OK...I need some knife makers input....Vice....

[Echo2]

I need to brainstorm some ideas around with those who do this type of work.

First....I am a metal fabricator....20+ years. I've built everything from a golf bag carrier for a Harley...to a 12' tall turkey.

I own my shop and what drop material I don't have in house....I can get in a couple phone calls.

I need to know what are the pros and cons of vices out there.

First....a couple examples of vices....

A:
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B:
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We will call the rotation points ....."base" for the table mount....and "head" for the vise itself.

I like the idea of the 360 swivel base on A....and feel it should be incorporated on both a table mount or a stand mount set up.

I like the square tube on B for the vice...due to the fact you don't have to find wood to match the radius of the pipe. Plus I can make a shim plate to go between the wood and the tightening bolts....to keep from destroying the wood.

I also like the dual tightening points on the B model.

QUESTIONS:

On the head....is it very important to have a infinite amount of lock points of rotation?....or have it lock in at 90 degree increments? (To say the blade when locked would be at either 12 o'clock, 3 o'clock, 6 o'clock, or 9 o'clock)

What would be a good working height? If that is subject to a lot of "personal preference"....what increments on height would you recommend?....2"....3"....4"?

What would be the better option? To have a "bolt to table top" base....and offer a "bolt to floor" extension.....or have a "bolt to floor" only, stand alone model.

Are there any types of "rests"....or "rest points"....you would like to see incorporated in to the vice head? Think something like a miniature "Reese Hitch" at 90 degree points from the tightening bolts. Something that you could use 1/2" x 1/2" square stock to make guides out of....and it would plug into the "Reese Hitch"......or is this a moot point? I was thinking "file guides"....but don't know if that would be useful.

What suggestions do you have?

Thanks....Echo2.

[kyratshooter]

Aged whisky, choice cigars and beautiful/intelligent women are my choices.

My grandad always told me to choose my vices carefully, I would have to live with them for a long time. But I think it was another type of vice he was talking about.

[canid]

I can't see that you would really need infinite granularity of locking positions. I would happily trade positive locking for fixed points. Anywhere between 45 and 10 degree increments would probably be adequate for my needs. You probably don't want users to be locked into 90 degree, or they might as well just use a conventional vice as I currently do. It seems like that would just come down in a vice like you've shown to the number of location of some type of detent holes, and those should be easy for a person like myself to add in any case. I suppose I tend to think more like an engineer/designer/fabricator than an end user personally.

A good working height can be worked out as follows. place your arms down by your sides, or just slightly forward and bend your elbows up until your forearms are parallel to the ground. within 6" up and down from that point should be comfortable to work at. This gives a good 12" range of decent working height. I would be inclined to be drawn towards a bench mounted vice, since my workbenches are at just shy of a comfortable working height to begin with, as I think they should be. I would say that no more than 3" granularity of adjustment would be good here.

A rest of some sort could probably be very useful e.g. as a file guide, though it's design would take some serious consideration, and it would be best completely removable without anything like a mounting bracket left behind to snag one's fingers on.

[crashdive123]

I need to brainstorm some ideas around with those who do this type of work.

First....I am a metal fabricator....20+ years. I've built everything from a golf bag carrier for a Harley...to a 12' tall turkey.

I own my shop and what drop material I don't have in house....I can get in a couple phone calls.

I need to know what are the pros and cons of vices out there.

First....a couple examples of vices....

A:
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B:
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We will call the rotation points ....."base" for the table mount....and "head" for the vise itself.

I like the idea of the 360 swivel base on A....and feel it should be incorporated on both a table mount or a stand mount set up.

Base rotation is important for me. You just never know where on a blade you will be working.

I like the square tube on B for the vice...due to the fact you don't have to find wood to match the radius of the pipe. Plus I can make a shim plate to go between the wood and the tightening bolts....to keep from destroying the wood.

I've never used a square model. As long as there is a way to rotate the square tube and still be able to put a reasonable amount of pressure on the blade without flexing the fixture it should work fine.

I also like the dual tightening points on the B model.

I do as well.

QUESTIONS:

On the head....is it very important to have a infinite amount of lock points of rotation?....or have it lock in at 90 degree increments? (To say the blade when locked would be at either 12 o'clock, 3 o'clock, 6 o'clock, or 9 o'clock)

Infinite IMO.

What would be a good working height? If that is subject to a lot of "personal preference"....what increments on height would you recommend?....2"....3"....4"?

Since I do a lot of my work standing, I may be a bad measure (pun intended). For a bench model I would think enough clearance to fit a hand below the knife being held in the vice while over the bench. For a floor model - adjustable.

What would be the better option? To have a "bolt to table top" base....and offer a "bolt to floor" extension.....or have a "bolt to floor" only, stand alone model.

For me - bolt to the table.

Are there any types of "rests"....or "rest points"....you would like to see incorporated in to the vice head? Think something like a miniature "Reese Hitch" at 90 degree points from the tightening bolts. Something that you could use 1/2" x 1/2" square stock to make guides out of....and it would plug into the "Reese Hitch"......or is this a moot point? I was thinking "file guides"....but don't know if that would be useful.

Need to think on this one.

What suggestions do you have?


Thanks....Echo2.

I like features of each - my comments in red.

[Echo2]

Thus far.....

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[Echo2]

Now a piece of tube steel like the black part of the blue vice.....will be welded to the 2" solid rod.....that will allow for 360 degree rotation of the vice.

The 3.5" pipe fits well into the 4" pipe....I may trim it down the 3.5".

This particular vice is for Crash...

How tall to center of rotation do you want it?...right now it's about 6.5".

The bottom plate will be about 8" x 8" x 1/4"......what size bolt do you want to use to anchor it?

[crashdive123]

Size sounds good. I'll leave the bolt size to your expertise.

[Winter]

I thought I had lost my mind. I couldn't find my reply.

I did reply to this thread at arfcom, Hahaha.

[Echo2]

Thus far....

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[crashdive123]

Liking the progress.

[Echo2]

It welded up nice....I'll post some more pics soon...

[Bush Monkey]

Looks good. This build is interesting...keep it going.

[Echo2]

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Closer....

[Echo2]

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[randallss7]

looks good, can you figure out how to put a couple hydrolic arms on it to do the sanding for you?

[crashdive123]

Hot diggity! I like it.

[Echo2]

This is what is in the box Crash.....Sorry it took me a while to get it all together.....Dropping it at post office today....

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vice base

vice turret

vice head

vice wrench

wood protection plate

rubber jaws

[finallyME]

Now that's just cool. Thanks for showing us.

[crashdive123]

Woo hoo! Looking forward to using it.

[crashdive123]

Got the vice today. I'll bet the post office regrets having their flat rate boxes when something like this is shipped.

The vice is incredible. It is built like a tank which allows some real pressure on the blade if necessary.

Wrench there is an r in there 2D2K

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Two pieces of wood, two pieces of rubber and metal plate to protect the wood when tightening.

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The head that holds the knife rotates 360 degrees.

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The base rotates 360 degrees.

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