# Best Homemade Tools >  Quick Acting Drill Table Vice

## brianhw

I made this little drill vice recently out of pieces of aircraft spec light alloy from my scraps box. It is based on the principle of the common pistol grip hand guns used for dispensing silicone, etc., ('monkey-up-a-stick' - like the very early VW beetle car jacks), and I did in fact re-use the actuating 'tab' from a scrap silicone gun. I also initially used the spindle but it turned out to be too soft and easily nicked by the tab. This was overcome by using the hardened and ground spindle from an old tailgate support strut which works extremely well. I have since been using it on my drill table and it is proving a success and a joy to use.


I have uploaded a video onto my YouTube channel showing the individual details and workings of this vice which I have included here:-

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AlexD (Apr 23, 2018),

billster (Apr 23, 2018),

blkadder (Nov 10, 2017),

Bobinwa (Dec 12, 2016),

bobs409 (Jan 29, 2017),

Charron63 (Nov 30, 2017),

Frank S (Dec 17, 2016),

janders1957 (Apr 21, 2018),

Jon (Dec 8, 2016),

lavern s (Apr 23, 2018),

Macca Boy (Jan 3, 2020),

Moby Duck (Dec 9, 2016),

oldcaptainrusty (Apr 21, 2018),

Paul Jones (Dec 6, 2016),

PJs (Dec 6, 2016),

sossol (Apr 21, 2018),

thehomeengineer (Mar 2, 2018),

Toolmaker51 (Dec 6, 2016),

uv8452 (May 11, 2022),

Valter (Dec 16, 2016),

Vyacheslav.Nevolya (Dec 10, 2016)

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## DIYer

Thanks brianhw! We've added your Table Vise to our Vises category,
as well as to your builder page: brianhw's Homemade Tools. Your receipt:















Table Vise
 by brianhw

tags:
vise

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## Paul Jones

brianhw,

This is a nice build and the YouTube video has a lot of construction details. I too like to cut-off and reuse the piston rods from the air lift shocks.

Thank you,

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## Jon

Congratulations brianhw - Your Table Vise is the Tool of the Week!

It's difficult to win this award with a vise (now the 475th one in our Vises Category!), but this is how it's done. The quick action will be adopted by many a future vise builder who has whiled away a good portion of his life spinning a vise. The use of the old ubiquitous dispenser gun was great, and car guys will be sure to grill you on the make/model of that 1950s window crank. The video showing the building of the tool means that this entry also gets put on the list for our December Best Documented Build award.

Many nice entries this week (I know I say that every week, but these days it's always true). Some picks: a Woodworking Vise by connan, a Laser Edge Finder by jjr2001, a Chuck Mandrel by Paul Jones, a fan-favorite Air Compressor by stan leiter, dispensing official Harley-Davidson air, a Pencil Air Die Grinder Lathe Toolpost Mount by xynudu, a Lazy Susan Welding Fixture by Frank S, a Truck Crane by ibdilbert, a why-didn't-I-think-of-that T Slot Filler by olderdan, and a Harbor Freight Lathe Cross Feed Repair Part by rossbotics. The Remote Controlled Relay by mklotz was also excellent, and another example of a tool that I think will be mysteriously cropping up in a lot of workshops.


You'll be receiving a $25 online gift card, in your choice of Amazon, PayPal, Giftrocket, or bitcoin. Please PM me your current email address and gift card choice and I'll get it sent over right away.


This is your 2nd Tool of the Week win! One more and you'll join our other 3-Time Tool of the Week winners: rossbotics, mr95gst, Paul Jones, Christophe Mineau, immortalx, scorch, Brendon, Frank S, mklotz, Vyacheslav.Nevolya, jjr2001, olderdan. Here are both of your wins:















Filing Machine
 by brianhw

tags:
pulley, crankshaft, file 















Table Vise
 by brianhw

tags:
vise 







Congratulations and well done!  :Thumbs Up:

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Christophe Mineau (Dec 9, 2016),

PJs (Dec 11, 2016)

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## brianhw

Hello, again, Jon,
I am absolutely astonished and thrilled at winning the Tool of the Week for this QA drill vice. Having already won one of your nice t-shirts some time back for my homemade filing machine, I didn't expect it to ever happen again and a prize of $25 this time to boot - waow ! There are so many great ideas and tools here on the forum which I avidly peruse every day on the bulletins you send, which makes me even more surprised to win the Tool of the Week in such elevated company .

A Paypal transaction would be most acceptable.
email :- brian.holywood@yahoo.co.uk

p.s:- If I may take this opportunity to ask you about something I have been wondering about since first becoming a member of the Forum, namely the question of whether or not I should post some of my older YouTube videos from my channel, where I've been posting pretty regularly for a couple of years now, under the (not so brief !) general title of Brian Davison's "No cost/low cost homemade garage and workshop items and tools". Some, but not all, might be of interest to other members, although there are certainly no potential Tool of the Week posts among them !
Let me know your views on this, jon,
Thanks again,
brianhw

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## Jon

Great, just sent over the award via PayPal. Congrats again.

To answer your question: YES! Post 'em if you got 'em. Lots of guys post "older" stuff here, but it's still new to us. You can post each and every video you have, each in a new discussion. Then we'll index each one in our encyclopedia, and add it to your builder page: Homemade Tools built by brianhw - HomemadeTools.net . If a specific video does not have a homemade tool per se, you can post it in the Tool Talk subforum. You can also add a link to your YouTube channel in your signature, and it would appear with every post you made.

