Homemade bench vise - video

[Jon]

Homemade bench vise. By Mistry MakeTool. 17:26 video:

Previously:

Homemade basic metal bender - video
Homemade sheetmetal bender - video
Homemade chisel sharpening jig - video
3 angle grinder hacks - video

[hemmjo]

That is a good looking home made vise. Your angle grinder skills are excellent.

[Scrounga]

Well made and looks good. If I may, there is a weak point, while the plate at the front where the main screw passes through is held in with 4 grade eight bolts the nut inside the vice is only held with two bolts so they will give first. It will probably be OK until someone else uses it and puts a wrench on the hex on the end of the screw shaft. A way around that problem would be to drill a hole through the base of the vice where the nut sits inside and have a nub or protrusion on the bottom of the nut that drops into the hole in the base. That would relieve most of the stress on those two bolts. If you take a look at most cast vices this is how they locate the screw nut. In fact in most cast vices the nut just sits loose in the base and there is a buttress cast into the base to take the load. Nice job though and I would be happy to own it.

[MrMetal]

Nice job! One of the advantages of using structural steel for your material is that it is not brittle like most cast vices. At some point in their life most vices will suffer some abuse and a cast vice will often break due to the brittle nature of the cast material. Post vices that most blacksmiths use are made of forgings that are not brittle and will stand up to the pounding that would break a cast bench vice. I tend to weld projects like that but another advantage of your bolted design is that individual pieces can be replaced easier if and when necessary. I agree with the previous comment about the nut. If necessary you might consider using a longer piece to give additional thread engagement especially since you have "V" threads rather than "acme". The longer nut would give room for two more bolts and if you do that add the nub suggested above. Just trying to be helpful, not critical. Again, nice work!