Bench Vise

Mechanical vises are one of the most useful tools in the shop. They offer incredibly high clamping force that can be used for common applications such as securing parts and press fitting hardware.

While vises are fairly simple to operate, they actually exploit many realms of computer aided design (CAD). With threaded parts, linear movement, and abundance of holes, mechanical vises are excellent mechanisms for CAD designing skills.

This specific project was designed through SolidWorks. All parts were modeled and assembled from a set of given SolidWorks drawings.

The main components featured in this mechanism include:

• Vise Base - The frame of the mechanism that gets fastened to a workbench

• Handle Rod - Grants mechanical advantage to the user torquing the sliding jaw

• Vise Screw - Rotates in the base to convert user's torque into linear clamping force

• Sliding Jaw - Linearly driven by vise screw to clamp against jaw plate

• Handle Ball - Ensures the handle rod remains in the vise screw

• Jaw Plate - Offers a counter force for the sliding jaw