Do-it-yourself sponges for metalwork vise. Desktop locksmith vise - a device, do-it-yourself manufacturing

For sure, everyone who has solved any construction and household tasks with their own hands has a desktop vise, for sure. Hence, we are familiar with this tool. But today it is far from the only, although the most affordable version of this tool.

What are vices for?

Starting repair work, first of all, you have to think about the availability of construction tools and fixtures. Much in the economy cannot be done without this device, often a carpenter's vice is a holding link in any kind of processing of parts and materials. They are understood as a device that incorporates a body and two clamping jaws. The main purpose of this tool is to rigidly fix parts in such works as:

milling;
drilling;
planing.

The product is fixed by rotating the handle of the main screw. Instead, other mechanisms can be adapted, such as wedge, diaphragm, eccentric, pneumatic. In fact, this is the main locksmith tool. Good craftsmen know that if the workpiece is not firmly fixed, then the work will not turn out to be accurate and of high quality. Moreover, when the part is firmly fixed, the hands remain completely free, and this makes it possible to control the work process.

Bench vises and more - what are their common structural elements?

This tool is installed on any work surface, at home it can be a regular table or any flat surface. Although there are also manual vices that are not attached anywhere, but serve to qualitatively press several parts to each other. In their size, they can be large, medium and very small. The size of a large role in the operation of such a device does not play, just larger ones can hold larger parts.

This fixture is most often made of the following types: general purpose, locksmith's rotary vice for any shaped parts and pipe vice, which have additional jaws for pipes. Basically, all types are quite a bit different in their device. The vice consists of the following parts:

body parts;
lead screws;
lever;
lead screw nuts;
interchangeable straps.

Vice carpentry and machine tools - we study the species range

The most frequently used machine tools and locksmith fixtures. Rotary machine vices are designed to provide rigid fastening of parts during various construction works. They have a special turntable, it is needed to ensure free rotation of parts around a vertical axis. When the position is selected, the tool is fixed to the base with special bolts. The turntable should not be used continuously, otherwise the rigidity of the entire structure may be reduced.

Sinus vise is used when the workpiece needs to be set at an angle. First you need to calculate the required angle (while using a special formula) of the height of the stand, sometimes even a drawing is drawn, while the vice, when sold, comes with all the necessary details to bring the idea of the drawing to life. With their help, the part is installed on the movable part, that is, in the space between the cylindrical sleeve and the lower support.

Recently, two-position (cross) vices have been produced. They are very versatile and most popular with professionals. This device allows you to install parts with an inclination in 2 perpendicular planes. There is also another machine tool variety - a pattern vice, also called precision. They are used in the finishing of parts, when it is no longer necessary to fix the object strongly, because intensive physical operations will not be performed with it.

The peculiarity of a precision vise is that the connector is made there in such a way that it provides almost perfect parallelism and perpendicularity of the axes during fastening, therefore these tools are considered to be highly accurate.

If the parts need to be fixed at an angle in 3 planes, then you can not do without a three-coordinate vice. This is the most complex and expensive tool, but it has many possibilities. While working on such a vice, it is possible to use separate clamp halves. They are firmly fixed right there on the table. The fixation is strong due to one sponge, which has a very small stroke. Such a tool allows you to process two parts at once. This is convenient and helps improve productivity.

Locksmith vise - this is the same "grandfather" clamping tool. It is used when the part is dangerous or inconvenient to hold in hands during processing. They are adapted to work with soft materials such as plastic, wood and the like. All types of vices are available in different sizes. The difference may be the size of the movable sponges. The difference between machine tools is the height of the sponge, most often it is smaller. Locksmith vices also differ in rigidity, they, as a rule, should be more rigid.

Every owner wants to have a convenient carpentry vise in his workshop. This will allow you to process any parts or blanks made of wood or other soft material at any time. With their help, carving on wooden blanks is quickly performed. Many craftsmen replace this device with clamps. This is a bit inconvenient, they can slip off from time to time, and you only need to attach them to the bar. It is better to have a carpentry vise, and you can even make them yourself at home.

Homemade vise: minimum details - maximum effect

If you pay attention to the shop tools of this type, they are a body and a movable bar. She, in turn, can move along two guides. The tool must be screwed with screws and special bolts to the surface. Sponges are made in such a way that you can always attach different pads: wood, plastic or other soft material. Having considered the principle of operation and the device, it is quite possible to design a home-made vice.

The first step is to purchase the parts that make up the tool. You will need a screw with a thread of 20 mm and a thread length of 150 mm, it can be found in sports corners, it is usually inserted inside vertical tubes. Its purpose is to firmly press the structure to the ceiling. Preference should be given to the longest screws, this will increase the distance between the jaws. Studs are also needed, they are often found in old parts, but you can also buy in a store. If they were not found, then you can use similar fasteners, for example, pay attention to the mounts for mirrors on mopeds. Often there they are slightly curved, but they can be straightened out with a sledgehammer.

