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+-- Thread: CT's Most Excellent Workbench Adventure (/showthread.php?tid=3058880)
Re: CT's Most Excellent Workbench Adventure - Crooked Tail - 08-20-2007
Thanks guys for all the feedback and suggestions. I think I will try plugging the hole with a dowel. It is a 1" hole, so I ought to be able to get a 1" maple dowel to stick in there.
Maybe I'll do that before installing the piece of purpleheart. It might make the PH unnecessary. It won't show on the outside of the vise, only on the inside of the vise jaws, so... But I still like Bob Z's idea of screwing the PH on there as a replaceable vise jaw pad. Decisions, decisions...
Re: CT's Most Excellent Workbench Adventure - blackhat - 08-21-2007
Don't know if you can afford to lose any more capacity or not. Leather faces would cover as well and save you a good 1/2" or so of capacity on the vise.
Re: CT's Most Excellent Workbench Adventure - Crooked Tail - 08-22-2007
Well, I've declared the face vise jaw a total loss. I'm going to start over, but I need some advice so I don't screw it up again.
Here's what I did now: I went to screw the actual vise hardware onto the jaw. I drilled 7/32 pilot holes (couldn't find my 1/4" bit), and tried to mount it with 5/8" lag screws. Well, I broke both the screws off flush with the wood, before they even got tight. Way too small of a pilot hole???
I enlarged the holes in the jaw yet some more, shifted the vise over a bit, and drilled new holes. I broke another screw off, again flush with the wood. I don't understand what I'm doing wrong. I've never had that happen before, and I've put at least 9 of those screws in the battens underneath the bench with no problems at all. This time I'm screwing them into purpleheart instead of maple, which is the only difference as far as I can tell.
I'm going to start work on the tailvise instead. It's mostly GLUED together. I'll have to buy more material to make a new facevise jaw. But I have a fancy piece of firewood now. I guess I ought to get used to it. I'm sure I'll do some major screwups on future projects.
Re: CT's Most Excellent Workbench Adventure - Skip J. - 08-22-2007
Crooked Tail said:
I enlarged the holes in the jaw yet some more, shifted the vise over a bit, and drilled new holes. I broke another screw off, again flush with the wood. I don't understand what I'm doing wrong. I've never had that happen before, and I've put at least 9 of those screws in the battens underneath the bench with no problems at all. This time I'm screwing them into purpleheart instead of maple, which is the only difference as far as I can tell.
Hey CT;
It still looks like a big Steve Knight woodie without the blade, maybe you could take the hardware off with a screw extractor and salvage the body for a scraper or plane some way??? I know, not what you wanted to hear..
Obviously the purpleheart is not as forgiving as the maple. 1st question, did you drill a separate pilot hole for the center body of the screw, larger than the small long main pilot hole? If not, that would bind when it hit the small dia. hole and ph would break it more likely than maple. 2nd - you are using some paste wax on the screw and hole?
Re: CT's Most Excellent Workbench Adventure - Bob Zajicek - 08-22-2007
I agree with Skip. I also think your pilot holes were too small. Ph isn't very forgiving IME, about like boiler plate.
Try a 1/4" pilot in some scrap ph and see how that works for you next time. Look on the bright side.. no extra rod hole to plug now!
Re: CT's Most Excellent Workbench Adventure - Red Sawman - 08-22-2007
I agree that your pilot holes are too small but the torque setting on your power drill/driver should be backed off to a lower setting or you should be using regular screw drivers to set the screw. Unless your screws are crap you should not be able to break them off with a regular screwdriver.
JMVHO
Red
Re: CT's Most Excellent Workbench Adventure - Skip J. - 08-22-2007
Red Sawman said:
Unless your screws are crap you should not be able to break them off with a regular screwdriver. Red
Thanks Bob;
And Red has it right, it may be that better screws are also needed. Dialing back the torque on the driver will help, but driving them by hand is the best way to make sure.
Re: CT's Most Excellent Workbench Adventure - Cliff Ober - 08-22-2007
CT,
The size of the pilot hole may only be part of the problem. My guess is you're using lag screws from the BORG? The cheap Chinese garbage they carry is notorious for doing just what you have had happen. I've broken off numerous lag screws (even in pine!) that have come from there. Try obtaining better quality hardware from a supplier such as Fastenal or McMaster-Carr; it costs more, but is much less frustrating.
Cliff
Re: CT's Most Excellent Workbench Adventure - Funky Space Cowboy - 08-22-2007
CT,
If you think the screws may be part of the problem check out the Spax brand that Lee Valley is now carrying. They claim you can drive them directly into hard maple w/out a pilot hole. I've not tried doing that but I did use a lot of them when installing my lumber racks and was driving them into very dry 50yo pine studs without any breakage. They were noticeably easier to drive than regular lag screws of the same size.
Cheers,
Josh
Re: CT's Most Excellent Workbench Adventure - Crooked Tail - 08-22-2007
Thanks for all the feedback, guys. I will hang onto this hulking hunk of junk and hopefully I'll later be able to salvage it into a plane or something. That was really a nice big piece of purpleheart, and it is painful to think that it might be wasted.
1) It sounds like I'm drilling my pilot holes wrong. I just drilled one 7/32" hole; I didn't drill a small "first" or "prepilot" hole.
2) I am using lag screws from Lowes. The first one the broke off was, I think, indeed crap. I had some other ones, also from Lowes, which I tried and which also broke, but not as quickly / easily.
3) No, I am not using any sort of paste wax on the screws... I've never heard of doing so. Can you please elaborate?
4) I am using a socket ratchet wrench to put them in by hand. Obviously this has a lot more torque than a driver. Perhaps I should have used my drill instead, and back the torque down.
5) I have never used a screw extractor... can someone please explain how they work? Since the heads have broken off, I didn't think there was any way to get the shank out.
Quote:
Look on the bright side.. no extra rod hole to plug now!
That is a bright side. The extra hole bothered me, the other holes were too big, and the thumbnail profiles are just not as good as I wanted them. In other words, the damned thing is ugly as sin anyhow. Probably in the long run I'll be happier if I build a whole new one.
