What is the purpose and arrangement of various types of locksmith's vice?

Classic homemade vise

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

The structure consists of:

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

It is necessary to separate the lead screw with washers from both sides on the 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 first need to weld the thread from the screw to it.

The handle should also be collapsible on one side, and on the other side it should be welded with a nut. A nut with a channel from the screws must be welded to the flush plate. To make the channel inside with the screw easier to move on the move, it is recommended to lightly process it with a file.

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

Such a homemade vise allows you to handle larger parts.

To perform work in a home workshop, it is recommended to choose the simplest non-rotating vice for the machine.

They are not at all difficult to make on your own, you just have to watch the video and recommendations, which can be easily found on the Internet and competently draw up drawings beforehand.

How to make a do-it-yourself locksmith vice

After an approximate choice of the type of product, we determine the drawing (sketch, diagram).

So, you need to choose a material (finished product) for:

• jaws - mobile and motionless. Usually this is a corner, channel, less often a rail or strip;
• bases - strip, rectangular pipe, channel, massive part (cast or stamped);
• guide movable jaw. Most often it repeats the shape and material of the sponge itself, it is mounted on the edge of the base;
• lead screw. Rods with metric, rectangular or trapezoidal threads are used. The running nuts are selected accordingly;
• attachments to the table. A screw clamp or plate with holes for direct screwing to a table / workbench will do.

If you can find drawings with dimensions for making a vice with your own hands, it is better to use the already developed option. If not, you will have to personally combine the real parts of the cuttings of pipes / channel / angle / plates with the desired dimensions.

A diagram of a machine vise, made by hand from pipes and a corner, is shown below.

If there are no suitable pipes, you can make a homemade vise from the channel. The U-shaped part will be movable, hiding in itself the lead screw and nuts, and either a larger channel (if it is possible to select two profiles with a relatively loose fit) or a welded structure made of corners will press it to the base plate.

Specialized fixtures

We looked at options for how to make a classic vise. However, for a full-fledged locksmith or carpentry work, special tools are needed:

Corner vise

Designed for fixing workpieces at right angles.

Despite the seeming complexity of execution - such the clamp can be made by hand.

The bed is welded from steel with a thickness of at least 4 mm.The stop corners are located strictly at an angle of 90 °. A bracket for a running nut is installed symmetrically to the thrust planes. With the help of a hardened steel pin, a movable retaining angle, also 4-5 mm thick, is fed to the stops. In the center of the retaining corner, a wrench flange is mounted.

When carrying out welding work, it is just necessary to fasten workpieces of different sizes.

For this, the thrust nut and the flange on the retaining angle are fastened with an axis, which makes it possible to change the position of the crank pin horizontally.

Drill vise

A fairly common device of narrow specialization. Drilling machines are usually equipped with clamps, but this increases their cost.

The device can be made by yourself. Moreover, for most drilling work, a wooden vise is suitable.

For manufacturing you will need:

• plywood sheet 10-12 mm;
• two smooth pins for guides;
• threaded pin for the knob;
• furniture persistent nut;
• screws, nails, PVA glue;

The frame is made of plywood. It is necessary to draw a drawing, and carry out all the work at the place.

Next, we glue the sandwich for the manufacture of sponges and a stop bar.

From the resulting array with a thickness of 25 mm, we cut the same bars.

Trying on the blanks on the bed.

We use steel or aluminum tubes as guides. All holes must be strictly parallel to each other. For high-quality holes, it is better to use not a drilling machine, but a router with a slot cutter. Checking the assembly.

We install the furniture nut in the stop bar. We fix the bars on the bed.

To fix the knob in the movable lip, ordinary nails were used, in the form of locking pins. Homemade vise for drilling machine ready:

Do-it-yourself vise at home

So, for example, a do-it-yourself locksmith vice from a channel, a corner and a plate was chosen. Material - steel of unidentified grade (theoretically St5). Used products from an old plumbing valve are used as a lead screw and nuts.

Fastening - welding, we will cut the metal with a grinder.

How to make a homemade vise:

1. cut off a piece of the channel of the required length, pick up two plates of thick sheet steel for attaching the lead screw to it. One is placed at the end of the section, the other - approximately in the middle;
2. a base part is cut from a plate with a thickness of at least 3 mm (preferably 5 ... 8 mm). Additionally, three parts are made from the corners and the plate (for the welded holder);
3. the holder can be connected to the base plate by welding or bolts. Below is the variant with bolt holes. A running nut is attached to the base plate
4. clamping jaws are made from the corner and the plate. You can fasten the parts by welding or bolting. If you plan to use a homemade vise for a drilling machine, including for work with shock loads, it is better to refuse welding - with such an effect, the weld may disperse;
5. all that remains is to mount the clamping jaws on the vise from the channel (the drawings show exactly where it is better to fix the parts) and install a metal rod in the hole at the end of the lead screw. It will play the role of a lever for turning the screw and, accordingly, moving the movable jaw. To prevent the rod from flying out of the hole, at the end it is counterbalanced with a nut.

If desired, you can strengthen the design of the jaws by welding additional elements to them - kerchiefs.

