Designing/building workbench and I'm going the inexpensive/hard route
- total bottom feeder.
Want to MAKE my own vices. Don't want to BUY vice hardware, in part to keep SWMBO quiet and in part to $ave, in part just ?cause I'm like the challenge and would get more satisfaction out of something completely home-grown and not "store-bought".
Found a pattern for using pipe clamps which seems like it'll work and won't cost too much. Then thought about taking the screw out of a scissor jack, making something more refined than this:
Local hardware stores have plenty of threaded steel rod. How can I, with only hand tools, build a vice based on one or two 24" lengths of threaded steel rod? I don't have any way to drill through the rod to put a tommy bar in, so I'd need some piece of hardware that would achieve the same result. Then mortice large nuts in the pieces of wood making the vise jaws and guides?
Finally, making my own wooden vice screws& nuts? Suggestions? Saw the thread boxes at Lee Valley. For a 1.5" set it's $42.00 less shipping. I may as well give up and buy a vise screw...The workbench in Fine Woodworking Winter 2001/02 looks good but he put out close to $200 for his vice screws!
So how can I REALLY "do it yourself" ?