It is necessary that the head of the screw has a slot, because it often happens that it does not fit the size of the handles, but this is easy to fix, you need to use a round file: a few movements - and the hole is widened. A good handle for twisting can be a screw with a ring. Next, a fixed sponge is made, it can be made from. It must be firmly nailed to the surface of the table. But the movable part is made of a board, where the thickness is about 20 mm, and the width is 18 mm. The length of the movable sponges should be about 50 cm.

Holes are drilled in the boards using a pen. It needs to be adjusted to a diameter of 21 mm. The studs must also have holes, and they can be made using a conventional drill, where the diameter is 10 mm. In order to complete the work faster by making a vise with your own hands, and to get a more accurate result, it is advisable to hammer the boards together, and after completing the work, simply remove the nails. After the holes are ready, the studs and screws will only have to be inserted, all the nuts and bolts are also baited.

If you need to work with short workpieces, then you will only need to rearrange the studs. To do this, more holes must be drilled, and they must be close to the clamping screws. Depending on what parts will be selected, it is possible to make a vice of different sizes. This will allow you to work with boards of any length and with parts of different sizes and shapes. It is important that this tool is firmly attached during operation. Russian masters have always been famous for their ingenuity, which is not done by human hands. As they say in one phrase: "There would be a desire, and the rest is all trifles."

Locksmith vise is a necessary equipment in the workshop of any man, without which it is difficult to do in this or that type of work.

It is not at all necessary to place them in the garage; you can arrange a vise corner at home, for example, using a table or an ordinary stool for this.

Review content:

What are locksmith vise for?
The main types of locksmith vise
Work on the manufacture of locksmith vise at home
Classic Homemade Vise
DIY vise photo

What are locksmith vise for?

When processing or sharpening any part, it is necessary to fix it firmly and securely, that is, to keep it in a certain position. The photo of the vise shows the principle of operation of this equipment.

The parameters and dimensions of the vise are determined depending on what type of tool you need to firmly hold.

The design of the carpentry vise includes:

chassis screw;
handle;
movable and fixed sponge;
base plate.

The main types of locksmith vise

Beforehand, how to make a vise with your own hands, you need to decide on the choice of work related to them.

All types of vices are divided into two types:

non-rotary ones have a simpler design and are easiest to make yourself. The part is fixed strictly in one position.
swivel vices are most often adapted for drilling on a machine. During operation, it is possible to rotate the workpiece without unclenching it.

The material of the vise body is most often made of durable cast iron. It is important to know that cast iron is not intended for exposure to high temperatures; steel metal is suitable for these purposes.

If the work will be carried out with small-sized parts, you should not increase financial costs and make compact small vices.

A small vise with a ball joint base is useful on the farm for processing very small parts that can be fixed individually. These are mini-vises with suction cups, mounted on a glass or well-polished surface. But they are suitable for rare frivolous works.

Please note that it is wise to introduce soft nozzles on the fastener to work with soft parts so as not to provoke damage to them. A vise with the least backlash, with the jaws fully retracted, is ideal.

A vice without a rotary mechanism will significantly save money, unless, of course, it is useful in work.

Work on the manufacture of locksmith vise at home

Carpenter's vise, self-made at home, will significantly save the family budget at times than their store-ready "brothers". And a huge plus is that the product can be made according to personal preferences and for certain individual types of work.

It is absolutely easy to find material for construction, it can be: a part of a technical pipe, a used jack, old lathes, presses, etc.

And if you go to a metal collection point, there will undoubtedly be a suitable vise part that will cost you a penny.

Classic Homemade Vise

There are many types of vise, but the most popular and traditional is the steel material type. Such a vise will be much more reliable than bought factory-made.

The design consists of: Pay attention!

a steel plate of at least 3 mm., but it can be much thicker;
channel external and internal (120 and 100 mm.);
steel ears;
turning cutters 2 pieces;
a small piece of reinforcement (rod for the gate);
nut (2 pieces), stud or screw of a certain diameter that matches the bar;
washer (2 pieces) of the same diameter with a lead screw;
screw pair 335 mm;
a thick plate is needed to secure the undercarriage of the screw.

It is necessary to separate the lead screw with washers on both sides of the plate. One of the two washers must be secured with a cotter pin or a retaining ring so that the part is completely collapsible, you must first weld the thread from the screw to it.

The handle should also be collapsible on one side, and on the reverse side it should be welded with a nut. It is necessary to weld a nut with a channel from the screws flush to the plate. In order for the channel inside with the screw to move easier on the go, it is recommended to lightly process it with a file.

Sponges are welded to the so-called ears, made of turning tools. They are placed in the right place when the lead screw is screwed in, so the ears stand at an ideal distance from each other.

