Catcher1984
Well-known member
I recently acquired a Wilton 1760/ Snap On Vise and loved the jaw covers I had for my old Yost 204 but I couldn’t find anyone selling 6” versions (besides the overpriced $150+ Wilton Brass Jaw ones). So I decided to make them myself.
Supplies you will need:
• Some kind of soft metal sheet, you really don’t need much. The piece I used was about 9x7inches (I used scrap aluminum alloy that was originally a street sign)
• Jigsaw or bandsaw (I used an Angle grinder with metal cutting disc because that’s what I had)
• Belt grinder to shape out edges (Angle grinder with a grinding disc can be used in a pinch)
• Cardboard for stencil/form
• Foredom/Dremel/Die grinder with carbide bit for those round edges
• Face protection, dust mask, gloves. The aluminum can come off in tiny little pieces that will embed everywhere. Protect your eyes!
First I looked around in my scraps bin and I found an old street sign made of some kind of aluminum alloy which was soft enough for what I wanted.
I used my old Yost vise jaw covers to sketch out a crude drawing then transferred it to cardboard. From there I used an angle grinder to cut out the form. (A jigsaw would of been so much easier but mines broken)
From there I used a 2x48 belt grinder for the straight edges and my Foredom with a carbide bit for the corners. And then used a coarse wire wheel (the sign was covered with a sticker that would not come off). And used a scotch brite wheel to get rid of the burrs.
Finally I just clamped them into the vise and used a plastic faced wiha hammer to form them around the edges.
All in all took about 1 hour from start to finish.
I like these style of vise jaw covers because the “fingers/ears” or whatever get formed around the back of the jaw and stay in place. The magnet type are annoying because they end up falling off.
This will work with brass, copper, and other soft metal sheets. Hope this helps somebody out.
Supplies you will need:
• Some kind of soft metal sheet, you really don’t need much. The piece I used was about 9x7inches (I used scrap aluminum alloy that was originally a street sign)
• Jigsaw or bandsaw (I used an Angle grinder with metal cutting disc because that’s what I had)
• Belt grinder to shape out edges (Angle grinder with a grinding disc can be used in a pinch)
• Cardboard for stencil/form
• Foredom/Dremel/Die grinder with carbide bit for those round edges
• Face protection, dust mask, gloves. The aluminum can come off in tiny little pieces that will embed everywhere. Protect your eyes!
First I looked around in my scraps bin and I found an old street sign made of some kind of aluminum alloy which was soft enough for what I wanted.
I used my old Yost vise jaw covers to sketch out a crude drawing then transferred it to cardboard. From there I used an angle grinder to cut out the form. (A jigsaw would of been so much easier but mines broken)
From there I used a 2x48 belt grinder for the straight edges and my Foredom with a carbide bit for the corners. And then used a coarse wire wheel (the sign was covered with a sticker that would not come off). And used a scotch brite wheel to get rid of the burrs.
Finally I just clamped them into the vise and used a plastic faced wiha hammer to form them around the edges.
All in all took about 1 hour from start to finish.
I like these style of vise jaw covers because the “fingers/ears” or whatever get formed around the back of the jaw and stay in place. The magnet type are annoying because they end up falling off.
This will work with brass, copper, and other soft metal sheets. Hope this helps somebody out.
