G'day, welcome to Downunder Woodworks. In today's video I'm going to show you
how I built a wooden drill press vice, which was part of a recent scrap wood challenge.
Before we get to the video though, I want to ask you to do one thing. If you're watching
as a non-subscriber then please help me out with my goal of reaching 50 000 subscribers
by the end of the year and subscribing to the channel. Now onto the drill press vice.
I've watched a few wooden drill press vices being made on YouTube and I always wanted to make my own
but it was never a priority until Sumo announced his scrapbook challenge. That was the motivation
I needed to put this build on the top of my list. I used a length of some unidentified hardwood that
was about 65mm by 35mm and some short off cuts of 90mm merbau decking. The first job was to mill down
the decking boards to remove the grooves on one of the faces. I did this with the thicknesser and
used some sacrificial boards at the beginning and end of each pass to eliminate any snipe.
Then on the table saw I ripped off one edge to remove the round over that was left
and then ripped them down to 50mm wide
before squaring up one end and then cutting them to length
at 225mm using a stop block on the crosscut sled.
The base is made up of two layers of material because I needed a rebate on the underside of
the center opening to allow for the sliding jaw to be held in place. I chose to do it this
way because I thought it was easier than using one much thicker board on each side and having
to cut the rebate into them. I countersunk holes in the ends of each of the side pieces to about
half the width of the board for screws to fix the base together.
Using the centre mark that was left by the brad point bit I continued the holes
all the way through with a smaller bit to drill the clearance holes for the screws
and then with everything lined up perfectly
I used the same clearance hole drill bit to make a mark on those smaller cross pieces
to give me an exact center to drill pilot holes because merbau's a very
dense timber and trying to screw into it without a pilot hole won't end well.
A single screw was enough here because the second layer will be fixed in place
overhanging this joint to create that rebate and will stop any potential twisting.
I then clamped it flat and let the glue dry.
Once the glue had dried I plugged the screw holes with a contrasting dowel
cut them flush
and routed a chamfer onto the top edge.
I drilled and countersunk holes for screws that would hold the
second layer and also the rear fixed jaw and the front spindle nut block.
Before I could attach the other two boards to the base to form the rebate I needed to
make the retainer for the sliding jaw so I could get the correct spacing between the two pieces.
The retainer was just two small pieces of the same material glued together to form this T-shape
that would get screwed to the base of the sliding jaw.
With the retainer finished I could use it
to position the two pieces of the second layer to complete the base.
The two centre holes were used to fix those pieces in place and the four holes at each
corner of the base will be used to screw on the fixed jaw and the spindle nut block.
I milled down the length of hardwood to 55 by 30mm and cut three pieces 140mm long.
I used 16mm threaded rod for the spindle of the vice. So for the spindle nut block I drilled
a hole with a forstner bit to the depth of a 16mm nut. The diameter of the hole was the
measurement across the flats of the nut so I could chisel out a hexagon mortise to house it in place.
I then used the centre mark of the forstner bit to drill a 16mm hole with a spade
bit for the threaded rod. I drilled through from both sides to get a clean hole with no blowout.
To keep the nut in place I cut a small cover plate from 3mm ply and drilled and
tapped four holes so I could screw it in place with some nice shiny 3/16 brass machine screws.
If you're going to use small metal taps in hardwood don't do what
I did here, take it slow and do it in stages. I actually broke a tap in one of those holes
but luckily there was enough depth so I could get a shortened screw in the hole.
With the cover plate in place, I could then use the same 16mm spade bit
to drill the hole for the threaded rod.
And this is the completed piece with the captured nut in place.
I could then screw the rear fixed jaw and the spindle nut block to the base.
I used the same technique as before to mark and drill the
pilot holes in the sliding jaw for the retainer.
For the end of the spindle I wanted a single fixed or locked nut because there
wasn't enough thickness in the sliding jaw to accommodate two regular nuts jammed together
so I just cut a single nut in half and jammed the two halves together to get the same result.
I added a cover plate to the sliding jaw and then it was time for a test fit.
I first used a piece of cardboard between the jaw and the retainer to provide the clearance
needed for it to move freely but I later got rid of that and just dialled in the clearance by
adjusting the screws. I should add here that I also chamfered the edges of the jaws and the nut block.
Last thing to do was to make a handle. I used a piece of the timber I used for the jaws
and cut it down square and then drilled a 16mm hole into the centre of the handle
using my square to guide me to drill the hole as straight as possible.
I chamfered the corners using the router
and then smoothed it over using the belt grinder.
Time for final assembly. I used a bit of grease on the end of the spindle
and then fixed it in place with its cover plate and four brass screws
and then the spindle nut block was fixed back in place on the base.
I used construction adhesive to glue the handle in place
but I wasn't confident it would hold so I drilled and pinned the handle with a cut-off nail.
I'm not really happy with how the handle turned out. The hole for the threaded rod
was drilled at a bit of an angle and because of the finer thread on threaded rod it takes
longer to wind the jaw in and out so I want to attach something to the end of
the handle that will allow me to use a battery drill to wind the jaw in and out quickly
so I'll probably make a new one. I'll post an update when I do. Last and best step of
any build was to apply the finish which was a 50/50 mix of boiled linseed oil and turps.
Well how about! The vice turned out pretty nice I reckon.
If you want to know what I'm up to inbetween videos make sure to follow me on instagram
and until the next video you guys all have a great day.