Soft jaws for my heavy bench vise

[country gent]

Finished these up today. A set of soft jaws for my heavy bench vise. 3/4"thick 1 1/2" tall and 5 3/4" long. Made from 6061 aluminum smooth faces. The original jaws were a hardened steel 1/2" thick and 3/4" tall with knurled faces. The added surface should aid the grip and the extra thickness should allow them to be cleaned up a few times if needed.

[country gent]

Dont know how the second image got there those are some hold down clamps for the new drill

[barrabruce]

Nice
Have to do something similar one day.

[Rapier]

I made a set of aluminum jaws and lead jaws. Finally found some 1/4" thick leather. The leather does not mar finishes. If you have a problem with the aluminum, you might try a hick hard leather.

[country gent]

I wanted copper but at todays prices for the size I needed, it was just to much for something that is meant to be sacrificed

[deltaenterprizes]

A lot of work!
I am too lazy, I just use some one inch aluminum angle over the steel jaws.
Nice work!

[Graybeard96]

I wanted copper but at todays prices for the size I needed, it was just to much for something that is meant to be sacrificed

Cheap Copper Jaw protectors can easily be made from 3/4" scraps of Copper Pipe. Being only about (i am guessing 1/16" thick) they also won't tilt if you are just trying to hold a small Screw or such.

Cheers

[curdog007]

I made some thick cork blocks, can grab a wood stock by the checkering and not even mess that up.
Walmart sells big blocks of it for yoga (it's in the fitness section) - I slice it up into about 3/4" slabs with the table saw, and bent up a thin wire loop to hold it in position on the vice jaws.
Great for stock work.

[stubshaft]

For stock work I use angle aluminum (lazy) with 1/3" duro felt glued onto it. Those aluminum blocks sure look good though!

[Green Frog]

I’m lazy. I just cut a couple of sheets of lead and bend them in place. When an old set gets too beat up, they go in the lead pot and a fresh set goes on the vise. Maybe I could paint them pink and turquoise and make a You Tube video, “Miami Vise”... nah, too obvious.

[country gent]

Heres a better picture of them installed.

[deltaenterprizes]

Heres a better picture of them installed.

Nice!

[tunnug]

Made mine out of wood with some earth magnets to hold them in place, working good for a few years so far.

[Green Frog]

Gotta say country gent, they sure look professional from here. I guess that's the difference between a real machinist and a hack like myself that just does enough to get the job done but is not worried about appearance. I must admit though, professional looks better.
Froggie

[country gent]

Thank you everyone for the kind words.

Working from a wheel chair I have found having things fixed in place helps me a lot. I cant always get in a position to hold multiple things in place. Before I used the slip over jaws both at work and home. This vise having a round ram I couldnt use it to hold support and locate the jaws in place, like on my little versa vise.

One other thing is for someone looking for a versatile easy to use vise I would really recommend the versa vise. Its not a supper heavy duty vise but for fine normal work its great, and it has the ability to rotate in 3 directions. It can be laid flat on its mount also. They are a great vise for hand work and fine work

[IllinoisCoyoteHunter]

Nice work, as usual!

[georgerkahn]

Made mine out of wood with some earth magnets to hold them in place, working good for a few years so far.

...as did I, cept I did not use magnets. I've gotten too old/weak to get some of my Stihl chainsaws started -- specially after I ran them out of fuel for storage. Hence -- wowsers -- I put the bar in the wood-lined vice; remove spark-plug and squirt a bit of 50:1 pre-mix in; pull rope SLOWLY until after first compression; and -- with choke on all the way -- give the pull. Then, move lever to run position -- and 99% of the time this is all it takes! (On PRO saws I do NOT use the compression release).
Without the vice -- I'd probably not get 'em going...
geo

[Rusty Goose]

Those look great, not gonna lie, little jealous here. I too get by with the thin alu. angle pieces. Having to pick them up off the floor when they fall every time I open the jaws. Tradition you know...

[country gent]

Im going to make a mould to make 1/4" thick lead jaws for my versa vice here shortly. I had made a set of maple but 1 use by son in law and they were done. But then he can break an anvil with a rubber mallet

A quick and pretty good is the heavy flex seal tape over the jaws.

[Green Frog]

“But then he can break an anvil with a rubber mallet.”

That’s my kinda good ole boy description. Are you sure you’re from Northern Ohio? I gathered a bunch of those sayings while idling away 4 years in college in North Carolina! Then again, is he dumb as a stump?

Froggie