Soft vice jaw covers

[Vpross]

I’ve been looking to buy a set of soft covers for my vice and have noticed they are made of everything. They are all around the same price so that doesn’t matter. Urethane, nylon, rubber, etc. Any input would be appreciated.


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[Mohawk Dave]

What are you working on? I work on everything so I have them all.

 

[General Geoff]

I use copper jaw covers that I fabricated from leftover pipe.

I also have store-bought nylon inserts if copper is too hard.

 

[mbshop]

I have aluminum ones with magnets to hold them on to the jaws. They have grooves in them to help hold and position things. If that's still to hard then you will need the nylon or plastic ones.

 

[MushCreek]

I have one vise with steel jaws, and one with aluminum jaws that I made. If needed, I could always lay some sheet rubber in there to cradle something really fragile. Bear in ind that with enough force, even plastic can damage something. You can dent solid steel with a plastic hammer of you hit it hard enough.

 

[HenryAZ]

I use a folded piece of heavy leather. Place the item inside the leather then clamp in the vise. I got this idea from an excellent gunsmith (Don Williams), who holds slides and other metal gun parts that way.

 

[orangeblood]

i got these from wilton on amazon for $21. they work pretty good; the magnets are ok not super great but they keep the jaws in place.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00004XPVT/?tag=atomicindus08-20

 

[hkd76]

https://www.blacksmithsdepot.com/products/anvils-vises/anvil-vice-accessories/soft-jaws.html

This is what I use.

 

[matt_i]

I take off the hard knurled jaws and put them in a drawer. I replace them with aluminum or copper jaws, make from solid bar stock.

98% of the stuff I put into the vise would not be acceptable to have the "bite marks" on them at the end of the project and so I regard the hard jaws as "for special projects only".

 

[dkmc]

2x on Matts approach, custom Alu. soft jaws here. The covers tent to fall off
or be cumbersome at the worst time. I make mine from 1/2" thick x 1" tall 6061 Alu.

 

[jimreed2160]

I guess I am too lazy or else my projects are too varied and too quick. Jaw covers take time to install/deinstall. I just use the bare jaws and pad my workpiece with a shop rag.

 

[Rarified27]

I have two sets of soft molded rubber ones from Wilton and Bessey which are nearly identical except one has a magnetic strip and the other has two circular magnets. The strips barely hang on and aren't too useful. The circular magnets are great.

 

[lilredex]

You could take a page out of history (1948) and go to PG 89 (of the book) here.... will cost you nothing.


https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QfnseqQ0XvpeAsAT_mrJml_hVgRuTK1u/view

 

[may0naise]

I just get a length of 2" angle aluminum stock from Home Depot and cut it into 6" lengths or whatever width your vice jaws happen to be. I like to get the 1/8" thick pieces. If they stock 3/16' that would be even better. Lowes might have a better selection of thickness.

I've found that putting the magnets on the squeeze side destroys the magnets pretty quick, so I epoxy them to the side that goes against the top of the vise. They tend to wiggle around a bit when the clamping presssure is applied, but snap back as soon as the clamping pressure is released. Saves the magnets from getting crushed.

Something like this: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Everbil...inum-Angle-with-1-8-in-Thick-801407/204273991

This 36" piece would yield 3 set of 6" jaws for less than $15.00

.

I did the same exact thing. cheap and easy, really you don't even need the magnets.