Portable Workbench Build Process

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I'm sure I said something about having done all the metalwork a while ago.

One of the jobs on my list was to decide what to do about the washers for the dual screw vice. The latest version of the model has each screw having a pair of very custom washers designed to cope with angular misalignment:

I've had some ideas about how I might make those, but there's no doubt they'll take a lot of time and for the amount that I'll be clamping tapered stuff in the workbench I'm not convinced it's worth the effort, so for now I've decided to go with something simpler.

I put the fixed steady back in the lathe (thankfully it was still set up for 50 mm stock, so this was quick and easy) and made these simple washers (I didn't bother with in-progress photos as they would be very similar to a lot of previous photos):

Here's where they go:

I'd also be pondering more about the block I made to fix the central tube to the central vice mechanism and make it act as a stretcher. You may remember my earlier change of plan when I went from cap screw heads supporting the tube to having a block that clamps the tube to the vice mechanism. That resulted in some nasty cap screw locations and I didn't like that very much, so this evening I made a new one out of 60 mm EN1A. You can see the new one here along with the old one and the vice mechanism to which it attaches: I've drilled and tapped two new M5 holes for this new block to screw to.

Here it is fitted:

While I was in metalworking mode, I faced all the jam bars to length on the lathe and cleaned them up a little with some wet-and-dry paper as some were showing signs of rust already:

Just out of curiosity, I thought I'd try out the bottle of cold blue I bought a few years ago and still hadn't used:

I've already had to sand a bit of rust off the tops of the vice mechanism bodies as well, so I want to treat them in some way (and maybe some of the round steel parts) before I assemble them into the vice. I haven't decided what I'll do yet though.

I am a hobbyist metalworker and woodworker. I work as an electronic design engineer and spend most of my working days in front of a computer so I enjoy having the opportunity to use my hands and make things in my spare time. I particularly enjoy making tools as I can then use them on other projects. This website showcases some of the things I've made.

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