[Acercanto]

Okay, so I'm (still) designing my workbench, and I'm trying to come up with some way to not have to fool with the little pin/screwdriver for adjusting the bottom rail of the vise.
My thought is to have a ratcheting rod or rail that engages a rod up inside the leg. There would be a lever or something up higher just under the top of the bench that I could push or pull on to release it and let it go back in.
Here's a pretty picture of a crude sketch of what I'm thinking of.


What do y'all think? Brilliant? More trouble than it's worth? Both?? :laughing:

Acer

 

[Tom King]

Seems to me like that would work.

I'm planning to use a 40mm linear bearing rod with 2 bearings. Others have made then with a 30mm rod and one bearing, and it works fine. I just bought some nice 40mm ones off ebay for next to nothing, so that's the main reason I'm planning on going that way. This system leaves nothing to fiddle with, but the whole assembly needs to be extra stout.

 

[Acercanto]

Yeah, I originally wanted to do the linear bearings, but I won't have a chop that's thick enough to provide enough rigidity I don't think.

How close should I put the notches? I see the wooden plates with sets of holes that allow 1/8 adjustability, but I think if I put that many notches, I wouldn't have enough meat to catch very well.
Does anyone have any idea of the kinds of forces I can expect on a leg vise? Just crudely ballparking it, it looks like it'd be about 2/3 of the force at the mouth, since the screw will be around 1/3 closer to the top than the bottom.
I just thought, some caulk guns have a ratcheted (new word?) plunger. If I can use that, that'd be half the work right there. Would that be rigid enough?

Acer of the hairbrained ideas

 

[Acercanto]

Oh, so I might as well post a picture of what I'm designing.

The leg vise will be on the right, since I'm a lefty. I'll be incorporating BernieL's idea with the pipe clamps and t-tracks, except on the left end for the same reason.

Acer