But you can also link them with wire for greater convenience, so in the future it will be more convenient to fix uneven parts, the shape of which is expanded to the bottom.

Such homemade vise allows you to process larger parts. Note!

To perform work in the home workshop, it is recommended to choose the simplest fixed vice for the machine.

It is not difficult to make them yourself, you just have to watch the video and recommendations, which can be easily found on the Internet and preliminarily correctly draw up drawings.

DIY vise photo

In the vastness of Runet, you can find statements like: "A real master makes a vice only on his own." What a real master will say about this is not difficult to imagine. He, an amateur or living by his own work, the pro knows perfectly well what tool and equipment is better to buy and what to make of it yourself. However, there are times when it makes sense to make a vice with your own hands. For example, for summer cottages (those bought there are idle for nothing in the winter, and they can be stolen), when working on the road and / or on occasion (I came to visit relatives, asked for help, but they are not artisans at all). Unfortunately, in the current situation with the tool, there is also a circumstance that makes you think: why not make the vise yourself?

Cast iron and steel

The details of the frame and the clamp of the bench vise are supposed to be made of structural cast iron - it rusts very badly, is hard and viscous, has a low TEC (thermal expansion coefficient), but most importantly, it is practically not subject to metal fatigue. Cast iron vise serve not decades - centuries. Since “the strength of the entire chain is determined by its weakest link”, the jaws of the vise and the lead screw-nut pair are made of tool steel of various grades. A simple structural one is too ductile, it leads strongly when welding, and it rusts easily. Therefore, leave a homemade vise like those in fig. below, wintering in the country is not recommended - over the winter they can become completely unusable.

But this is not the essence of the problem. And the fact is that now, at a vise purchased at an affordable price, the paws of the sponges often break already at the first clamp; at best, with regular use, the vise will last six months to a year. Upon examination of the fracture, it turns out that they are made of simple gray cast iron. The paws do not break, so the running pair wears out - the thread there is of the usual triangular profile (see below), and the steel, it seems, is no better than St44. And the prices for certified vices with full specifications and a guarantee… let's not talk about sad things, let's remember something good from the past. As a result, the question arises: is it worth it to make a vise yourself at home? Not to mention the case when it is necessary to clamp the workpiece, but at least there are no vices within reach. They will not be better, so at least they will cost less. Or for nothing, if there are suitable trimmings of the metal profile in the trash, see, for example, the plot:

Video: homemade vise in half a day from scrap metal

Primitive from a log

Most material handling operations require clamping the workpiece, and your own arms and legs are by no means the most suitable fixture for this. Therefore, let's start with a vise from a wooden block of wood. For their manufacture, you will need 4+ weaving nails or 150-200 mm and an ax. A rip saw wouldn't hurt either, if you have one. The sight of such a device in a modern person will cause either laughter or horror, but the ancestors of the Stone Age would shed a tear of tenderness over him - a vise from a block of wood holds irregularly shaped blanks of almost any material quite reliably.

How to make a vise from a wooden block is shown in the figure:

A piece of good straight-grain log/log is split (sawn) as shown on the left in the figure; a crooked chip can be roughly hewn to a plane. The fixed sponge and the thrust heel are attached to the "bed" with nails; the ancients fastened them with sharp splinters of hard wood. Nails are driven in obliquely so that the clamping force pulls them more than bends them.

The movable sponge slides freely on the bed. Clamp - wedge; the wedge can be a bough at the end or a pair of them. Some skill is required to properly trim the wedge(s): too sharp will tip the movable jaw onto the workpiece, while too blunt will push it (sponge) up. But the clamped workpiece is held quite securely due to the elasticity and viscosity of the tree. So reliable that a wedge has to be knocked out to free the workpiece.

Note: long workpieces can be fixed with a pair or more of the same vise.

What to expect from homemade

The device described is, of course, temporary - all its details are quickly soaked, even if the tree presses the tree. Therefore, we will first deal with the question: what kind of homemade vise should be made?

Clamping fixtures of various kinds in technology are used innumerable; patents for them number in the thousands and tens of thousands. It makes sense to make a vice on your own, firstly, the most common. Secondly, they do not require special materials, production equipment and complex technologies for the manufacture.

Ordinary locksmith vise (pos. 1 in the figure) will have to be made fixed. Otherwise, you will have to look for either a ready-made pair of neck-skirt (see below), which, moreover, can be taken away during assembly by welding, or the opportunity to use a shaping machine (simply - shaping). Of which there are very few left on the go, labor- and energy-intensive shaping processing is increasingly being replaced by precision casting, stamping and robots.

Note: in a shaping machine, the workpiece is clamped motionless, and the cutter, rotating, moves along the longitudinal and transverse axes. In screw-cutting and carousel lathes, the workpiece is clamped in a rotating spindle (on a carousel table in a carousel) and the cutter moves in a longitudinal-transverse (in a lathe) or vertical-transverse plane. It didn’t occur to you to think about how the flanges / necks of curved cast pipes, casings of centrifugal “snail” pumps, etc. are turned. details of a complex configuration? On shaping.

