Bench vice

[Mark EasingwoodParticipant @markeasingwood33578]

Depends on what your needs are, I have a couple of older Record vices.

Rutlands, better known for woodworking tools have a decent range of vices. I haven’t got any of their vices, but have some other items, which seem well made. Delivery is £7.00 no matter the size of your order tho’

The useful looking, “Multi purpose vice with clamp 63mm” is sometimes on offer, but you need to sign up for their emails, which they will send you 3 a day, every day…..

Link to Rutlands

[Chris12Participant @chris12]

I have some bad experience with Rutlands (with woodworking tools). I’ll stay away from them.

 

I am considering a Clarke from machine mart, not too expensive and seems to have good reviews.

Or for a bit more money, there is one, made by York : YORK vice

[Ian Owen NZParticipant @ianowennz]

When I visited a machinery dealer a few years ago there was a model engineers workbench with a mill, lathe, drill press and a vise set up on it.

The vise was a record 00 vise and I was quite impressed with how it was mounted, it had a swivel feature and locked up so solid. I’ve always thought if this design was upsized and used with a record 5″ vise it would be a very versatile setup.

 

Here is a pic of the bench setup

 

The vise and drill press

 

A better pic of the vise

 

And just in case anyone wants to see here is the mill

 

I thought I would add this, you can see the makers name

 

Ian

[DiogenesParticipant @diogenes]

Just for anyone subsequently reading this to inform a choice..

..I can’t agree that even the best of used vices last forever and are always worth having – once wear in the the tongue & cheeks reaches a critical point the jaws will grip work hard in the middle but still ‘yaw’ enough under pressure to lose grip at the jaw-ends – a fault that usually manifests itself when trying to hacksaw or file, the work constantly ‘dropping away’ from the tool, no matter how hard the vice is cranked up..

[Chris12Participant @chris12]

Nice setup ! All in one package

[Diogenes]

On Diogenes Said:

Just for anyone subsequently reading this to inform a choice..

..I can’t agree that even the best of used vices last forever and are always worth having – once wear in the the tongue & cheeks reaches a critical point the jaws will grip work hard in the middle but still ‘yaw’ enough under pressure to lose grip at the jaw-ends – a fault that usually manifests itself when trying to hacksaw or file, the work constantly ‘dropping away’ from the tool, no matter how hard the vice is cranked up..

The greatest majority of vises that have that problem have worn jaws, the way most vises are built, with large clearances, will have this problem especially if you are clamping items off centre.

Even a milling vise, which is built with tight clearances compared to a bench vise, will do this if your work is clamped off to one side and nothing is put in the other side to “balance” the load.

With any used item you assess the item as best as you can before purchasing it, and I see a number of Record vises on UK Ebay that look like they have had very light use.

[noel shelley]

On noel shelley Said:

Julie has it ! Record or WODEN. A good secondhand record and if need be a new set of jaws is a good move. DO NOT buy a cheap one it will end in tears and hold work poorly. For size 4″ upwards, and NO swivel. Remember to oil the screw and slidways. Noel.

If you can find space for a second, smaller vice, then a swivel-based one can be incredibly useful. My main vice is a large Record vice that I picked up for very little second-hand, but I also have a cheap Lidl swivel-based vice and small clamp-on version with the head mounted on  a ball joint. Within their limits, the flexibility that these offer is remarkable.

James.

[MacolmParticipant @macolm]

Topic slightly sideways, but what I have, due to mixed woodwork and metalwork, is a Record six inch wood vice at each end of bench (jaws flat with bench surface), and large wood blocks with metal vices bolted on that can be clamped in one or other wood vice as required. This has proved a very flexible system, and easily de-cluttered as necessary.

I have a small anvil to avoid destructive hammering on the bench.

[DalboyParticipant @dalboy]

These are the two metal working vices that I use, the large record one was a gift and does lock across the jaws, the second was one I purchased but had soft jaws. This one swivels which can be useful, when the plastic soft jaws wore out I made some replacement Ali ones as can be seen. I do need to replace the temporary base for something better but for the light use at the moment it does a good job. Both of these are Record vices.

 

Before and after photos of the large vice

The small swivel base vice

 

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Hi Dalboy, that No: 34P vice is a good one. the price (£/p) in the scan is 1974.

Regards Nick

[Pete.Participant @pete-2]

I have that exact vice, the 34p, didn’t cost me anything I probably would have looked for a quick release lever if choosing a particular vice but it’s good condition and an excellent vice.

The smaller one with the plastic jaws is a 2075, I’ve thought about buying one a few times for my car tools toolbox, looks like it’d be good for holding brake calipers while rebuilding and stuff like that, the movable jaw comes out and can be put in the rear side for a bigger opening.

A quick look on ebay and you should find something without much problem, I found this within 1 minute of looking, if that isn’t a bargain I don’t know what is, much better than anything you’ll buy new for under 500 quid, it’s a steel one too.

[Speedy Builder5Participant @speedybuilder5]

I thought this subject had run its course – until …   I hold my vice down with bolts through the bench to home made captive nuts.  When you need a larger flat surface of bench to work on, just remove the vice. Although it has 3 mounting holes, I rarely use the third bolt.

I also have a wood vice in the bench where I can put a much smaller bench vice mounted on a block of 2″ x 2″ wood. – useful when the big vice is dismounted and want to do  a bit of “metalwork”.

Metal Basher Bob

[DalboyParticipant @dalboy]

Yes the 34P is a good vice not really needed the quick release version but when I was given this one why complain. I also enjoyed cleaning and repainting mine.

Yes @Pete I also like the fact that the jaws can be reversed for larger opening

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