Pen Vice

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R

r-ice

Member
Joined
Feb 16, 2009
Messages
65
Location
markham
I don't have the link, but isn't there someone on the forum that makes great vices? Mind you there is quite a long wait time.
 
randyrls

randyrls

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Joined
Feb 2, 2006
Messages
4,831
Location
Harrisburg, PA 17112
Two words: Paul Huffman aka Paul in OKC get on his waiting list.
He makes a pen vise that is the Maserati of pen vises. There is a LOOOONG wait time for them, I waited about a year for mine. (it's not for sale!)
 
leehljp

leehljp

Member Liaison
Joined
Feb 6, 2005
Messages
9,331
Location
Tunica, Mississippi,
I don't think Paul is in the vice business, but he does sell vises! :biggrin:

. . . now if he were in Britain . . he would sell vices.
 
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fafow

Member
Joined
Dec 27, 2007
Messages
159
Location
Los Angeles, CA, USA.
I have the pen vice that Rockler sells. http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=18062&filter=pen vice

I am recently single and my ex took the drill press with her. I am now doing all of my drilling on the lathe and much prefer that method. I have no intention of going back to the drill press. If you want to buy mine, I would be more than willing to part with it for a very reasonable price.

To be honest, though, the problem I had using a pen vice was with the smaller items where the pilot from the barrel trimmer was a bit longer than the tube it was going through.

If you are interested in buying mine, send me a pm.
 
KenV

KenV

Member
Joined
Oct 28, 2005
Messages
4,720
Location
Juneau, Alaska.
The one and only problem I have with my Paul Huffman Vise is that Paul has improved it to the Paul Vicemaster 3000 with red anodized jaws and I have only the old Paul Vicemaster 500 with plain metal jars.

The old woodcraft vise of many years ago has threaded rods on both sides that limit how large a piece of wood can be installed. I had been doing some junk drilling (metal rod) and did not want to use the good vise and had the old woodcraft version in the drill press. While it was there, I have some Panache blanks that were a full inch to drill -- and they would not fit. Fast Vise Change!!

Pauls vise does a nice job of holding up to about 2 or 2 1/2 inch stock -

One of those things I do not regret the cash flow about --- even if I have the old out-of-date Visemaster 500
 
workinforwood

workinforwood

Member
Joined
Mar 1, 2007
Messages
8,173
Location
Eaton Rapids, Michigan, USA.
RAdams said:
why not just drill on the lathe?
Click to expand...

a couple good reasons for that. You want to drill a lot of holes real fast, a press is much faster. Another reason would be that your collets get all gummed up and full of dust and crap that needs to be cleaned out if you want them to still be any good. A final reason would be that a vise can potentially offer a longer distance of support to the sides of a blank. A collet or set of pin jaws is only so long..like a set of ER-32 is only an inch or so deep. When the blank is beyond that distance, there is absolutely no support around the blank, so now you have to pull the blank forward or risk a blow out. Sure..you can start with the blank further out from the collet, but then you just reduced your accuracy, so now what is the point? If you drill on a lathe and do it properly, it is not the most accurate way to drill a hole. It all comes down to how well tuned is your equipment? If the tail and head are mis-aligned, then you will not be true. If the table and/or the vice are not square and secured on a drill press, the hole will not be true. There are more advantages that I can think of to use a drill press than there is for a lathe. The only lathe advantage I can think of is if your center of the blank is not the same at the top as it is on the bottom..in which case you can use a drive spur and a live center and put the points where you want them and then spin the blank round, which would then manipulate the center to be in the center..but even now that you did that..you can get just as good a hole out of a drill press. Everything comes down to tuning your equipment..it always just does. A drill press is a lathe standing on end...think about that.
 
S

shootintom

Member
Joined
Jan 1, 2009
Messages
32
Location
Carlisle PA
I watched a video of Barry Gross once anf he was using a machinists "V" block mounted on a board and just used a small quick clamp to hold the blank and I managed to get a deal on ebay for 3 and bought them. They work really well for drilling blanks that don't need a precision hole in them and it's really fast and holds up real well. For precision holes I use my metal lathe and spot drill both ends so I know the holes is going to go where I want it to. I think I paid $10.00 + shipping for the lot and gave one to a fellow turner who did the same thing.

Tom
 
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