Leg Vise for workbench

[Derek Cohen]

The AYS Leg Vise Chain Adjuster ...

http://www.inthewoodshop.com/ToolReviews...uster.html







Regards from Perth

Derek

[Admiral]

Jim:  good to hear things are settling in for you and you're still visiting WN; a bit colder up in Maine, but actually, it was 12 deg. yesterday morning here in NJ, and 18 this morning, so not that much colder.  Spring is coming evntually, so good luck on the barn work.

[Jack01]

This is in reply to your question ( Any other ideas?)

First picture is  R and D (research and development) I build a temp bench to get height right and to use while building the bench
Picture of the vise screw.
Third picture is in the process of building bench and vise. 
The shoulder vise screw on the top of the bench was used to make the wagon vise in the next picture.
Fifth picture is the bench with vise finally complete. I am quite happy with how it turned out and  thrilled with how the vise works overall. 

Tom

Tom

Thanks for sharing. Your cross brace looks great.
Just curious why did you decide go to wood  rather than Steel

[Jack01]

The AYS Leg Vise  Chain Adjuster ...

http://www.inthewoodshop.com/ToolReviews...uster.html 

Regards from Perth

Derek

Derek;
Thanks for sharing, also taking time to post all the build pictures. It was definitely lot of work to make that posting.
How long it took you to install the chain on the vise?

[Chuck Nickerson]

Options 3 & 4 rely on a tight fit in the lower unit, but not too tight. They both work because the racking in the lower unit kicks in and stops movement before racking in the upper unit is a problem.

[tablesawtom]

Tom

Thanks for sharing. Your cross brace looks great.
Just curious why did you decide go to wood  rather than Steel

The top of my bench is hickory so I had hickory. Hickory is prized for ax handles and such so I just went with it instead of hard maple or white oak. I am sure that the original crisscross  was made out of wood so I knew it would work. 

I used 3/8 bolts for the pins. I bought them long enough so that I could cut the head and threads off  with my Drimel tool and just use the bolts body for the pins. I drilled the hole with a brad point drill bit and I already had a long 3/8 drill bit to finish drilling through. I did bot try to drill from each side and meet in the middle. I had to sand down the bolt's diameters a little so they would into slide in the holes and I waxed the bodies to prevent the bodies from rusting and locked the pins in with a wood screw. The pins can work themselves out by themselves. Brass or Stainless steel would have been better but somethings can be hard to get when you live 15 miles from the nearest stoplight.

To answer your question ,The bolts probably cost me less than 50 cents after tax. Because I bought the vise screw at auction I know I have less than $5 in my leg vise not counting the wood. Purely economics, 50 cents verses what ever.   I am not a big fan of a leg vise, I prefer a shoulder and tail vise. I had the screw and I saw a need to be able to work left handed also so I tried it and was surprised at the results and how well it worked.

The crisscross takes the weight off the chop and keeps the vise opening and closing parallel. That is why I posted the first picture for R@D. 

Tom

[tablesawtom]

In addition to possibilities you have mentioned, there are two more worth adding:
1.
Chain-based guide. In fact it is creation of Woodnetter (unfortunately I cannot recall his username or his website).
I believe you can find more on Derek Cohen's website.
2.
The 3rd picture you posted, labeled as "steel rod" is probably missing one element: bottom threaded rod should have a wheel which you can turn by foot and set distance preventing chop to sink too much. Wheel is something like 8 inch wooden disc with a nut matching the rod.
I have seen this ingenious thing on workbench of user tablesawtom.

I like the crisscross much better than the one with the threaded rod and nut. It was cumbersome. The crisscross system works flawlessly. Much more simpler to use.

Tom

[cputnam]

Jim - you just made my day. Thanks for still being around.