Adjustable (mobile) mini-vices, pos. 2 seems to be simpler, but their manufacture requires especially high-quality and, accordingly, difficult-to-process materials. The fact is that the clamping force of the hand vice is determined by the muscular strength of the worker. And the cross section of the parts of the vise with a decrease in their size falls according to a quadratic law, i.e. fast. Paws most often break off just at the mini-vice. However, expanding their functionality on their own is just not difficult, see below.

Ordinary joiner's vice, pos. 3, are part of the carpentry workbench and are inoperable without it. But then we will look at how to make a Moxon vise for woodworking, turning any desktop (including at least a written one) into an almost full-fledged carpentry workbench.

That's what a home master really needs to do on his own is a single-coordinate machine vice (a simple fixed table) to a drilling machine, pos. 4. They can also be used independently (separately from the machine) for a wide variety of jobs. The material for machine tools is suitable for ordinary commercially available; work on the manufacture of machine vices that are not inferior to branded vices requires literally nothing.

Jewelry vise hand (pos. 5) and desktop (pos. 6) - the most convenient things for small precision work. But alas, for their manufacture, special materials and equipment are needed, which are available at any general engineering plant. At home, you can make good substitutes for vise-“frogs”, pos. 7, which, by the way, are often included in the set of desktop jewelry vise, pos. eight.

But with an angle vice (pos. 9) for clamping parts connected at an angle, the matter, as they say, is deaf. It is possible to make their likeness with your own hands (pos. 10), but, firstly, it turns out that it is very difficult to provide a clamp already at a fixed angle of exactly 90 degrees, and if it is possible, then the angle then quickly “floats”. There is no need to talk about homemade angle vise with adjustable clamping angle. The same applies to 2-3 coordinate manual machine vise (pos. 11-14) and, for example, devices for knitting fishing flies (pos. 15), which are no longer a vise, but a highly specialized machine.

Locksmiths

The device of manual metalwork vice is shown in fig. The shaped nut of the screw is fixedly fixed in the bed tunnel; it also includes a clamp shank, called a slider. The sections of the tunnel and the slider are also shaped (complex configuration) and correspond to each other.

As already mentioned, you will have to refuse to turn the vise in a horizontal plane: for this you need to grind a neck on the base plate, and a skirt on the bottom of the bed. Super precision is not needed for this, but special equipment is required, see above.

The second problem is paws with sponges. The paws must be very rigid so that they do not succumb to the reaction of the clamped part, and at the same time viscous so that they do not break. Therefore, the cheapest material for the paws of a good vise, together with the clamp and the bed, is structural cast iron, but it is poorly processed, and the clamp with the bed is cast. At home, you can’t put a cupola furnace or an electric furnace at 1700-1800 degrees, so we forget about casting ferrous metals.

However, cast iron is also very hard, rather brittle, and therefore paws without sponges can either spoil the part or crumble on it themselves. Jaws made of hard wear-resistant and at the same time very flexible special steel solve the problem. From it, it would be possible to make all the vise, but then their price ... You did not come across desktop vices at a price of at. $1 for also 1mm wide jaws? This is all-steel, and we need to think about how to make a frame and a vice clamp, suitable for at least occasional use, from ordinary structural steel.

running pair

But here's where problems arise that seem insurmountable, so it's running a pair of vise. It seems nothing complicated: a screw with a nut or a threaded hole in the bed. A groove is machined in the neck of the screw; it seems to be possible to select it with a needle file by clamping a screw wrapped in thin aluminum by the thread into the chuck of a drilling machine or a drill fixed on the table. In the clamp (or in the slider of the vise assembled from separate parts), the screw is fixed with a fork, see fig. on right.

The whole point is that all these parts have to take on huge workloads. If you lean on the collar with a force of approx. 20 kgf (nonsense for an adult normal man), then more than 120-130 kgf / sq. mm. In total, so that the vice does not wear out very quickly, the screw, nut and fork must be made of steel with a yield strength of more than 150 kgf / sq. mm; for a conventional structural thread, it is less than 100. And a conventional metric thread of a triangular profile will quickly collapse or merge.

Drawings of the lead screw of a locksmith vice with a width of jaws up to 180 mm are given in the figure:

One critical point is bypassed here: instead of a groove on the neck, there are a pair of bushings made of ordinary steel. In this case, the fork grip can also be made from it. The details of the screw retainer will have to be changed periodically, but this is still all right. But how to cut a D20 trapezoidal thread? Looking for a running pair from an old vise? So in them with a 99.0% probability it is the “stroke” that is worn out, and the cast-iron frame, clamp and plate are still quite serviceable.

Not everything is so bad

The lead screw and nut to it for occasional use of vices with a width of jaws up to 150 mm can be found in almost any hardware, tool or hardware store or at the iron market. New, the fly did not sit. Where? From fasteners designed for a load of at least 450-460 kgf. The nodes are very responsible, and the steel on them is just right, even better - the running pair of vices, which are not worked intensively, will be quite durable and with a conventional metric thread.

The cheapest option is the ring anchor for hanging heavy chandeliers or multifunctional simulators from the ceiling and walls, at the top in fig. below. Make sure that the screw is either cast, or the joint of the ring and the neck is welded on it (shown by the red arrow). Anchor rings are available up to M22 up to 450 mm long - make a vise what you want. Anchor-ring M12x150 holds a load of 480 kgf, and M16x220 for a 150-mm vice is also suitable with a margin.

The second option, “the fly didn’t sit class,” will cost more, but, possibly, at the price of scrap metal - if it’s broken. This is a hook-ring lanyard, below in fig. Of course, the annular part (shown by the green arrow) comes into play. The advantage is that you will immediately have an excellent wear-resistant nut. The disadvantage is the shorter length and, accordingly, the stroke of the vise jaws: the screws of the turnbuckle for 200 threaded lengths are slightly more than 100 mm.

Note: some disadvantages of both - the vise knob will have to be turned for a long time each time, because. standard metric thread pitch approx. three times smaller than the special trapezoid. With a running pair, it will be necessary to periodically lubricate with grease or other grease - “dry” vise with such a running pair spins tightly, but does not press well.

Sponges

Fig. below. True, there is a mistake - lock nuts are also needed M16. The rear of them along the screw is screwed on first and welded to the stud. Then the pin with the rear washer put on is inserted into the clamp, which in this case is also the slider (“moving part” in the figure); the front washer is put on, the front nut M16 is screwed on and welded, and the eye for the collar is welded; this is an M18 nut. Bed ("moving part") - square corrugated pipe 120x120x4; the slider is also a square professional pipe 100x100x3.

So far so good, but the sponges are also from a professional pipe. Their working surfaces are smooth, but corrugated ones are needed, but this is not so bad. And the trouble is that even from a slight pressure, the sponges will irreversibly disperse (added to the figure). Jaws inside or outside will not help - the metal itself is not suitable. The reader may have already guessed - since the problem is described, there is a way out. Even two, see below and next. chapter.

Note: the advantage of a metalwork vise from segments of professional pipes is cheapness. Suitable pieces are likely to be found in any heap of scrap metal, see for example. video below:

Video: homemade vise from pipe scraps

The first is also from Runet: paws and sponges from the shanks of turning tools for metal. On paws - thicker incisors; on the lips - less. But this, in general, is not an option. Tool steel is very difficult to machine. Almost all that can be done with it in a home workshop is to saw off the shanks with a grinder, weld sponges to the paws and all together to the frame and clamp. Tool steel from welding almost does not lead. But it also boils badly: ready-made paws with sponges, welding them to professional pipes, will have to be heated in such a way that the frame / clamp will unacceptably lead. And the times are not the same now when worn-out cutters could be collected at a factory dump, and defective ones could be bought for a penny at the Young Technician store. With the spread of electric arc melting of metals in the world, tool steel has become a valuable secondary raw material, and at enterprises, turned-out tools are accounted for by the piece. So let's move on to the second one.

Machine tools

As mentioned above, it is most profitable to make a machine vice with your own hands. They greatly simplify drilling work, and almost any of the available materials is suitable for a machine vice: from a channel, see the video:

Video: simple channel vice

to plywood, see plot:

Video: plywood joinery vice for a drilling machine

And again sponges

The strength and stability of the jaws for a machine vice is even more important than for a locksmith: if a drill (cone cutter, milling cutter) turns a part out of them, this is fraught with serious injury. And so, we return to the question above: what to make vise jaws from? From the corner from 40x40x4. In this case, the entire sponge will work not in shear, but in bending, which the metal resists much more strongly. This is the case when less iron is stronger.

But not every corner of the same size is suitable. The drawn and cold-rolled corner (pos. A and B in the figure below) is unsuitable - the metal is rather weak. Sponges and home-made and metalwork, and machine vices must be made from a hot-rolled corner (pos. B). First of all, it is much stronger. Secondly, a number of its standard sizes is wider: if the thickness of the flange of a cold-rolled general-purpose corner is up to 0.1 of the width of the smaller one, then for a hot-rolled corner it is up to 0.2b. That is, you can find a hot-rolled corner, say, 60x60x12 - vice jaws from it will be quite reliable.

