Built a Bench Vise (Videos + Questions Answered)

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.

I made a BIG vise, 8" jaws and probably 50-60 pounds of steel... I got to use my new MIG welder, and have something else for the shop that I'd wanted for a long time... And people on YouTube really seem to be enjoying the build videos as well...

Have a good weekend, everyone!!
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EDIT: I had some issues posting my entire message, so I decided to split it in two, here's the "Questions Answered" portion... If you're reading this, I got it to work, haha... Sorry about the inconvenience...


So, I just figured I'd stop in and share them here, and while I'm at it, address a few concerns from my previous thread. Yes, I know most of them are brought up by people who are angry at the world and feel the need to take it out on my threads here for some reason, but I'd thought about what I'd like to say for a few days now, and here goes:

1) Yes, I do read the threads I post... Although its usually from my phone on break at school or elsewhere... I rarely sit down and reply to everyone, as much as I'd like to, usually, I mean to, I get caught up doing other things, and then the thread is buried by the time I get back to it. I know I'm not very good at keeping up with people, and this is a classic example of that...

Right now, I stay busy. Very busy... I go to school, full time, an hour away... Both people who I live with travel a lot, often they're gone at the same time, so I also inherit everyone elses chores, including caring for a bunch of animals... On top of that, I have to "keep things going" with my channel, and then I keep the videos coming for my viewers... I'd estimate that a typical 10 minute video of mine takes, on average, 8-12 hours to produce...

I have to plan it out, get everything set up in the shop, adjust my lighting and camera gear, shoot the footage, make sure it turned out okay, import it to a computer, go through an in depth and very involved editing process, export it, upload it, make sure that went okay (there are no promises between occasional YouTube glitches and our internet connection), and then, sit down and post it in various places like I'm doing now...

Unfortunatelly, like I said, I just never end up back in old threads. I'd like to, but it rarely happens... Its not that I don't care enough to or anything, sometimes there just arent enough hours in the day...

Usually, when someone posts a random question, someone else on the forum answers it before I get to "What that solid wire or flux core?"

"I think he was running solid wire..."

for example... And when I shoot my videos, I usually do everything I can to include information in them (106 amps, 1/8" XXXX, Arc foce 4/10, 6 Hot Start) for example... If you have technical questions about something in them, odds are I don't know if I havent mentioned it... No, I don't know what an "AVG" number is, talk to the manufacturer... I demonstrate things in my videos that are either sent out, to be used in my videos, or that I buy with my own money (example, cast iron manifold, and stick electrodes)... I'm not a salesman, I don't get a commission, I don't try to push things. I'll answer if I can, but sometimes, I just don't have an answer...
I'm not a product expert, I just use things... I didnt design it, and I probably don't know the technical aspects of it... I just use it, and make a video about it...

2) Some people can't watch my videos... Sorry, theres nothing I can do about your internet connection. I try my best to explain what goes on in them, just for y'all... Like this thread... (this is why I'm building this vise... This is what I'm making it out of... etc). I feel for you, we have internet issues here frequently as well... I usually upload things overnight to YouTube because as there are the least amount of people online, the odds of the internet going down are minimal...

If you have issues with people's videos stopping-and-starting every few seconds, try pausing the video, waiting 30 seconds, or a minute or so and then watching it... You're "loading the video" basically, the longer you let it load, the longer you can watch without "running out of loaded video TO watch" at which point you'll have to pause it again and let it load for a little while longer...

3) Money... We've been down this road before. Yes, I do make money on my videos. Not much tho, and almost all of it goes BACK into making more videos. Some people like to complain about this for whatever reason, but to me that sounds like:

"How DARE he make a small amount of advertising money in turn for bringing us FREE content and entrainment??!?!? That scheming little..."

If you aren't okay with this concept, please dont watch my videos and feel free to watch 15 minites of TV commercials in your 30 minute episode of Jersey Shore.

My channel is not dependent on this forum, last month less than 3% of all my views came from embedded forums... And I post videos on forums much larger than this one. I post here because I like it here, I have a lot of friends here and I feel that the "silent majority" of people here enjoy my videos...

4) Compliments and Insults... If you enjoyed the video, thats great, I'd really like to thank you for sharing that with me, it does make me feel good, and like I'm giving back to the community.

If you don't? Well honestly, I just don't care, haha... There are a LOT more people that enojy my videos than dislike them, according to YouTube ratings, they're usually outnumbered 20 to 1, and in some cases 50 to 1...

I get DAILY insults/hatemail/etc from places around the internet, because when you interact with a lot of people on a daily basis (through people watching your videos), you're bound to get some negativity.

I've been making videos since 2008. I've heard it all... If you want to offend me, call me a hack, whatever go for it. What can you POSSIBLY say to me that someone else hasnt? Like I said, I get this kind of thing literally on a daily basis, and truth be told, it just doesnt bother me anymore. You can't make everyone happy, and some people are just angry at the world.

There are a LOT of people who don't like Microsoft, but do you think Bill Gates cries himself to sleep every night in his mansion because of them? Yeah, me neither...

This is why I say "If you don't like my videos, don't watch them". Theres no need to attempt to cause trouble and bring down everyone else that enjoys them. Simple go elsewhere, the internet is a big, fun place and theres always something interesting you can find.

