My large bench vice, 100 pounds or so was sold to my dad as scrap.
It was perfect but had one jaw welded upon and messy.

He milled a Al-T6 grade aluminum bar, used the original screws and
now it sits outside my shop (under a large 15x30' cover in front.
THe one soft jaw (more or less) protects crunching something.

Martin

On 9/5/2012 11:30 AM, Steve W. wrote:
whit3rd wrote:
My best vise has loose jaws, which are too hard for some work, and let
heavy items slip.

I'm thinking of making (1) soft jaws (aluminum, maybe copper)
(2) step jaws (so I can hold something and hammer down on it)
(3) curved-face jaws (to hold pipe)
(4) milled jaws (to hold).
(5) V-block jaws (a V that stays put on the fixed jaw, but leave the
moving jaw flat)

So, are there any tricks? The jaws are held by 1/4-20 cheesehead
Phillips screws;
I'm likely to go with flathead socket screws for the refit, 'cuz an
allen wrench fits
better than a shorty Phillips screwdriver, and a flathead counterbore
can force
the jaws down into their seat.

If there's too much clearance, can I bend an ell in shim stock and put
that between the body and the jaws (seems like that SHOULD work)?

Is there an aftermarket for vise jaw inserts I can shop in?

I have made a bunch of different jaws. I used a mill to true up the
factory jaw seat. I use socket head screws for the stated reason as
well. I made one wide set as well. The longer surface grips a larger
surface. Allows wide objects more support. On those I milled them with a
slight curve so that the curve compensates for the flex of the longer jaws.

Watch out for the hammering on the vice. Some of them really don't like
that.