A hot-rolled corner is easy to recognize by the type of cut: the entire edge of the outer corner is always sharp (shown by an arrow on the left in the next figure), and inside it there is a fillet larger than that of a cold-rolled corner. If the vise is assembled by welding, both an equal-angle and an unequal-angle corner will do. If you assemble them on bolts, it is better to use an unequal one with a ratio of the widths of the shelves (1.5-2) / 1 (a / b \u003d 1.5 ... 2/1). In this case, a large shelf is laid horizontally!

A diagram of the device for a home-made machine vice from a bolted corner is given in the center in fig; on the right - drawings of their general view. The slider and the bracket for the clamping screw are bent from a steel strip with a thickness of 1.5 mm or more. The screw in it can be fixed with a groove, because. its fixation works only when the movable jaw is retracted and is negligibly loaded. On the clamp, the tail of the screw rests directly on the sponge; the screw itself is M16-M20. For more on homemade machine vise from the corner, see the video:

Video: simple vise for a drilling machine

Improving the mini

You can’t really improve modern mini-vices, but if you come across or already have old Soviet ones (for example, pos. A in the figure on the right):

Their functionality can be significantly expanded in this way:

The flare of the shank of the set screw is drilled out (carefully, not completely!) Holding the plate of the set clamp. You need to drill with a drill with short “pokes” obliquely from different sides.
The cymbal is removed and the mounting clamp screw is unscrewed (do not lose it or the cymbal).
A bolt hole is drilled in the section of the channel with the same thread as on the clamp screw.
The vise is mounted on the resulting stand and fixed with a lock nut (pos. B).
A blind axial hole for the M2-M3 thread is drilled in the clamp screw through the rest of the shank. It is not difficult to do this, because. a conical recess remained in the peg from the shank.
A thread is cut in the axial hole.
The plate is put back into place and is kept from falling out with a cone head screw (shown by an arrow in pos. B).
The clamp screw is determined for storage in a stash, excuse me, a storeroom.

Thus, we get, neither more nor less - a turntable for small drilling work. True, without an angular divider, but instead of it, a protractor can be adapted to the base of the channel, and an arrow-pointer to the vice bracket. The resulting accuracy of 1 degree for home amateur work is enough. And if you remove the vise from the base and replace the clamping screw, they can be used for their original purpose.

Making a frog

Jewelry vise in amateur work, as mentioned above, is in most cases interchangeable with a frog vise; they can also be clamped in a conventional vise. Its best home-made option is if your pliers or other pliers have a broken handle, at the top in fig. To drill the jaws of the pliers, you need to purchase a carbide twist drill - the usual one for metal will not take them.

Homemade vice-“frogs” (locksmith clamps)

A simple replacement, if the pliers still do not break, is a frog-vice made of oak or beech bars, a steel bracket, overhead jaws from a steel angle and fasteners, at the bottom left in fig. A simpler option is a frog from a door or small barn hinge, at the bottom right. But over it will have to puff, using the usual vise. It may be necessary to release the workpiece, heating it red-hot and then slowly cooling it down.

joinery

Moxon's carpentry vise is designed for itinerant joiners and carpenters. In Europe, the USA and Canada, this is a rather sought-after specialty: at local prices for lumber, many customers require the master to work with them on site and leave the smallest trimmings, up to sawdust and shavings, to the owner. A pair of Moxon vices, which makes it possible to work with long materials, can be carried in the trunk of a car, on a bicycle, scooter and carried in a bag. Amateurs immediately appreciated the find - Moxon's vise allows you to quickly and reversibly turn any more or less durable table into a carpentry workbench.

The appearance and method of fastening the Moxon mobile carpentry vice are shown on the left and in the center in fig. On the right - the device of their amateur version for fastening to the table tightly.

The Moxon vise has spawned many modifications. Drawings of one of them, a very simple and convenient carpentry vice of only 3 boards and a pair of clamps, are shown in fig. Further. True, in fact, you will need 2 more short clamps to attach the vise to the table. The extra 4 clamps (also not a very cheap pleasure in our time) can be overhead for an amateur. But for a carpenter - an individual entrepreneur working on call, such a vise is a godsend, they can be disassembled and carried with you in an ordinary duffel bag.

The presence of a vice allows you to expand the range of work, increase their efficiency. After all, securely fixed parts are easier to process, their quality is higher. Depending on the work being carried out, the characteristics of the processed objects, a vice of certain sizes and parameters is selected. These can be small models that easily fit on the kitchen table, stool and more massive for large parts. Any of them, with a little ingenuity and diligence, you can make yourself.

Features of the assembly of clamping devices

A vice is used to hold various parts in a given position, which facilitates and increases the accuracy of their processing. All of them are divided into two groups: carpentry and metalwork. The latter are primarily designed to work with soft materials: wood, plastic, etc. Machine tools are used to work with hard materials, so the clamping jaws have a lower protrusion height for ease of processing products.

