inthicker at the top but you will have to find what works in your case. Some of the all metal vises already have the front jaw canted slightly so the top closes first. All the vise parts will flex some and they have to have some slop in their fit to move freely. As a result, they will always show the problem you are seeing to some degree.
I will try this. I do have some oak (will have to put two layers though).
Plus 1 on tapering the front jaw slightly so that the top makes contact first. As the vise mechanism tightens agains the held piece, it tends to tilt the top of the jaw away from contact. The taper compensates for this effect.
My vise has a relatively tall front jaw. I learned the hard way that over-tightening the vice on the held piece can cause the front face to break along the grain direction of the jaw.
In replacing the broken jaw, I drilled two vertical holes in the jaw and inserted and epoxied half inch metal rods to add strength and rigidity. For a front jaw as tall a yours this might be worth considering.
Quick update: I think I solved the problem. I got some old oak boards I glued together and bore very tight holes for the vise. Well, it closes harder but the grip is great, which is what is important.
I tapered the inner surface to the top part so it is the first part of the vise to touch the workbench.
P.S You can see that I screwed up the grain direction on the boards (you got only one thing to do!) but hey, it is a vise, so I am fine with that.