If the steel is susceptible to corrosion, it is better to paint a homemade vise for a drilling machine after all work is completed. You can do this with your own hands with a brush, since a spray gun or roller is inconvenient in this case. Disassembled vise is painted.

On the jaws from the inner, working side, you can additionally attach pads made of an aluminum corrugated corner - this will improve adhesion between surfaces.

The video describes in more detail how to make a vice at home with your own hands.

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:

Drill out (carefully, not completely!) The setscrew shank flare holding the set clamp plate. You need to drill with a drill with short "pokes" obliquely from different sides.
The poppet is removed and the set clamp screw is unscrewed (do not lose it or the poppet).
In the section of the channel, a hole is drilled for a bolt with the same thread as on the clamp screw.
The vice 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 remainder of the shank. This is not difficult to do, since a tapered recess remains in the pin from the shank.
The axial hole is tapped.
The poppet is put back in place and kept from falling out with a cone screw (shown with an arrow in pos. B).
The screw of the clamp is determined for storage in a storage box, sorry, 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 from the channel, and an arrow-pointer can be attached to the vise bracket. The resulting accuracy of 1 degree is enough for home amateur work. And if you remove the vice from the base and replace the clamping screw, it can be used for its original purpose.

Wood joinery vice

An excellent option for wooden joinery vice. Why are they so wonderful? First, they hold the workpiece almost completely flush with the surface, making them ideal for small woodworking projects. And another very important point, they are very easy to make with your own hands, with practically no cost and with a minimum of tools. Below you can look at an impromptu drawing. You see, it's really very simple. Besides this, there are other reasons to choose this option:

• large jaws provide good adhesion to wooden workpieces,
• the capacity of the clips can be quickly adjusted;
• precision tools are not required for manufacturing;
• low coefficient of friction in the threaded part of the eye bolt;
• can be easily dismantled to change parameters;
• has unlimited clamping capacity, all you need to do to increase the capacity is add another plank and drill a hole;
• can serve as a common woodworking clamp;
• due to the large clamping area, it is not necessary to tighten the workpiece very tightly;
• the flat design makes it possible to store the vice even on the wall, on a regular tool stand.

The list is impressive. How to make a vice is shown in great detail in the step-by-step photos, and if you want to find out even more details, under the gallery there is a link to the original site. Doubt this is really a great vise option? To prove it, the author even conducted an experiment with a bump, you can see the result in the last two photos in the gallery.

Cheap Wooden PCB Vise

Looking for a cheap vise to handle small parts? The author of this offers a simple and cheap version of a wooden vise made from old boards. To do this, you will need a small piece of plywood, a couple of old planks, a hand router and glue. In one of the boards in the middle with a router, make a groove about 20 mm deep. Drill a hole about 5 centimeters on one side of the board. Find a screw of the correct size and make a groove in the center. Then everything is simple. Take the screw clamp and press firmly into the hole. Fix the movable part with a bolt and a nut. You now have a very rough PCB vise.

Do-it-yourself locksmith vise: step-by-step instructions

On the Internet, you can find many options for homemade vise made by yourself. I also decided to make a locksmith vice from the metal I have, so as not to buy factory ones. And that's what came of it.

To make a homemade vise, you need the following parts:

• The base of the vise is a metal plate 4 mm thick;
• Guide prism - shaped tube with a cross section of 5x5 cm, wall thickness 4 mm;
• The base of the sponges is a corner with a shelf 7.5 cm, wall thickness 8 mm;
• Lead screw - stud with a diameter of 20 mm;
• Also required - a metal strip 5 cm wide and 1 cm thick, a reinforced nut for a stud and a corner with a shelf of 60 mm and a wall thickness of 5 mm.

Work on the manufacture of locksmith vices was divided into a number of stages:

1. The base for the vice was welded by Korkus from two metal plates measuring 20x16 cm.

Then the welds were cleaned.

2. In the center of the base, the user drew a line to mark the place for the lead screw - the pin. The lead screw nut is welded to a 10 mm spacer.

3. The vise guide is made of a square shaped tube, in which a longitudinal groove is made with a grinder with a width slightly larger than a welded stand with a nut.

4. The 60th corner (2 pcs.) 20 cm long was used to fix the rail.

The corners wrap around the profile pipe, and a cover made of a strip 1 cm thick and 5 cm wide is welded to them from above. It turns out a box.

So that the profile pipe moves freely in the box and a gap is obtained, spacers are used - 2 blades from a saw for metal.

Because the gap between the plate and the corners turned out to be quite large, then, after welding the plate from above, I cut off the tacks and boiled the same plate from the inside.

5. The base of the jaws of the bench vise is made of a sturdy corner with a 75 mm shelf and an 8 mm wall.

The vise jaws are made of 1 cm thick strip.

Through holes with a diameter of 4.2 mm are drilled in the corners and jaws.

Then, in the corners, the user cut M5 threads, and drilled holes in the jaws with a 5.1 mm drill and countersunk the holes for the sweep.

Bolts are screwed into the jaws, and nuts are screwed on the back, which are then scalded.

Drawing of jaws for locksmith's vice.

6. Two corners are welded from the end of the profile pipe.

The jaws are reinforced with triangular stiffeners and welded with a 4 mm thick metal plate.