Occasionally, I find a need for a traditional bench vise. A few days ago, I saw an article in a woodworking magazine where the writer took two boards, cut two 2" X 1/4" slots in two 9" X 18" boards and created a quick and dirty bench vise. I thought, "Mmmm... Get the same boards, slide a couple of Festool clamps in an MFT slot and "voila!", bench vise.
It's easier to show rather than explain. Here's the "vise" in action:
A close up of the "jaws":
And a little detail of how I cut the slots (as in "no brainer"):
My jig for cutting the slots was simply a guide rail clamped in place on pink foam and run a straight bit in about 2" from the end. The jaws of the vice are just some left over 3/4" plywood scraps. The only part that is even slightly tricky is to measure the slots so that the top of the vise jaws sit below the plane of the MFT top.
Total time for construction was about 30 minutes. That includes cleaning off the MFT top, finding the plywood and foam, measuring, cutting the plywood with my TS55, routing the slots with my OF1400, and stowing the saw and router away. Pretty much brain-dead simple and easy.
One thing that did bother me was that I thought someone else had published a description of something similar, but I couldn't find it.
Regards,
Dan.
p.s. I lucked out and found some plywood that was pretty badly bowed. I cut the plywood to maximize the bow. I.e., they also act like cauls.
It's easier to show rather than explain. Here's the "vise" in action:
A close up of the "jaws":
And a little detail of how I cut the slots (as in "no brainer"):
My jig for cutting the slots was simply a guide rail clamped in place on pink foam and run a straight bit in about 2" from the end. The jaws of the vice are just some left over 3/4" plywood scraps. The only part that is even slightly tricky is to measure the slots so that the top of the vise jaws sit below the plane of the MFT top.
Total time for construction was about 30 minutes. That includes cleaning off the MFT top, finding the plywood and foam, measuring, cutting the plywood with my TS55, routing the slots with my OF1400, and stowing the saw and router away. Pretty much brain-dead simple and easy.
One thing that did bother me was that I thought someone else had published a description of something similar, but I couldn't find it.
Regards,
Dan.
p.s. I lucked out and found some plywood that was pretty badly bowed. I cut the plywood to maximize the bow. I.e., they also act like cauls.
Great idea I'll be making one this weekend. When I saw it I thought about adding two pieces of "T" slotted of wood to capture the the round part of the vise. This way the clamping piece will move with the screw. and it will still be removeable.
