Vise soft jaws

[vintage nut]

The main vise out of my collection I actually use is a rock island 851 dual swivel. I've always been a fan of sheet lead soft jaws, as my usual work (custom knives, and gun repairs) really can't get chewed up. The only problem with the lead jaws is they don't hold round object that will be subjected to a fair bit of torque very well. The last time I used copper jaws was making a set in grade 9 metal shop, and they fell off constantly. I patterned these off my usual lead covers I make for every vise I own.


Anyways, enough of the background, time for building something.

First up the raw material, a sheet of 0.064" copper

Next the layout. I actually forgot to take pictures of this, so here it is after cutting out on the bandsaw.

Now for some dimensions. Obviously these vary with your vise. In general you want 1/4" sticking out past each side of the jaws, and a long enough piece over the top to fold over as you'll see.
My rock island's jaws are 3.5"x1.125', so I started by laying that out. Add in the side folding material, and I cut them 4" wide. For this vise I need about 1.75" to fold the top how I like it.


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[vintage nut]

Now the bandsaw doesn't leave the best looking edges, so I debur everything on a scotchbright belt. The contact wheel isn't necessary, slack belt or platten will work fine. I was just doing hollow grinds yesterday and didn't change it out


Camera didn't want to focus on the edges again, but it smoothed them out nicely.

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[vintage nut]

Now for some shaping. I used a tinner's hammer, and the round face of an auto body hammer.
Keeping the faces well polished will avoid a lot of unnecessary marks on your project

Start by lining up the blank in the vise it's for. Your layout lines should be right on the edges of the jaws

I like to start by folding the sides down. I used the tinner's hammer for this. The key to this style of jaws is getting everything fit nice and tight. They will snap on and stay in place if you get it right.
Next comes the top. I used a combination of both hammers for this. The cross pein on the tinner's hammer was used to bend the corners down, and the body hammer was used to smooth everything out



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[General Geoff]

Good work, they look a lot more well-planned than the ones I made out of some copper pipe.

 

[vintage nut]

Here's the set of jaws after shaping. They are ready to use, but could look better

12" hard spiral sewn wheel makes quick work of it. You can move a lot more metal than expected on a large buffer. Put enough weight into it and the metal starts flowing on a microscopic level. Amazing what you can make disappear. If I was starting my shop over, I'd want a buffer with at least 2hp and 18" wheels

And done!
Look a lot nicer than my lead jaws, but probably won't stay that way for long


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[vintage nut]

Good work, they look a lot more well-planned than the ones I made out of some copper pipe.

Nice to see someone else spelling the name the way I do haha
And nothing wrong with those!
It took me a fair bit of experimenting with different things to settle on this design. Pretty much anything will work though.
Yours look similar to the ones I made in highschool. Fit on a 4" record I no longer use. Unfortunately they were designed more as a project to teach people how to use a sheetmetal brake, rather than as good soft jaws... Fell off everytime you opened the vise.
Seems every shop has its own style soft jaws. Pretty much anything will work, just depends what you're used to.
My dad usually uses aluminum angle, or plywood. Regional thing too. North America copper seems common. Lead is more common in Europe.

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[Keel]

Nice..
I made mine out of 1/4" alum, drilled the back side and added/glued in a few magnets so they don't fall out.. magnets line up with vice jaw counter sunk screws
I will be making my own soon that will be 1/2 thick.. with my home foundry and cat food cans.. Gotta make dealing with the wife's cat worth it..

Will drill these also to add magnets to the back..

I may even try to make copper ones out of scrap copper pipe.
If it wasn't so deadly to do, I'd melt some lead roof flashing and make a set of those also.. but breathing in that is bad juju. and I'd not trust my respirator mask for that.. If I could borrow a fresh air system like autobody guys use and a full suit then ya, but it's really not worth the risk.

 

[vintage nut]

Aluminum works good. My dad's favorite soft jaws are aluminum angle with some of the sticky back fridge magnet stuff on the underside of the top.

As for lead, don't worry about it at all. Between bullet casting and making hammers for the shop, I've done a lot of it. The problem is the myths surrounding it. Lead doesn't put off vapors until it's boiling, which is at about 2000 degrees. Not only would the average camp stove or plumbers furnace have no chance of doing that, your pot would be glowing white before the lead started putting anything off.
Basically heat it until the lead melts and then pour. If you keep heating it the surface will start turning purple. It's not dangerous, but it's a sign you can back off on the heat.

The things to worry about with lead are dust, battery lead, and oxides. If the lead is white or yellow, you want to put some gloves on. Metallic lead won't absorb through your skin, the oxides will. However it still doesn't hurt to wear gloves, to avoid contamination of other things.

The basic rules to do it safely are no smoking (dust can get in your cigarette/cigar and vaporize), wash your hands before touching your face or eating, and don't do things that create dust. Files and hacksaws are fine. Belt sander should be avoided.

I did a thread at least a year or two ago on lead hammer casting. I've since updated my process, and am actually making a new mold as we speak. I'll be doing a new thread in the next week or two.

Don't fear lead, just don't be stupid with it.

Although if you have sheet lead, you may as well make a set of the sort of lead jaw covers I usually use. Love them for work on finished surfaces

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[T45]

nice thread OP, appreciate taking the time to show all of your work...