When making a vice at home, you can make any changes to the design of the standard model in order to optimally adapt it to your needs. For example, for processing small parts, provide for a rotary mechanism. When planning to make a vice with your own hands, pay attention to the following nuances:

Material. To increase the reliability and durability of the product, high-quality steel is chosen.
Product size. If you have to process mainly small parts, then it is better to make a compact model.
Thread pitch. The fine thread ensures efficient clamping and smooth running.
Sponges. Their size and shape are chosen taking into account the material, type of workpieces. Flat jaws do less damage to soft materials.

Tubular vise design

Homemade clips can be made from any improvised materials. For example, the construction of metal pipes is quite simple and effective. To do this, it is necessary to select pipes in such a way that one of them fits snugly into the other. Productsmust be solid-drawn without an internal weld. The size is arbitrary, since it is selected based on the purpose of the clamping device and the characteristics of the workpieces.

The production order will be as follows:

From the bottom of the pipe of a larger diameter, which will serve as the basis of the structure, supports are welded. On the back side there is a rear wall made of 3-5 mm thick steel sheet, with a pre-drilled hole and a welded running nut. Opposite the front support, a rear fixed jaw is welded at the top point.
On the outer side of the movable pipe, another steel plug 3-5 mm thick is welded. To move it, a mount is made from a stud, lock nuts and thrust washers. At the protruding end of the stud, an eye is welded to insert the collar. At the top of the movable tube is attached to the front sponge.
At the final stage, hardened steel plates with pre-cut notches are screwed onto the jaws. Their presence will increase the clamping area and ensure reliable fixation of the processed objects.

All moving parts, inner tube surface, stud threads, are lubricated with a low-fluidity grease to facilitate movement.

Similarly, clamps are made from a square or rectangular profile. Their main advantage is the longitudinal movement of the moving part in the absence of rotation, which is typical for a tubular structure.

Vise from the corners

Simple locksmith vise can be made from metal corners of any size. In addition to them, you will need the following materials and tools:

a metal rod with a diameter of 20 mm for the manufacture of a lead screw;
pins for guides in the amount of two units, but in a simpler design they are not used;
bolts, nuts, washers;
electric drill, welding machine, hammer, file, hacksaw.

The sequence of actions will be as follows:

A lead screw is made from a rod. Since it is difficult to make a screw of the required characteristics at home, it is better to entrust this operation to specialists.
A base is created from two longitudinal and transverse corners, in the lower part, plates with ready-made holes are necessarily welded through which the machine vice will be attached to any stable surface.
The fixed jaw is already welded and is part of the base. Therefore, having drilled a hole of the required size (equal to the diameter of the screw) in it, a nut is welded under the lead screw. The thread can be cut directly in the body of the angle, but the nut is a more reliable option..
The movable sponge is made separately, necessarily providing for a fastening mechanism. To do this, a U-shaped plate is welded on the reverse side. At the end of the screw, a hole is drilled for the stud, which fixes the pre-inserted washer.
On the sides of the jaws, guide pins are fastened, but their presence is not a prerequisite.

At the last stage, having fixed the finished product to the working base, the operation of all mechanisms is checked.

It is unlikely that in the home workshop there will be a more necessary device than a bench vise. Even if you mainly work with wood, sometimes you will not be able to do without a vise. And if you don’t have a workshop, garage or corner in the apartment where you can repair simple household utensils, having a small bench vise can help out a lot in many situations, turning a kitchen table or even a stool into a mini-workshop.

First of all, about the appointment. The task of the vise is to securely fix and hold the part or workpiece during its processing with various tools. Depending on what objects mainly need to be fixed in a vice and what tools you have to work with them, the design parameters of the vice vary. But the most universal and most common look like this:

The basis of any vice is a screw pair. In most cases, the screw is fixed in the movable part of the vise body, and the nut is fixed in the fixed part, which is either directly or through a rotary mechanism attached to the bench or a special stand that ensures the immobility of the vice during any operations with the part fixed in them.

Types of locksmith vise

In addition to having a solid base, you need to be clear about the kind of work you will be doing and match your choice of bench vise with it. First of all, it concerns the material of the case. In the post-Soviet space, it is more often cast iron.

This material is hard, wear-resistant, but rather brittle. Therefore, if you are not going to bend thick steel blanks with a sledgehammer without serious preliminary heating, then feel free to take such a vise, and if you are going to, then it is better to look for steel ones.

If you need to regularly fasten cylindrical workpieces in such a desktop vise, then it is advisable to make an overlay for a sponge with a triangular cutout. And if such operations are quite frequent, then we advise you to consider options for the design of a locksmith vice, somewhat different from the standard ones.

In general, if we talk about the functionality of a bench vise, then first of all you should think about the size. If you know for sure that you will not have to work with large parts, then do not pay for extra metal, and perhaps even consider a compact machine vice.

