Hey, Chris Schwarz

Re: Hey, Chris Schwarz

Wendell @ Murphy, Tx

>I have a different idea for keeping the dog block from drooping and rising. I was think of cutting two rabbets along the bottom edges of the mortise. The dog block would have tabs/tenons that would ride in the rabbets. To keep it from sagging, cover the whole bottom with a plate of some sort. I was think UHMW plastic sheet so the dog block would slide nicely. I included a picture of what the mortise would look like.

Wendell

Good Idea Wendell

Todd O. Cronkhite Maine Native, Presently Away

>

Wendell, what are you doing?

Todd O. Cronkhite Maine Native, Presently Away

>I guess I was still half asleep when I made mylast reply to you and didn't think to ask this question. Are you building a bench or are you retro fitting a wagon vise into an existing one?

Keep us posted eh.

T.O.

3/4 awake now

Re: Hey, Chris Schwarz

Christopher Schwarz

>Todd,

Your dimensions sound fine to me. Does your benchtop have an end cap? If it does, you can rely more on that than the end grain of the top. I've since made another wagon vise that relies entirely on the end cap. Works great.

The throw of your screw is fine as long as the spacing of your dog holes is close (3" would be my preference).

As to the T-track or a plate below (from Wendell), I have just a couple thoughts. I wouldn't enclose the bottom entirely. That area fills up with chips and dust. Plus, you can use the mortise/vise block as a clamping device. It works well.

Other than that, there are a lot of ways out there to prevent sag and lift. Your way will work. Wendell's will work. Making tracks on the side of the block by building up the underside of the benchtop works (that was Roubo's idea).

Good luck!

Chris

Re: Wendell, what are you doing?

Wendell @ Murphy, TX

>I am building a bench from scratch. I've been in the planning stage ever since the discussion on the Roubo style bench began here. Dean and Chris's versions of the bench captured my imagination. I've started buying the lumber so I might actually build it this year.

I am not convinced there is much difference between building the wagon vise in from the beginning and retro fitting one. The build process for the top of the Roubo bench involves gluing up a top then cutting it to length. Unless you can very accurately glue up the top, I think it would be difficult to cut the mortise for the wagon vise before glue up. One advantage might be that I can cut the mortise before the top is attached to the legs.

Wendell

Re: Hey, Chris Schwarz

Wendell @ Murphy, TX

>Thanks for the input Chris. I had thought about chips collecting in the mortise if it was enclosed but figured I could clean them out as necessary i.e. when it was so full you couldn't use the vise anymore :) I hadn't thought about using the wagon vise as clamping block by itself. I'll probably modify my design to not enclose the entire bottom and only capture the clamping/dog block. If it doesn't work, I can also go back to my original design.

Wendell

Wagon vise in progress

Todd O. Cronkhite Maine Native, Presently Away

>I'm only going to post one shot for now. this a.m. I went out to the shop and layed out the mortice, wasted it out, than squared it up with chisels and rasps. than I bored the hole for the rod, and wouldn't you know, it angled downwards, so I had to enlarge it with rasps. Ahhhhhhhhh well, no matter, it's fine now.

As you can see, I'm reusing the plate and rod from my mockup.

The mortice is 6" long, but I do think it'll need to be a few inches longer. I'll just leave the rod to it's current length, so if I do need to make it longer I'll have the rod for it.

Wendell, I'm going to abandon my idea of the "T" track and go with your idea.

T.O.

Re: Hey, Chris Schwarz

Todd O. Cronkhite Maine Native, Presently Away

>No, I have no end cap, as I'm sure you saw in my pic, tho that may have to change, we'll see. Probably a good idea to have one anyhow tho.

Sure, building thise tracks below the surface of the bench to prevent sag and lift is a great way to do, UNLESS, you're ike somebody you know and built a rolling cabinet that just fits between the over hang of my, er er, somebody you know, benchtop, and thus there is no room for the tracks.

T.O.