Thread: Replacement Vise Jaws?

I aquired a little Samson 3 1/2" bench vise the other day. I really just wanted the bench that it was on and thought that the vise was sloppy old junk......but I tinkered with it anyway. Turns out, most of the slop was from a loose nut. It's a nice little vise...but...it's had a hard life and is missing a jaw. Fortunately the other jaw comes of easily (sortof) and all of the threads that hold the jaws on are in good nick so fitting new jaws should be easy.

How do I go about making new jaws?

I've asked about to see if repalcements are available, the nearest vise in size to this one is a Record #2 (pretty sure) but nobody has one in stock so I can't check the spacing is correct. In fact, I could only find one new set of jaws (Record #3) and they were too big.

Somebody suggested making jaws out of old files. Good idea? What would I cut files with? Would a small metal bandsaw be OK?

Anyway, I've worked out that I can make some plastic jaws easy enough......

cheers
Sean

If you thinks I know nuffin about woodwork......wait till you find out what I don't know about metalwork.

The most suitable material for a decent replacement would be O1 oil hardening steel. I would assume its around 20 x10 and before you ask I have no idea in what sizes it is sold in.

The PITA would be finding who has it and will they sell small amounts.Perhaps a small engineering shop may have some and sell you a small amount.

It comes annealed so you could drill & tap it and cut serrations with a hack saw.

Where I live the merchants are running on the fat of a boom and not really interested on now and again customers and even for our school stuff have a minimum buy.

Hope it helps just a bit.

Grahame

Hmmm......would HSS be out of the question as material? Finding a cheap 2ndhand wood turning chisel shouldn't be too hard.

Drilling and tapping HSS is going to be tough.

The cost of a carbide drill bit, alone, to drill the mount holes through HSS may exceed the cost of replacement (if available).If its tapped you are up for a carbide tap.

For reference I priced a single jaw for a locally made Dawn 100 vice and was told $31 a year or so back..

We make our own version of the dawn 4''-100mm upright vice and use 20x 10 FMS.

Just by co -incidence the mount holes are the same diameter and Crs as the Dawn spare part that would fit.

In summary, I would go with a 20 x 10 Ms steel jaw until you can sort out the second jaw

Cheers
Grahame

Since most people use soft jaws most of the time (well I do anyway), why not use good old mild steel? Make a spare set while you're at it.

Originally Posted by Grahame Collins

Drilling and tapping HSS is going to be tough.

The cost of a carbide drill bit, alone, to drill the mount holes through HSS may exceed the cost of replacement (if available).If its tapped you are up for a carbide tap.

For reference I priced a single jaw for a locally made Dawn 100 vice and was told $31 a year or so back..

We make our own version of the dawn 4''-100mm upright vice and use 20x 10 FMS.

Just by co -incidence the mount holes are the same diameter and Crs as the Dawn spare part that would fit.

In summary, I would go with a 20 x 10 Ms steel jaw until you can sort out the second jaw

Cheers
Grahame

Makes the $36 for a pair of Record jaws I was shown sound like very good value.

No tapping required (the one jaw that's there isn't tapped), so that's good.

Right, HSS is not a good option at this time.

And mild steel will do in the mean time. Or possibly plastic for soft-jaws.

Thanks.

Maybe just make a set of jaws from mild steel or other low carbon steel and have them case hardened. You should be able to attain a maximum depth of hardening up to 2mm and still retain a tough core.

Originally Posted by Metmachmad

Maybe just make a set of jaws from mild steel or other low carbon steel and have them case hardened. You should be able to attain a maximum depth of hardening up to 2mm and still retain a tough core.

Yes, I think mild steel case hardened will be fine for the job.
Sydney Tech in the 1950s 60s used the mild steel case hardened jaws in their cast iron vises.These were student projects to make ie a complete bench vise with 4": wide jaws.
I have one of these & it has stood the test of time. (50yrs)
Regarding the serrations, depending on the type of work you do,the serrated jaws may not be required, & in fact can be a hindrance for a lot of work, as they mark the workpiece.
Mild steel is the go easy to make, drill & tap, & with case hardening will last a long time.
regards
Bruce

Originally Posted by Bryan

Since most people use soft jaws most of the time (well I do anyway), why not use good old mild steel? Make a spare set while you're at it.

Earlier this year I restored a Dawn Offset vice.

A guy at worked suggested mild steel and it has turned out to be an excellent decision.

I was going to case harden them but if they eventually get mangled I'll just make another set.

Hello Seanz,
I made a pair of vice jaws from a piece of crowbar. The material is quite hard (maybe spring steel?), but it can be machined and drilled readily. It is a good compromise between workability and hardness. Perhaps you can source an offcut of a tougher grade from a steel supplier. What about a Torsion bar or an Anti roll bar from motor wreckers or suspension repairers?
Regards,
Russell.

Given the situation I'd also vote for mild steel, just whip up a set and be done with it. Yes it would be nice if they're hardened, but unless you have the facilities to do really thick case hardening I wouldn't suggest it. The depth quoted above would require commercial case hardening, and I would expect if you were going to do that you may as well just go out and buy a new vice as it would be cheaper! As mentioned by others, much of the time soft jaws are used anyway, so just consider them sacrificial and be done with it.

Pete

Well flabber my gast......

I just demolished a large (ex city office) desk as it had been damaged in the earthquakes.....too top heavy, not enough cross-bracing and 2/3 of it is chipboard.....so it sort of swayed itself to bits.
I thought I'd recover the drawers for shed use.
When I flipped it up to start taking it apart I saw some metal, it had a brace (of sorts) screwed under the front edge of the desk. I thought it was angle-iron, then thought it was hollow........it is, 1.5 meters of 15mm X 15mm solid bar. What it's doing in a piece of furniture is anybody's guess.
The vise aws are 15 X 10 so we're pretty close.

A nice surprise for once..........