Woodworker's Journal 2007-Winter, страница 22

After clamping all the parts together and bolting the end caps, the final step in the glue-up is to install and tighten the threaded rod that reinforces the shoulder vise.

To assemble the tail vise, bolt the center guide rail to the fixed tail vise jaw and then bolt the outside guide block to the end cap. Finish up by installing the bench screw.

Once you have everything running smoothly, with as little slop as possible, you can install the benchscrew. Run it all the way in, center it in the clearance hole, and screw the flange to the rear jaw of the tail vise.

Making the Vise Caps

Next, make the vise caps. The two parts of the cap should be thicker and wider than necessary; you will trim them after installation. Miter the ends where they meet, then set the larger part of the cap onto the completed tail vise, with the inside of the miter aligned with the inside corner of the frame. Mark the bench dog hole locations from the underside, then drill and chop the corresponding holes in the top cap.

Finally, glue the two parts of the cap together at the miter, and assemble them to the frame with

glue and clamps. Then plane them flush with the benchtop and tail vise surfaces.

Finishing Touches

At this point, the bench is nearly finished. There are just a few more important details left to do.

First, mount the top on the base. Frank uses rock maple "bullets" to register the top to the base. Turn the bullets to 3/4" diameter as shown in the Drawings. Glue one into each of the two bearing strips on the underside of the benchtop. Drill mating holes in the top rails of the base so the bullets will register the top in the exact location each time you assemble the bench. After you install the bullets, drill through the top rails of the base for the 1/2" lag screws that secure the top.

Next, modify the benchscrew for the shoulder vise. The shoulder vise

on this bench is designed to open to about 5¹2". When the vise is closed, you want the handle to come to rest about 1/2" from the arm of the shoulder vise. The stock benchscrew that Frank used for the shoulder vise was 2" too long, so he had to shorten it.

First, he punched out the roll pin that holds the screw into the handle casting. Then he used a reciprocating saw to cut off 2" from the end of the screw and ground the end of the screw to fit back in the handle casting. He made a simple V-block jig to hold the screw at the proper height for grinding. Frank screwed the jig to his grinding bench with a single screw at the rear corner in order to pivot the jig toward the grinding wheel. When he reached the right diameter, he reinstalled the screw in the handle. This procedure worked well.

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Workshop Projects