I have been bouncing around an idea for a specialty screwless vise. I've got the shape and design figured out, and I think I have the machine processes to make it figured out. I'm still struggling with the exact best way to drill the pin holes, but that's not my hold up. I'm trying to decided what material to make it out of. The cheap steel that the Harbor freight vises are cast from machines nicely, but I don't know what it is, and I'm not sure it would be rigid enough. I could do it with aluminum easily enough, but I really don't think that would work very well. If the design works I can see myself using this vise for many many years, and even custom designing it for other machines. It doesn't have to withstand tons of holding force, but it should be able to handle upto 100 lbs of holding force with minimal distortion. I know, make it heavy, but the idea is really geared towards mini machines, so heavy really is not an option. I suspect a 75 lb vise would cause or contribute to motor stalling on some of these machines.
- posted
13 years ago