Or vice versa - it is possible to work with large-sized parts, but without much effort in their processing. Then we can consider the option of a vise with the possibility of preliminary spreading of the jaws without using a lead screw.

If you do not have a workbench, and there are also more operations in the list of works that do not require the application of brute physical force to the workpieces, then the option with a desktop vise secured with various clamps is yours.

True, the latter are mini-presses, it is better to have them on the farm as additional ones. You can’t clamp large parts in them, and you won’t put serious efforts on the workpiece being processed - there is not enough clamp pressure to hold the vices themselves, but making a key to the lock according to the model is just that.

In addition, such vices are sometimes indispensable if you need to unscrew a stuck nut when you can use them as a hand tool. Despite the miniature size, the pressing of the sponges is very good.

It is also worth mentioning a small vice on a ball joint, which serve for the convenience of processing very small parts of complex configuration, allowing the processing of various surfaces of the part from one fastening.

It is clear that the clamping force of the ball joint is not enough for serious physical exertion, so such a vise is suitable for rather specific types of work. The same, in our opinion, not very serious, will be vices with fastening with a suction cup.

For their more or less reliable fastening, either a well-polished surface or glass is needed. On other surfaces, it is unlikely that they will be able to securely fix them. And their functionality is also small.

For all types of locksmith vise, you will obviously need additional pads to secure parts made of soft materials.

Some bench vices have a pneumatic drive, which greatly facilitates the process of securing the workpiece.

But if you don’t have a metalwork mini-production at home, then such a vise is unlikely to be useful to you.

What else is important to know when choosing a bench vise? There are quite a lot of complaints from users about Chinese vise with cast-iron bodies, equipped with clamps for fastening - they often break off, so if you want a cheap vise from China, then it’s better to choose from steel.

Choose a vise that, with the jaws as wide as possible, has the least play between the parts of the body. Also, if you do not need a rotary mechanism at the base of the vise for work, choose a model without it: save money and increase structural rigidity.

How to make a bench vise with your own hands

The question is: why, with such an abundance of sizes, shapes and configurations of locksmith vices offered by the distribution network, engage in their independent implementation. When making a bench vice with your own hands, you can save up to 10 times in cost, as well as make a device with the specified parameters.

And this is absolutely real, because almost everything that can be useful for making a desktop vise can be found at scrap metal collection points for mere pennies.

This is especially noticeable in the photograph, in which parts of a sanitary pipe valve with a flywheel are used as a screw pair.

You can also take a screw pair from an old vertical jack. Even if part of the thread has already worn out slightly, then, as a rule, this is a small area from the edge of the screw, which will already need to be cut to shorten it. The lead screws of old lathes, screw presses, etc. are also very durable.

At worst, for very little money, you can order a turner at the nearest vocational school such a pair with a wide nut, with a conventional metric thread. Just make the diameter bigger, and the nut wider. In this case, the clamping force is redistributed over a sufficiently large area due to the diameter of the screw and the number of turns.

As a last resort, just buy a larger stud in a hardware store, and a high nut to it, or 3 ordinary pieces, which you then weld in series, wound onto the stud.

The classic version of homemade desktop vise

From the photograph, steel parts are clearly guessed, almost always easily selected at the nearest second-hand metal:

steel plate 200 x 200 3 - 6 mm thick (possibly thicker);
2 channels (120 mm - external, 100 mm - internal) with a length of 160 mm and 300 mm, respectively, in your case, the dimensions may be different depending on the length of the lead screw;
steel ears from some large-sized container;
2 worn turning tools;
a bar for a crank, in this case a piece of reinforcement;
screw or stud corresponding to the diameter of the bar, and 2 nuts;
2 washers, with a diameter corresponding to the diameter of the lead screw;
screw pair - any of those described (in this case, ordered by a turner), 335 mm long;
strong plate for fastening the lead screw.

The lead screw is separated from the plate on both sides by washers, one of which is welded to it from the side of the threaded part, although with this diameter it can be fixed with a cotter pin or lock ring. Then this assembly will be completely collapsible, which is clearly better for reasons of maintainability.

The handle on one side is damped with a welded nut, and on the other side it is made collapsible after welding a thread from a screw of the appropriate diameter to it.

The nut from the screw pair is welded to the base plate flush with the 120th channel.

For the normal entry of the inner channel with the lead screw fixed on it, its ribs need to be slightly filed.

Ears with jaws welded to them, made of cut turning tools, must be positioned with the lead screw screwed in. So they will take the exact place. You can even twist the sponges together with soft wire, ensuring their perfect relative position.

You can also pre-cut them with an angle grinder with a metal cutting disc.

Due to this fastening of the jaws, namely the shape of the hooks and the distance between them, it is possible to fasten non-standard parts expanded to the bottom in such a vice.

And the maximum thickness of workpieces processed in this vice is very impressive. And there is no need to talk about the maintainability of such equipment - you can see for yourself.

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