ChuckE2009
Silver Member
- Joined
- Jun 4, 2010
- Messages
- 133
Goodafternoon, everyone!!
Last summer I managed to break my trusty Craftsman bench vise... I took it back to sears, they informed me that their vises don't carry the lifetime warranty, so I was on my own.
I looked around online... I didnt want a cheaply made vise, been there done that... I found a few good ones that I really liked, but they were all in the $700+ range, WAY out of my price range...
But I knew I could work something out... Craigslist was a disappointment (WELL used, beat up, and 3/4 the price of new), so that fell through as well...
And after a little time spent online, I thought to myself "Why not just make one? I mean, there isnt much to a vise, is there?"
I took the ole' craftsman apart piece by piece and sure enough, nope, this isnt too complicated. Granted I *have* screwed up simpler things (I once literally broke a hammar) I felt like this was a project that was well within my abilities...
So, I drove out to the city and bought some steel, ranging in thickness from 1/4" to 3/4", a ratchet and nice Kobalt socket, a couple feet of threaded rod, and some various random hardware.
I came home, and promptly put the project on the backburner...
And there it sat until a couple weeks ago. Something came up and I set it aside, and then I just... Well, never got back to it. I welded up a nice Chas Parker vise that I bought for next to nothing last fall, and I'd just been using that in the mean time...
But I already had everything, so I wrapped the whole project up in a weekend.
Long story short, I'm VERY happy with how this project came out:
Last summer I managed to break my trusty Craftsman bench vise... I took it back to sears, they informed me that their vises don't carry the lifetime warranty, so I was on my own.
I looked around online... I didnt want a cheaply made vise, been there done that... I found a few good ones that I really liked, but they were all in the $700+ range, WAY out of my price range...
But I knew I could work something out... Craigslist was a disappointment (WELL used, beat up, and 3/4 the price of new), so that fell through as well...
And after a little time spent online, I thought to myself "Why not just make one? I mean, there isnt much to a vise, is there?"
I took the ole' craftsman apart piece by piece and sure enough, nope, this isnt too complicated. Granted I *have* screwed up simpler things (I once literally broke a hammar) I felt like this was a project that was well within my abilities...
So, I drove out to the city and bought some steel, ranging in thickness from 1/4" to 3/4", a ratchet and nice Kobalt socket, a couple feet of threaded rod, and some various random hardware.
I came home, and promptly put the project on the backburner...
And there it sat until a couple weeks ago. Something came up and I set it aside, and then I just... Well, never got back to it. I welded up a nice Chas Parker vise that I bought for next to nothing last fall, and I'd just been using that in the mean time...
But I already had everything, so I wrapped the whole project up in a weekend.
Long story short, I'm VERY happy with how this project came out: