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A small low profile machine vise

Step 2Parts

Parts
All the parts were scraps I had already, I don't know how much it would cost to buy them.

The base of the original is an 18mm thick and 15cm long t-shaped piece of seasoned gray cast iron. The stem of the t is 48mm wide, and the arms are 70mm across and are made into the mounting lugs. I have some 1/2" x 2" steel pieces that I thought about making a vise with slots in the sides instead of lugs but I don't know if it's a great material for it.

Both jaws are 2" wide steel bar. The fixed jaw is 1/2" thick and about 1 1/8" long, and the moving jaw is about 3/4" thick, and 1 5/8" long.

The screw is a 179mm long 1/2" drill rod with a 4mm piece of 5/8" pressed on the end. The bearing housing is a piece of 3/8" steel about 1" long and 7/8" wide, and the nut is a piece of steel 1"x1"x1".

There is a 2" 0.250" hard dowel pin, a 2" piece of 1/4" keystock, two 1" 1/4"-20 socket head cap screws, four 5/16" 8-32 pan head machine screws, one 1/2" 8-32 set screw, two 5/8" 2-56 socket head cap screws and a thin 1/4" shaft collar with 3/4" outside diameter.

The base is a piece of 1/2" steel plate I found that already had a stepped bore. It's about 5"x4". I made the clamping plate to fit from a big shaft collar. The locating plate is a piece of 1/8" tool steel from an old circular saw, maybe 1 1/2" long and a close fit to the width of the lower part of the slot in the vise body.
smalvise.pdf(612x792) 183 KB
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Author:threesixesinarow