CT's Most Excellent Workbench Adventure

[Crooked Tail]

Hmm... It looks like I'm going to have to invest in some calipers. Yes, the vise is the Large Quick Release front vise from Lee Valley.

So the "grip" is the distance from the top of the bench to the top of the guiderods? That distance is in fact 2". That is the minimum according to the directions. The "optimum" is 2.5". I used the minimum because the bench skirt / rear jaw is less than recommended width of ~5". So double the 2" is, of course, 4", but the skirt is only 4.25" wide. So... if it is really supposed to be about double what I've done... I've a serious problem.

The vise part of this bench is based largely on the Veritas workbench plans. I will have to recheck it when I get home. *Tries not to have a heart attack in the meantime*

I've thought about adding an auxiliary rear jaw, but I haven't yet figured how to do it so that it won't look totally goofy. I may just put a fairly thin (1/4" - 1/2") piece of maple on there.

[Bob Zajicek]

Hahahaha... no need for a heart attack.

I'm not sure there's an 'official' term for describing vise capacity, that's just the one I use. Length and depth both. Usually the measurements you see in catalogs, etc.. are descibing the front to back dimension or 'length' as I call it. Perhaps someone can enlighten us both on the proper termonology.

Vises have different capacities in both lengh and depth. If yours is designed to work at a maximum of 2 1/2" then you should follow that direction, or you may get a vertical racking which you don't want either. With vises of this type, I haven't had that issue with a jaw depth of 3 1/2"+. But then I don't have the exact model you have either and mine is not a quick release.

Bottom line, I think you're going to be OK. I certainly wouldn't change anything now. Wait until you prove the need from actual use to determine if a change is warranted.

As for the rear jaw, I decided after making a replaceble skirt insert to go ahead and pad the thing anyway. I'm glad I did as I'm going to be on my second replacement pretty soon after 5 or so years. The rest of your bench looks very nice and I don't think having a padded rear jaw will detract from that at all.

[Crooked Tail]

OK! I made an exceptional amount of progress today!

...


The bench is upright!





"You woke me up for THAT?!"


Bob: I checked the measurements on the frontvise. Apparently it really is supposed to be that shallow. But now that the bench is upright and gravity is pulling the right way it is apparent that the vise needs more tweaking.
Well, that's why this is an "adventure."

[Skip J.]

Beautiful! nice shavings too....

[mpphoto]

Crooked Tail said:

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The bench is upright!

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Good choice, I think you'll be happier with it that way
Looks great! I'll be eager to see the finalized vise installation as I'm probably going to use that same vise as an end vise.

Michael

[Ricky]

Looking good!

[mstens]

Hey, that's looking great! One more vise to go. What tweaking does the front vise need?

[Crooked Tail]

I drilled the holes for the frontvise just large enough, instead of a little oversized, like the directions said to do. Once I flipped the bench over, the guide rods were rubbing on the skirt, which made it really hard to slide in and out. So I took it off and enlarged the holes yet some more. Also, once upright it was apparent that the vise was not exactly running parallel to the top, so I had to shim it some to make it nice and parallel.

The last rear slat still needs to be planed flush with the rest of the bench, as do the end caps. I think I'll do that before going back to the vises. It just looks funny now. When the vises are all finished, I figure that is the time to plane everything as flat as possible.

[Crooked Tail]

There we go: basically planed flush. I don't think I'll ever get all the tear out smoothed out though. I'd probably have to take a 1/4" inch off the whole top (assuming I don't accidentally cause any more tearout). I should have asked to look at the maple they had in the back, to see if I could have got some pieces with no knots. I didn't realize how much of a problem that was going to cause, because the grain swirls wildly around those knots.

It is funny to think about building your next bench while you're still not finished with the first... I guess that is probably normal. All the mistakes and things you learn building the first, you think of how you will do different the next time.

Oh well. Now I can start on the jaw for the front vise.

Oh, yes... the final dimensions of the bench are: 35" high, 23 5/8" wide, 70 3/8" long.

[T.J.]

CT, that looks fantastic. You should be very, very proud.