Portable tail vise?
Norman (Ottawa, Ont.)
>I've taken a few days to rediscover my inventive self, had some fun doing this along with some frustration. It has worked out in the end, it's mostly all there, it works amazingly well..
Photo below of V3 of the prototype, components are made of beech and cherry. You can see the original Version 1 threaded bar and handle assembly in the background along with another clip on jaw face.
A locking knob can be seen below the 2nd dog, this dog slides into the next to first available dog hole..
Something I always longed for is a removable and portable tail vise. I could quickly set up a temporary bench, drill a few co-linear 3/4 inch dog holes and have the capability to hand plane any size board within the confines of the bench of course.
Having determined the criteria I needed and strived for, I've come up with a design. I thought I would run it through the hand tool crowd here to determine if this is something worthwhile pursuing.
There is a quick, coarse adjustment which involves loosening a knob 2 turns and sliding the shaft forwards or backwards. Once the top knob is locked down, the shaft is engaged and it can be torqued against the board to be planed. The front jaw is quickly detachable and has a racking provision in it to withstand any diagonal hand-planing. There is no vertical racking as the forward , 2nd variable dog part is locked into the bench. The coarse and fine adjustment mechanism is contained in the 1st dog block. The top locking knob automatically detaches the mechanism from the threaded shaft.
Top knob can easily be interchanged with a cam clamp if desired.
My criteria is as follows:
Criteria and requirements of the portable, removable tail vise design
1. Completely, quickly and easily detachable from workbench.
2. No extra provisions in bench to mount the tail vise aside from bench dog holes.
3. Ability to withstand vertical racking
4. Ability to withstand horizontal racking, both diagonal and perpendicular to bench front
5. Provisions for low-profile hand planing
6. Adaptable to any corner of a work bench where round bench dog holes are located
7. Versatile regardless of workbench hole spacing
8. Assembled with off-the-shelf hardware
9. Easily replaceable components
10. Has a small footprint
11. Works in conjunction with round � inch diameter bench dogs
12. No need for any tools to install tail vise to workbench
13. Versatility for left-hand or right-hand installation to workbench
14. Rapid, initial coarse adjustment feature
15. Fine adjustment to torque jaw to board to be planed
16. Quickly detachable and replaceable jaw, no need for tools
Thx for looking,
Norman
