Yost 6.5" Bench Vise

[johnnyc14]

I got fed up with my old Chinese 5" bench vise, it never seems to hold securely or open far enough for those tough jobs. I wanted a high quality vise!! I ordered this Yost vise on Amazon, it was discounted $150 and included free shipping to my door. That's nice when your ordering a 60 lb vise! Yost vises are made in the USA and have high quality ductile iron castings and replaceable hardened jaws. It has a cool feature that allows the moveable jaw part to be inserted into the body from either side giving 0-7" opening one way and 3-12" opening the other way. The jaws are serrated on one side and smooth on the other. I took it apart and inspected the castings and machine work and I have to say I'm impressed. Everything fits correctly and the jaws line up perfectly.

 

[kd4gij]

That is one fine looking vise you have there.

 

[4GSR]

I bought one of their vises couple years ago. They are nice and much cheaper than a Wilton.

 

[joshua43214]

hmmm.
I've been looking for a new vise.
That looks pretty nice

 

[johnnyc14]

I've been meaning to make a set of soft jaws for bench vise use and now that I have a new vise and a few days off work it seemed to be the right time for this project. I had a length of 1/2" by 1.5" 6061 bar stock in my scrap bin and started with that.

I cut 2 jaw pieces just slightly longer than the 6.5" finished length in the band saw. I used a 45 degree carbide end mill to machine 1 horizontal groove and 3 vertical grooves to .160" depth.





I located and drilled the holes for the 5/16" fasteners and counter bore them to a depth of .300" with a 5/8" end mill.



I put the jaws face to face in the vise and reduced the height to 1.25" and cut a bevel around the outside edges.





They turned out well.

 

[middle.road]

Sweet. Quite a bit of difference -eh?

 

[wawoodman]

I'd be afraid to use a vise that nice! At least until it had its first oopsie.

But on another subject you mentioned: the 45 degree end mill. I was under the impression that they didn't work well for V-grooving, because the middle wouldn't cut as well as the outside edge. I thought that the preferred way was to use a regular end mill, with either the head or the work tilted. Have I been wrong, all along?

 

[stupoty]

The Lower jaws for holding round stuff look good, do they work well?

Stuart

 

[johnnyc14]

I'd be afraid to use a vise that nice! At least until it had its first oopsie.

But on another subject you mentioned: the 45 degree end mill. I was under the impression that they didn't work well for V-grooving, because the middle wouldn't cut as well as the outside edge. I thought that the preferred way was to use a regular end mill, with either the head or the work tilted. Have I been wrong, all along?

I've heard that too Mike, I would not use one in steel but in aluminum it plows through with no problem and leaves a nice surface finish at about 1800 RPM. Any slower and it seems to get plugged up with chips. The 3/8" one I use a lot is actually called a "drill mill" on the container.




http://www.ebay.ca/itm/3-8-4-FLUTE-...083043?hash=item46463c88e3:g:NHQAAOSwZ1lWbyx4


http://www.htcmfg.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=7_2&product_id=4598

I have another style in 1/4" with straight flutes that I use for a job I do regularly. I mill a groove .030" deep and .125" long. I do it in 2 passes otherwise the mill gets pulled off centre but it also does a nice job if you have the patience.

 

[johnnyc14]

The Lower jaws for holding round stuff look good, do they work well?

Stuart

I haven't had a chance to use the pipe jaws yet but they are removable, replaceable and very hard.