$10 Moxon Vice

[Admiral]

I wanted to fine tune my dovetailing skills, and read a blog about cutting one set a day for a month, and have decided to embark on that program and maybe make a few storage boxes for the shop.  Before this I was using a benchtop Workmate to hold the work but loaned it to my nephew and he still has it.  But it was never optimal for me, so I figured I'd make a Moxon vice quickly and on the cheap.

Went down to the Tractor Supply, got two 3/4" inch threaded rods for $3.50 each, nuts and washers for $2, the grand total including tax of $9.26, figuring yeah, acme rods would be better and the nuts would move faster, but the nuts worked smoothly on these two and I figured I'd not be moving them all that much, and more to the point, I wanted to get something functional fast and would have to order acme rods from McMaster.

Wood.  Hmmm, folks talk mostly about hardwoods, a PW blog said their shop Moxon was of Poplar, then I looked at my stash of 8/4 maple, walnut and cherry and decided I wasn't going to "waste" it on a bench fixture, but instead found some 2x10 doug fir scraps that had been sitting around and aging for some time, nice and dry (the holes you see in the middle of the front and rear of the vice were already drilled in the scrap for some reason).  Used the Benchcrafted plan for inspiration (made it smaller, allowing for only 16" between the rods and made it a full 6" high), trued up the stock S4S, a few holes, a few cuts, glued and brad nailed on the stabalizer on the rear jaw, mortised out for the nuts, and there we have it.  Started friday night for a couple of hours, finished up saturday morning. The size of the nuts were such that hand tightening got me 90% of the way there, but I needed a couple of wood wrenches for the nuts, so a bit more thru mortising and I had that done.  I've left them loose for now.

Works well, pretty solid and holds the wood very tight.  I know acme thread would be much smoother and nicer, but the regular threaded rods are good enough for this project.  I'll likely put on some shellac just to seal it up, and if the doug fir doesn't hold up after a lot of use, which I doubt, I can always use a hardwood.  I will also likely cut down the rods, right now they are 12".  Pics of the quick, cheap, down and dirty - but fully functional - $10 Moxon:

[JimReed@Tallahassee]

Clever.

[Phil S.]

Looks like a perfectly serviceable Moxon.  I can't figure how you'd ever wear it out unless you cut your dovetails with an ax.  Hardwood would be nice, but it's mostly for the looks and doesn't make much difference for function.  I wonder if soft woods might actually work better and give a better grip.

[Ray Newman]

Slick and a good utilization of "scrap" and normally-found-at-any-hardware-store materials.

[Rob Young]

The D.F. Will be just fine. Go dovetail to you heart's content.

[MKepke]

It's a good solution but FWIW I stopped using threaded rod for anything permanent. Eventually it galls, even in vises.

-Mark

[MattP]

Looks good, admiral. Can't beat the price, either.

[GeorgeV]

I built a similar Moxon vice for about the same cost.

<img src="http://i971.photobucket.com/albums/ae194/k3gv/MoxonVice_2_zps24bc5a78.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo MoxonVice_2_zps24bc5a78.jpg"/>

<img src="http://i971.photobucket.com/albums/ae194/k3gv/woodworking/MoxonVice_zps98f769b9.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo MoxonVice_zps98f769b9.jpg"/>

[Stwood_]

 

I've got one on my rountoit list.

[Admiral]

I built a similar Moxon vice for about the same cost.

George:  how did you fix the front nuts to the "T" pipe fitting, I like that!!