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Sliding Vise Screw Garter and Adjustments

Adjusting Fit of Sliding Vise

2010.01.24

With the parallel guide in place, I put the wooden vise screw in and began closing the sliding vise.  The screw became more and more difficult to turn, until with about a two-inch gap, I could not tighten the vise any further.  Hmm.  It looked like the parallel guide was stuck on the top of the mortise.

2010.01.29

After some investigating, I determined that the top of the sliding vise mortise in the base needed to be raised about 1/4″.  (Actually, I put the mortise in the vise chop in the wrong place, but that would be more difficult to change.)  So I enlarged the mortise and tried again.  Now the vise easily closes all the way.

Sliding Vise Screw Garter

2010.02.08

I first made a garter for the sliding vise screw a couple weeks ago.  But I was unhappy with the wavy outline from using the jigsaw freehand.  I had also used the compound miter saw to cut the circle into two pieces so they could slip around the garter groove of the screw, and this left a gap along that line.

So I made another one, trying to be more careful with the jigsaw.  Then I used a fret saw to divide the circle in half.  Slow going, and not as straight as I would have liked, but at least a thinner kerf.  But then it just snapped along the grain when I was almost halfway through with the fret saw.  I glued it back together.  I still was disappointed with the jigsaw work, and still did not like the kerf line.

So I went through numerous experiments and mangled attempts, trying to devise a better method for making the garter.  I ran out of oak after a while so I started using poplar.  Finally I figured out a way to do it.

I set my jigsaw upside down in the workmate.  I drilled a series of pilot holes in a scrap of wood, into which I would place a pivoting pin (just a 1/4″ drill bit).  I would rotate the wood on this pin into the jigsaw blade, cutting a clean circle.

In my experiments I determined that if there was very much wood on the waste side of the cut, it would bend the jigsaw blade in towards the center, cutting a smaller circle than I wanted.  On the other hand, when there was not much wood on the waste side, the blade wanted to bend to the outside, cutting a larger circle than I wanted.  I solved the inward bending problem by using the series of holes; I could make multiple passes, taking off only a little wood each time until I got down to the diameter I wanted.  I solved the outward bending problem by clamping a scrap wood block pushed snugly against the jigsaw blade on the outward side.  I solved the subsequent problem of the smoke alarm beeping every time by taking the battery out…  I mean come on, there wasn’t even any visible smoke.

To eliminate the saw kerf on the line between the two halves, I crosscut the two half pieces first, before cutting the circle.  I then affixed them to a full circle blank with doublestick tape, and drilled a 1/4″ hole through for the pivot pin.  I mitered the corners to reduce what the jigsaw had to cut through.

I used some scraps to create a holddown in front of the blade, to reduce the vibration chatter.  I started with the furthest pilot hole, just nicking the corners, then repositioned for the next hole, and worked my way down.

I drilled the 1–5/8″ hole in the center to fit around the vise screw garter groove.  Then I drilled, countersunk, and tapped holes for the screws.

The two halves slip around the wooden vise screw into the garter groove, and then the assembly is screwed into the vise chop.

A couple things left to do, but the sliding vise is almost complete.