3 inch vise

This is my big vise. It’s mostly a smaller imitation of a Rhodes 5” shaper vise but it operates from either end and can be clamped in some different positions.

Like on the Rhodes the moving jaw swivels to hold irregular and tapered work, and the jaw turns backwards to hold shorter, narrower stuff. It can also hold small cylinders on end using a built in vee.

Members here on homemadetools.net have made better and more original versions of its features - Rossbotic’s round stock vise holds a much greater range of round stuff repeatably, Rick Sparber’s lock down shaper vise has a more robust connection between the jaw and nut, and Toolmaker51’s self-aligning clamping pad does much more than the swiveling jaw. I even planned to make a base to mount it on end like Tuomas’ fixed and improved drill press vise - either horizontally on my shaper instead of a table, or vertically on my mill instead of an angle plate but the extra thickness might be too much.

It works okay, though! The jaws are 3” wide and 7/8” tall, and open to 3-1/8” in three steps, which is about the same capacity as the 3” original vise for my Atlas horizontal mill. Its overall height is 1-3/4”.

Attachment 25012
As a milling vise

Attachment 25013
As a shaper vise

Attachment 25014
With 1-1/2” and 2” vises

Attachment 25015
Rhodes 5” vise, from their crank shaper brochure

Attachment 25016
Easy 1/4” handles

Attachment 25017
Easy 3/8” square sockets

Attachment 25018
Dimensions

Attachment 25019
Parts

Attachment 25020
Comparison with the Atlas shaper vise

Attachment 25021

Quote:

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Originally Posted by threesixesinarow

This is my big vise. It’s mostly a smaller imitation of a Rhodes 5” shaper vise but it operates from either end and can be clamped in some different positions.

Like on the Rhodes the moving jaw swivels to hold irregular and tapered work, and the jaw turns backwards to hold shorter, narrower stuff. It can also hold small cylinders on end using a built in vee.

Members here on homemadetools.net have made better and more original versions of its features - Rossbotic’s round stock vise holds a much greater range of round stuff repeatably, Rick Sparber’s lock down shaper vise has a more robust connection between the jaw and nut, and Toolmaker51’s self-aligning clamping pad does much more than the swiveling jaw. I even planned to make a base to mount it on end like Tuomas’ fixed and improved drill press vise - either horizontally on my shaper instead of a table, or vertically on my mill instead of an angle plate but the extra thickness might be too much.

It works okay, though! The jaws are 3” wide and 7/8” tall, and open to 3-1/8” in three steps, which is about the same capacity as the 3” original vise for my Atlas horizontal mill. Its overall height is 1-3/4”.

Attachment 25012
As a milling vise

Attachment 25013
As a shaper vise

Attachment 25014
With 1-1/2” and 2” vises

Attachment 25015
Rhodes 5” vise, from their crank shaper brochure

Attachment 25016
Easy 1/4” handles

Attachment 25017
Easy 3/8” square sockets

Attachment 25018
Dimensions

Attachment 25019
Parts

Attachment 25020
Comparison with the Atlas shaper vise

Attachment 25021

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Nice work!!

threesixesinarow,

That is a very nice job on the vise. I really appreciate the hand scraping as a finishing touch. I always like seeing your work!

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Thanks, Stevohdee, and thanks, Dick, I appreciate it.

You two might recognize what the gears are in the second picture.

⁃ Clark

It goes without saying the appreciation for the pics of your vise. But I want to go beyond that to say a big Thank You for pulling all the relevant links together in your write up. Your intent was clearly to make life easier for others who may want more background with the possibly of even more design improvements.

It is a common theme in this wonderful, world-wide, community.

Nice work!

So why this pattern instead of a screwless vise? Was easy access to the leadscrew a primary motivation?

Ummm... Mini lathe speed selection gears?? One is made from some sort of fibre material?

Great job
I really like the ability to angle the jaw for taper work, thanks for sharing and your comments

Doug

Thanks, Saltfever - yes, and I hope I haven’t missed anyone!

Thanks, wizard69,

It is a little like a screwless vise, isn’t it? Those look handy but it’s hard to choose just one vise! There seems to be an endless variety of ones that have already been made.

In this case it was a little easier deciding what features I wanted.

My two other machine vises need stuff to be pretty close to flat and parallel in order to grip it securely. A lot of the time it’s easy just to shim them but their small size often prevents using much extra between their jaws. Their size makes up for their limited mounting options, though.

This one allows some different approaches, like you pointed out including how to tighten it, which is important on my small Atlas mill with a one-slot table. At the time I made it it was only capable of taking reasonable cuts using the horizontal spindle which meant setup could be very awkward, so I tried to work out a combination of solutions for things that were tricky to do other ways.

:eek:
Attachment 25041

Thanks, Doug, and thank you for sharing your exemplary projects.

The vise for the Drummond shaper had a similar swiveling jaw, and it looks like you can still buy the Record 414.