We also give awards for Best Documented Build, and my new favorite award, the "Must Read" series of awards, that commemorate those with the most threads that have been moved into the Must Read subforum (like this thread).

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Paul Jones (Dec 17, 2016)

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## Gramps43

BrianW, That is a real winner in puny mind. I don't know if there are commercial versions of your vice, but I would think an investigation into whether there are and the possibility of patenting the design might be in the wind......Dennis

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## brianhw

Thanks to Paul Jones and Gramps43 for favorable replies.

As regards Dennis' suggestion of investigating patenting this, it's a definite no-no in my view. There's nothing really new under the sun and somebody somewhere has undoubtedly come up with a vise like this long before me. The basic principle has been well established for years with the silicone dispenser gun and the early Volkswagen jacks, to name but two, and all I did was to incorporate it into this little vise.
I do sincerely hope though, that other members with machining facilities are encouraged to try their hand at making one of these, as mine since being made, is now used constantly and has become my favorite tool of the month !

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Paul Jones (Dec 17, 2016)

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## Frank S

I like your quick vice and yes I can see one being made for my smaller drill press and have been thinking of a larger version with twin rods Only time will tell if I ever get around to making 1 or 2 since I have more started or planned projects on the plate now than I can complete in several lifetimes

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## Frank S

Here is the Heinrich quick vice patent from sometime in the 1950s

https://www.google.com/patents/US2424313
On my 11" column 4 ft arm radial drill press with raising table that I used to have we had a 6" Cardinal speed vice Those had a Buttress thread and a half nut very fast action and extremely strong

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Paul Jones (Dec 17, 2016)

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## Gramps43

BrianW, I saw one very similar while watching a video on You Tube a couple of days ago, it's definitely a winning concept.....Dennis

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## brianhw

Hi, Frank S, & Gramps43,

Lo and behold - didn't I say in my reply to Gramps43 previously, that somebody somewhere is bound to have come up with a vise design like this, and there Frank has found one right away on EXACTLY this principle - the Heinrich Vise - designed and patented way back in 1943 ! Very interesting indeed.

He used 2 rods for locating the sliding jaw and one as the 'pusher'. When talking about making a larger version with twin rods, I assume you mean like this, as distinct from twin 'pusher' rods which wouldn't be necessary as any off-centre clamping forces are taken by the jaw sliding rods in the case of the Heinrich vise (or the moving jaw tenon in the slot in the base as on my conventional design). I briefly considered dovetail location at the outset but opted for the easier to make basic tenon idea in the end.

In the distant past when working in and around machine shops, I have come across the vises you refer to with the buttress thread and the half nut although have never actually used one myself. The threads would have had to be kept well clear of swarf, otherwise the not fully engaged thread would have a tendency to jump out of engagement ? They were all large vises (6"+), which makes me wonder if it would be viable to make a small, say 3" vise on this principle - then again why not ?

Here's another interesting alternative which I have just discovered on YouTube - definitely worth a look :-




Thanks for reply Frank & Dennis and you're both very welcome to the club of 'never ending planned projects' of which I am a lifetime member !

p.s:- Dennis, could you tell me where on YouTube you saw the vise similar to mine ?

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## Frank S

I'm not sure if my Speed vice was actually a Cardinal speed vice or not It's shape and look were exactly as one I saw in a video but the buttress thread on mine had a slight over hook to the thread which meant when you tightened it even slightly you could not knock the screw out of the half nut with a pry bar or even a hammer There is another name for a modified buttress thread but that escapes me at this time My 6" vice had an opening of about 8" and had nearly the clamping force of a good sized bench vice . Nowhere near accurate enough to be used as a mill vice due largely to many thousands of parts having been clamped in it and countless hole drill with its use. But it had very few accidental drill bit strikes in the main body I did drill 2 hole in the fixed jaw on purpose to add a stop gauge like often found on a band saw to locate the parts edge against.

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## Jon

Congratulations brianhw, your Table Vise is our Best Documented Build winner for December 2016!

Great month for build documentation, but you won this one with a nicely-edited video complete with annotations.

Some other well-documented builds this month include a Screw Size Gauge by mklotz, a Hydraulic Press by tonyfoale, a Faceplate Balancing Fixture by Metaler, a Lathe Cross Feed Housing by rossbotics, an Air Grinder Tool Post Mount by xynudu, as well as two rgsparber articles: Improving a Dremel Drill Press and Making a Crush Collet.

Please confirm your email address via PM to me, and I'll get your $35 award sent out, via your choice of PayPal, Amazon, or bitcoin.

Congrats again!  :Rocker: 

Here are all of our previous monthly Best Documented Build winners:














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tags: CNC, mill













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tags: bandsaw, motor













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tags: saw, table













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tags: casting, 3D printing, molds













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tags: handle, hacksaw













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tags: electronics, edge finder













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tags: jointer













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tags: clamp, rebar













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tags: lathe, Dremel, modification















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tags:
table saw 












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tags: truck crane

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## Charron63

do you have drawing with specs for this? it is somethiing that with a tiny bit of Mod, would suit a job I have for my grizzly 0759 mill which has a height issue...thanx and gr8 work!

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## brianhw

Unfortunately, Charron63, I didn't draw up any plans for this vice, other than a few sketches on a piece of cardboard at the time. But if you examine any cheapo cartridge type hand gun and design the mechanism that presses the 'trigger' for eccentric 'cam' action instead of the simple 'push' of the cartridge gun, you are basically there. 
Thanks for the positive comment and I hope you are successful in your venture. Sorry I couldn't be of more help.

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