I finished my real bench awhile back and am loving it. Butcher block maple top,Record 53 on the front and Veritas twin screw on the udder end. When I installed the twin screw I knew from 'sperience and from other posts that the weight of the 4" thick maple movable jaw would be a problem. As a converted machinist wanabe I did not want to use rub blocks under the top because the leverage gets horrible when the vise is open fully. So I got the idea of using drawer slides mounted under the lead screws as not to be in the way. I mocked it up using cheapo Home Depot 100#(not really?) full extension slides,lots of clamps and some angle iron. It worked pretty well except The vise jaw was too heavy for the slides and I had to preload the drawslides by angling them up a few degrees to account for the drooping at full extension. This still is not a problem if you turn the vise screws slowly. If you try to turn the screws too fast(a normal speed) the vise jaw bounces and the screws bind in the nuts. Otherwise it works VERY NICELY!, Smooth as can be. NOW THE POINT! Does anyone know if the 200# slides that LV sells are gobs better than the 100# cheapo slides HD sells? I don't care so much about the $ as drilling lots of mounting holes in my bench. I hope a better,higher capacity slide wont sag so much. Any input on the idea or LV heavy duty slides welcome. Thanks for reading Keith
- posted
20 years ago