From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Vise
Vise
wood to avoid marring the work piece. The top edges of
the jaws are typically brought flush with the bench top
by the extension of the wooden face above the top of the
iron moveable jaw. This jaw may include a dog hole to
hold a bench dog. In modern metal woodworkers’ vis-
es, a split nut is often used. The nut in which the screw
turns is in two parts so that, by means of a lever, it can
be removed from the screw and the moveable jaw can
be quickly slid into a suitable position at which point the
nut is again closed onto the screw so that the vise may be
closed firmly onto the work.
Three types of vises Engineer’s vises
A vise or vice or visi (see American and British English
spelling differences) is a mechanical screw apparatus
used for holding or clamping a work piece to allow work
to be performed on it with tools such as saws, planes,
drills, mills, screwdrivers, sandpaper, etc. Vises usually
have one fixed jaw and another, parallel, jaw which is
moved towards or away from the fixed jaw by the screw.
Types
Without qualification, "vise" usually refers to a bench vise
A machine vise on a rotary table
with flat, parallel jaws, attached to a workbench. There
are two main types: a woodworking vise and engineer’s vise.
The woodworker’s bench vise main characteristic is its
integration into the bench. An engineer’s bench vise is
usually clamped or bolted onto the top of the bench.[1]
Woodworking vises
Engineer’s bench vise or fitter’s vise - image inset shows soft
jaws
An engineer’s vise, also known as a metalworking bench
vise or fitter’s vise, is used in metalworking applications.
The jaws are made of soft or hard metal. The vise is bolted
onto the top surface of the bench with the face of the
Woodworker’s vise fixed jaws just forward of the front edge of the bench.
The bench height should be such that the top of the vise
For woodworking, the jaws are made of wood, plastic or jaws is at or just below the elbow height of the user when
from metal, in the latter case they are usually faced with
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Vise
• New work holding fixtures are becoming available
for five-axis machining centers. These specialty vises
allow the machine to work on surfaces that would
normally be obscured when mounted in a traditional
or tombstone vise setup.
Jaws
A small machine vise used in a drill press
standing upright. The vise may include other features
such as a small anvil on the back of its body.
The nut in which the screw turns may be split so that,
by means of a lever, it can be removed from the screw
and the screw and moveable jaw quickly slid into a suit-
able position at which point the nut is again closed onto
the screw. The disadvantage to this system is lower pre-
cision, as compared to a solid screw system. Vise screws
are usually either of an Acme thread form or a buttress Aluminum soft jaw shown holding five parts at a time in a CNC
thread. Those with a quick-release nut use a buttress milling machine.
thread. Some vises have a hydraulic or pneumatic screw,
making setup not only faster, but more accurate as hu- There are two main types of jaws on engineer’s vises:
man error is reduced.[citation needed] hard and soft. Hard jaws are available with either a coarse
For large parts, an array of regular machine vises may gripping surface or are ground flat and smooth to in-
be set up to hold a part that is too long for one vise to crease accuracy. The latter relies on pressure for grip-
hold. The vises’ fixed jaws are aligned by means of a dial ping, instead of a rough surface. An unskilled operator
indicator so that there is a common reference plane. has the tendency to over-tighten jaws, leading to part de-
For multiple parts, several options exist, and all ma- formation and error in the finished workpiece.
chine vise manufacturers have lines of vises available for Soft jaws are usually made from a soft metal (usually
high production work: aluminum), plastic, or wood. They are used to either hold
• The first step is a two clamp vise, where the fixed delicate workpieces or cut to hold specifically shaped
jaw is in the center of the vise and movable jaws ride workpieces. These specifically cut jaws are often used in
on the same screw to the outside. place of fixtures and most commonly used in gang op-
• The next step up is the modular vise. Modular vises erations. They are also used for rapid change-over type
can be arranged and bolted together in a grid, with set-ups since they can be easily engraved with the part
no space between them. This allows the greatest number, the job number, or other information relevant
density of vises on a given work surface. This style to the job being run. Soft jaws are considered a consum-
vise also comes in a two clamp variety. able item, because they are discarded or recycled after
• Tower vises are vertical vises used in horizontal multiple uses.
machining centers. They have one vise per side, and
come in single or dual clamping station varieties. A Others
dual clamping tower vise, for example, will hold
Other kinds of vise include:
eight relatively large parts without the need for a
• hand vises
tool change.
• machine vises - drill vises (lie flat on a drill press
• Tombstone fixtures follow the same theory as a
bed). Vises of the same general form are used also on
tower vise. Tombstones allow four surfaces of vises
milling machines and grinding machines.
to be worked on one rotary table pallet. A tombstone
• compound slide vises are more complex machine
is a large, accurate, hardened block of metal that is
vises. They allow speed and precision in the
bolted to the CNC pallet. The surface of the
placement of the work.
tombstone has holes to accommodate modular vises
• cross vises, which can be adjusted using leadscrews
across all four faces on a pallet that can rotate to
in the X and Y axes; these are useful if many holes
expose those faces to the machine spindle.
need to be drilled in the same workpiece using a drill
press. Compare router table.
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Vise
• off-center vises
• angle vises
See also
• sine vises, which use gauge blocks to set up a highly • Parallels
accurate angle
• rotary vises
• diemakers’ vises
References
• table vises [1] Haan, E. R. (October 1954), "Selecting and using a
• pin vises (for holding thin, long cylindrical objects by bench vise", Popular Mechanics 102 (4): 233–235,
one end) ISSN 0032-4558, http://books.google.com/
• jewellers’ vises and by contrast books?id=xNwDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA233.
• leg vises, which are attached to a bench but also
supported from the ground so as to be stable under
the very heavy use imposed by a blacksmith’s work.
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Categories: Metalworking hand tools, Woodworking clamps
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