Rossbotics Universal Vise

[Tek12h]

After finishing the angle dresser a few months back I found Doug’s universal vise and had to have the plans for it.
It was challenging, as mr bozo always shows up in the shop. Upon completion it has been super handy to have for grinding my 5/8-3/4 lathe tools on the grinder vs hand grinding them.


I used 4140 for all parts except the base, in which case I just some 1018.

The base was simple milling, squaring it up and drilling a clearance hole with counterbore. I did not get any pictures of that.

Starting on the uprights that hold the rounds that swivel. Both pieces needed the same milling done to them. 1” bore through the center and radius at the top.








After finishing the base, and the uprights I moved onto the lathe as there was a lot of work to do. Had to turn down the boss for mounting onto uprights, and make sure it was a good tight fit that still allowed swivel.





While at the lathe I knocked out a shoulder bolt to bolt the vise to the base as well. Ross includes prints for the bolt too.


I made 2 different tool holders for the vise, one is smaller that allows me to hold 5/16-3/8 tools for grinding, the other is for 5/8-3/4 tools.




Once I finished with the turning and milling of the rounds, it was time to make the graduation marks around them. This vise will swivel, so you use graduation marks to set your desired angle. In the prints that were included Ross uses his homemade dividing head/numeral stamping machine to setup for that operation. I pondered on the situation and realized I had a 5C spindex, and it worked out perfect! I got all the graduations done, however I still don’t have any good way to mark the numerals.




Now it’s time for assembly, and test fitting all the pieces before grinding.



I got a couple of shots of grinding the tool holder, I had more but they’ve disappeared from my card.


After a long few days, some mishaps, and yelling later....it’s completed and ready to be used
Overall I’m happy with the outcome, although I wish I would’ve took my time a bit more on the washers and getting them to a nice polish. The tool was a blast to build and it’s already been put to use along with the angle dresser!

Thanks for checking it out! And thanks to Doug for allowing the homemadetools community access to his plans!