Cheap, easy homemade aluminum jaws for bench vice

[Traction]

I've been doing this for years on my bench vises. Cheap, and easy to make aluminum jaw protectors for clamping down on parts without chewing them up, and on most stuff they clamp
tighter than the serrated steel jaws too. Just take a piece of 1 in. aluminum by 1/16 in.
aluminum angle and cut 2 pieces the length of your vice jaws, and clamp them in place.
Then tap the top edges down to conform with the top of the vice, the put duct tape on the 2 edges, and they flip up in case you want to use the steel jaw. Works great, and lasts a long
time, and no more damage, or slipping.

 

[john_pifer]

Good tip - thanks. I recently sent my dirt bike suspension to a guy to be tuned.

It came back with marks from a vice. Would have been prevented if he'd had this.

 

[FL_Rob]

Delrin is another good choice if you need no-marring high clamp pressure, nylon is ok for light clamping.

 

[expat]

I often use Leather from an old belt for semi delicate stuff or wood.

 

[zzyzzx]

Originally Posted By: Traction
I've been doing this for years on my bench vises. Cheap, and easy to make aluminum jaw protectors for clamping down on parts without chewing them up, and on most stuff they clamp
tighter than the serrated steel jaws too. Just take a piece of 1 in. aluminum by 1/16 in.
aluminum angle and cut 2 pieces the length of your vice jaws, and clamp them in place.
Then tap the top edges down to conform with the top of the vice, the put duct tape on the 2 edges, and they flip up in case you want to use the steel jaw. Works great, and lasts a long
time, and no more damage, or slipping.


Pics please!

 

[Stag]

Another one to try is making them out of copper. An old copper 1" or better pipe section as long as your vise jaws are wide. Cut it down the middle, form the pieces held in your vise with a hammer. Presto. Mine stay on the jaws without tape.

 

[Pop_Rivit]

If it's something I don't want to scratch I'll just cut a couple small pieces of old carpeting (I have a few leftover scraps from when the house was built).

I also use a set of wood jaw covers that I made years ago-they are made out of pine so they are fairly soft.

 

[Shannow]

That was one of the first things we did in metal technology, make a set of aluminium soft jaws.

Mine are a lead pair that I inheritied with stuff in the garage...they are really useful.

I like the copper idea too... we have a bit of that floating around after some renovations and main line replacement.