lightdutymachinevise
Light Duty Machine Vise
Welded Up Light-Duty Simple Vise For Lathe, Mill, or Drill Press
My brother gave me a 5 gallon bucket of 2 inch long cut-off sections of 5/8 inch tube steel. This came from an iron fence project where the customer changed his mind about panel height at the last minute before welding started.
Obviously, when one has a bucket of short steel tube sections you just have to find a project for using them. That is the "why" of this light duty machinist vise, and the pictures show the "how" of it.
The ways are 3/8 inch iron rod, welded to the end sections. There
is a 3/8 nut welded inside the left end section that the drive rod threads
through. A 3/8 inch nut was turned down to 1/2 OD and pined to the
tip of the ram screw with a 1/8 inch diameter tapered rivet. That
dent in the top was to provide a bit more clearance for this ram tip piece
(the tip piece was a little too large and I couldn't get it out once the pin
was peened over!).