Prismatic jaw for Panavise

[mklotz]

The Panavise is one of my most-used tools but its steel jaws cry out for some V-grooves for holding round stock. I made this little prismatic jaw...

with both horizontal and vertical V-grooves. The extra shallow ones are handy when gripping piano wire for bending or electrical wire for soldering.

The opposite side of jaw has alignment flanges to keep it from angling in the Panavise and a central 1/4" neodymium magnet cemented into a flat-bottom hole made with an endmill keeps the jaw from falling off the Panavise jaws.

And here it is in position, ready to go to work.

In this photo you can also see the extension handle I made for the Panavise positioning clamp. The original was too short and awkward to adjust in certain positions.

A note on those magnets...

I buy them from Michaels...

Shop for the ProMAG® Neodymium Magnets at Michaels

because they're exactly 1/4" diameter by 1/8" thick which means an endmill will produce exactly the hole needed to mount them flush in anything you're making. Also, they're super strong for their size.

Owning cheap plastic dial calipers, such as these...

https://www.amazon.com/Vernier-calip...c+dial+caliper

may seem odd for anyone used to precision work. Nevertheless they're great for measuring magnets if you don't want to risk your good calipers to a demagnetizer. Also, you can measure coin-sized batteries directly without fear of shorting them.