I really like you guys, and I really like this forum. I've been coming here since 2006, and I have no plans to change that. 99% of the time (estimated) the people who like to cause trouble on my threads, is just someone making up usernames trying to stir the pot... And I'll throw you/him/them a bone, they're good at it. Most of the trolls I deal with are like "Ur Weldz Suk, I have a 4 year old that can weld better than U and hez only 5".

Yours are very well written and usually a subtle kind of tomfoolery instead of the norm...

Norm...

Normacast... Ahaha, yeah, I did spell that wrong. You guys got me, lol. Oh well, if thats the biggest problem people had with that video, I guess I did okay...

Anyway, as always, enjoy the videos guys... I really hope you all like them.

I just figured I'd take some time and sit down and try to address everyone's concerns. Hope this covers everything.

Nice videos, Lance. Enjoy your filming skills, doing a one man job of building, narrating, and setting up the little videos is quite a task, you do a good job.

Nice welding, as well.

Perhaps I'd question a few of the choices you made, as far as a long.asting strong vice, but you built what you wanted, and so I won't go down that path. no need to.

Just wanted to say I really enjoyed the 2 videos.

Paul

Lanse, I enjoy your input. Keep up the good work and do well in school. Bill

4 year old and hes only 5, now that made me smile. Bill

I enjoy the videos, keep up the good work!

Mike

In your first posting on the Nomacast rod I had asked if it had an AWS number on the package. In the second posting you made on the Nomacast rod I mistakenly typed AWG meaning AWS. American Welding Society. It is what keeps the rods standardized so engineers know what to spec for certain types of jobs.Being that the Nomacast rod was offered under the same name from several manufacturers I thought it might have had an AWS number as does the Ni 99 and other nickle rod. I thought you might be able to read it off the package it came in. This AWS number allows you to buy the same rod under various brand names .

Ohhh, to my knowledge it does NOT. Someone said on YouTube the filler metal itself is steel, and the secret to success is the flux, which is proprietary, although its available through two manufactures... Maybe one of them reverse-engineered it, IDK.

It could be too new, or too unique or something. Hobart's customer service number is 1-800-626-9420 they'de know.

Thanks Paul!! Glad you like them!! Yeah, if I was gonna do this again, I'd use some heavier-duty ACME threaded rod...

It would have the number on the packaging. I don't think it does ,however ,I noticed it was carried by Forner and Hobart. It seems to have been developed by Hobart and maybe copied by Forner as you said. Thanks for checking it out. Interesting rod anyhow.

The vice looks good to me. Like you say.... the acme thread might be better or at least something with a much coarser thread so you don't do so much turning. Only other thing I'd really want to change is that you weld a nut to the rod just inside the slider to carry the jaw open...
Personal preference i'd also add an anvil on the back but not everyone needs that.

Rod

You have a great attitude towards the negative types out there! Keep up the good work!

great video great job at what you do keep on doin it and being yourself

Very nice vise. I enjoy your videos. Good job.

There are old fogeys out there who never saw anyone younger than them who ever had a lick of sense about anything. These grumpy old men will always know everything about every subject, and will always have the same up-to-date information that their long-dead grandfathers gave them when they were yet in the cradle, information they got from THEIR long-dead grandfathers. They never made a mistake, and never had anything ever go wrong in their lives, so they know that everything they tell you will work for you under any circumstances, 100% of the time.

You should listen to them, and bow down to them...because that's how things are supposed to be. Yeah, you're going to one of the top welding schools in the nation, but you'll never be anything but a half-fast welder to them because you don't listen to their advice. You should instead plod along working in a fast-food joint, and work at least 3 jobs because it's good for you. You should never, ever quit a job, either. Oh, and you should have joined the military at age 17 and gone through Marine boot camp; without that training, you'll never be nearly as successful in life as they are. Of course, even WITH that training, you'll only be HALF as successful as them...if you're damn lucky.

These are the nuggets of wisdom I've gleaned from the responses to your posts over the years, and I'm a much wiser man for having learned these things.

as always i enjoyed your video, keep up the good work, keep us posted on Hobart school as well, Mark

Lance, I have enjoyed your videos and I like the vice you built, one suggestion about it though. You left a bit of threaded rod showing at the back of the vice. My suggestion is to place a nut and washer on that stub that way as you loosen the vice it will open the jaws at the same time. Just fiddle with how tight it should be so it doesn"t bind up as you open and close the vice.

(quoted from post at 02:43:56 04/07/13) The vice looks good to me. Like you say.... the acme thread might be better or at least something with a much coarser thread so you don't do so much turning. Only other thing I'd really want to change is that you weld a nut to the rod just inside the slider to carry the jaw open...
Personal preference i'd also add an anvil on the back but not everyone needs that. Rod

Click to expand...

Nice job on the vids. Thanks for posting them. Agree with Rod on the nut to open the jaws. I bought a smallish vice for about $10 at a sale and the only thing wrong it (other that being covered with the ugliest paint I've ever seen) was a pin holding a sleeve over the threads was broke and it wouldn't crank open, had to pull it like yours. Took it apart and drove out the old pin remnant and replaced it and now it works like a new one. Much handier to use.