Andrew Klein Twin-Turbo Vise

[TraditionalToolworks]

Anyone using the Andrew Klein Twin-Turbo vise here?

I've been using a Lee Valley Twin-Screw on my main workbench and it's been ok, but I have had several issues with it and when I saw Andrew Klein's Turbo-Twin it seems to overcome some of those shortcomings to the Lee Valley Twin-Screw. The following are some of the shortcomings I've experienced with the Lee Valley Twin-Screw.

1) The Lee Valley Twin-Screw is extremely finicky to get working smoothly. A while back it seemed that Lee Valley had removed it from their site, but I see it is back there now. There have been several variations I've seen from other vendors or that people have built themselves, but the Lee Valley has been around for a long time.

2) The Twin-Screw can be messy on work if grease gets on the wood. Not a huge deal, I can usually keep things clean by wiping the screws down ahead of time, but it does happen occasionally.

3) Occasionally I get the screws out of sync and it's problematic to get them back in once it gets bound.

4) Difficult to adjust the chain.

So with all of the above stated, the Andrew Klein vise which uses gears seems like a well thought out solution to having a twin-screw vise and not having to deal with the chain.

I'm getting ready to build another workbench. I would like to build a similar style, but slightly longer than the 6' bench I currently use. 8' long would be better, but 10' long would be even better as I have some 8.5' French Doors to build.

My current bench is what I call a 'Apffelmaker, it's a Hotlzapffel style bench with a pattern makers vise as the tail vise. I love this setup and the pattern maker's vise is very handy. Having the pattern makers vise on the right side (my tail end) is how Maloof used his Emmert. I use a clone and use it with bench dogs along the front of the bench as well.

Anyone using Klein's vise, or have any comments on it?

[Darknight]

I don't have personal experience with the vise (yet
) but in researching for end vises for my future bench I first saw Klein's demo  on the Wood Whisperer channel over a year ago. I think he was still in initial production at that time.

More recently, the guy who does the East Oak Woodworking channel on YouTube posted his bench build and shows the Twin-Turbo vise in action. He even came up with an interesting feature to use it to simulate a wagon vise as well (which I may incorporate into my build). I'll leave links below to both videos in case you haven't seen them.

TWW-Twin Turbo Demo

East Oak Woodworking Bench

I hope this helps.

Brad

[fptahoe]

I feel your pain.  I have had the L-N twin screw vise for years and I bet I have used it only a couple of dozen times.  I use a moxon and a side vise for the most part.  I got tired quickly of having to take it apart and adjust either the handles out of synch, or the chain or both.  If not adjusted perfectly, the thing racks all the time.  Get the Klein - it looks from the video as if they solved the shortcomings of the L-N.

I guess I just ruined any possibility of selling my L-N twin screw in S&S, huh?  FPT.

[Mike Brady]

I feel your pain.  I have had the L-N twin screw vise for years and I bet I have used it only a couple of dozen times.  I use a moxon and a side vise for the most part.  I got tired quickly of having to take it apart and adjust either the handles out of synch, or the chain or both.  If not adjusted perfectly, the thing racks all the time.  Get the Klein - it looks from the video as if they solved the shortcomings of the L-N.

I guess I just ruined any possibility of selling my L-N twin screw in S&S, huh?  FPT.

Your Lie-Nielsen twin-screw experience is very different from mine.  My end vise and Moxon vise see far less use than the LN front vise.  In fact I wonder how I got talked into the Moxon, except for dovetailing.  I will volunteer that the LN vise needs to be installed very carefully and the chop,with its internal chain, might best be purchased from Lie-Nielsen.  I made mine.  If there is some seasonal movement of the vise chop, a set of double-nuts can quickly have the jaws adjusted back to parallel.  Other than that, the screws just need to be absolutely parallel and square to the chop.

[TraditionalToolworks]

I don't have personal experience with the vise (yet
) but in researching for end vises for my future bench I first saw Klein's demo  on the Wood Whisperer channel over a year ago. I think he was still in initial production at that time.

When I watched that previously it was the first time I saw anything negative about the Benchcraft vises, where Mark shows how it actually can rack if you clamp something on the side of the leg chop. Probably less of a problem than most vises as the leg chop is not that wide, so I don't imagine that it would be too difficult to get any piece centered. The Benchcrafted vises are pretty pricey. Probably a good investment though.

More recently, the guy who does the East Oak Woodworking channel on YouTube posted his bench build and shows the Twin-Turbo vise in action. He even came up with an interesting feature to use it to simulate a wagon vise as well (which I may incorporate into my build). I'll leave links below to both videos in case you haven't seen them.

Thanks for that link, I hadn't seen it and that is a very interesting setup he's got there with the dualing wagon vises. The sliders he came up with could be done without the mag switches even.

I feel your pain.  I have had the L-N twin screw vise for years and I bet I have used it only a couple of dozen times.  I use a moxon and a side vise for the most part.  I got tired quickly of having to take it apart and adjust either the handles out of synch, or the chain or both.  If not adjusted perfectly, the thing racks all the time.  Get the Klein - it looks from the video as if they solved the shortcomings of the L-N.

The LV Twin-Screw is an interesting beast. When I built my bench, I pondered using 2 wood screws, in fact Chris Schwarz had built a bench using such a setup at the time, and he warned me of some of the problems I might run into. He was right, and in the end I couldn't beat the odds.  


Seems Chris must have moved to Kentucky and has a shop where he builds furniture now. Good for him.

Your Lie-Nielsen twin-screw experience is very different from mine.  My end vise and Moxon vise see far less use than the LN front vise.  In fact I wonder how I got talked into the Moxon, except for dovetailing.  I will volunteer that the LN vise needs to be installed very carefully and the chop,with its internal chain, might best be purchased from Lie-Nielsen.  I made mine.  If there is some seasonal movement of the vise chop, a set of double-nuts can quickly have the jaws adjusted back to parallel.  Other than that, the screws just need to be absolutely parallel and square to the chop.

Not trying to dispute you, just to say that there are many different experiences with the LV Twin-Screws. I've certainly hit both sides of those experiences, some good and some bad. In general I like some of the positives it provides to me, just that I was looking for something that was a "better mouse trap".

For this reason I went with the Twin-Turbo, it seems like a "better mouse trap" to em. The Twin-Turbo is not cheap either, if you get all the bells and whistles. I went with the upcharge handle and the angled brackets for skewed items, I use that feature on my pattern maker's vise all the time.

I'm of the belief that there is no panacea for benches, many works well, some work better than others. I like the twin screw for cabinetry work. I have quite a bit of that in my future.

I really wish I could get a LV Pattern Maker's vise, but sadly those seem to be the way of the dodo bird.

For the record, I plan to keep my LV Twin-Screw on the bench it's mounted on, just that I have been planning to build a new bench for a shop I'm building. My next bench will be similar, but I might venture into a split-top, I need to calculate if I can fit everything and have it working, I think I can.

Anyone have any comments on holdfasts? I haven't contacted Phil Koontz in some time, not sure if Jake is still making them or not. I will do that. I saw the Crucible holdfasts, but the wait is quite long...OTOH, probably suites my speed of crafting...  

[Darknight]

Anyone have any comments on holdfasts? I haven't contacted Phil Koontz in some time, not sure if Jake is still making them or not. I will do that. I saw the Crucible holdfasts, but the wait is quite long...OTOH, probably suites my speed of crafting...  

Here is a link to a holdfast I bought earlier this year. Honestly, I bought it and though I might be able to use in my current bench (top is just 2 layers of MDF with a hardboard top), but the MDF just breaks when I pound it in. So I haven't really used it yet, but it seems decent and i didn't think the price was bad.

Gramercy Holdfast

I plan to buy another once I finish my new bench.

[Mike Brady]

Response to: 

"I feel your pain.  I have had the L-N twin screw vise for years and I bet I have used it only a couple of dozen times.  I use a moxon and a side vise for the most part.  I got tired quickly of having to take it apart and adjust either the handles out of synch, or the chain or both.  If not adjusted perfectly, the thing racks all the time.  Get the Klein - it looks from the video as if they solved the shortcomings of the L-N.  I guess I just ruined any possibility of selling my L-N twin screw in S&S, huh?  FPT."

I'm confused by this post.  I has me wondering if you are speaking of the Lee Valley vise and not the Lie-Nielsen.  You mention two handles; the Lie-Nielsen has two screws but only one handle.  You also mention racking: The Lie-Nielsen vise cannot rack because the twin screws are connected by a chain and cannot move independently.  As some who does use the Lie-Nielsen vise, I can say that if it installed according to the directions, this vise performs perfectly.  With the chop I made, there is 18" of free space between the screws.  You also did not mention ever speaking with anyone at Lie-Nielsen,  who would surely assist you with any problems you might be having with their products.