Rare Adaptive Jaw Vise - Restoration

[@eddietowers5595]

Man, I thought the fractal vise [restoration] at Hand Tool Rescue channel was cool. This is just as cool. I love the old tools with development such as these two vises, it’s like you said, “…they’re intuitive…”

[@djlykaen]

That's what I though, why are these antiques and only available to 3d print?

[@thegoodlookinorange1986]

I’ve seen the fractal vise as well. Awesome restore. All the crescent shaped jaws are awesome. 👍

[@geoff4383]

This is a poor man's fractal vise. But this still looks really useful.

[@fltfathin]

@@geoff4383 it's better imo, fractal one is harder to reset

[@Wyld1one]

also harder to malke

[@cipriandavid4995]

What?! a restoration with no rust, no mud, no fake paint?! I love it!

[@me3333]

It's refreshing to see an honest restoration video. There's so few of them out there. Although I think I would call this more of a clean and oil than a restoration but that is nitpicking a bit.

[@richarddangles69]

I'm in love with this thing. The simplicity behind it makes me feel dumb for some reason and that doesn't happen often. U should make a a larger version of it. I'd watching a 6-10 video series just showing that project

[@rexhorning7228]

I like your format Speeding up the video and doing voice over keeping us informed without boring us with the tedious tasks. Thank you

[@HandToolRescue]

The jaws are knurled?! Interesting.

[@MakeEverything]

I thought so too, what a pain it must have been to form those knurls on curved jaws like that…

[@tomim7187]

That is genius! Such a simple design and it works so efffortlessly(now that you got it cleaned up, of course)! Nice resto, Chris!

[@mikesnifferpippets3733]

I’ve never seen one of these, but I’m definitely going to keep my eyes open for one. Thanks for the tutorial on how they operate.

[@paulg3336]

I just watched another channel (Abom79) showing a similar vice,but one that relies on friction to moderate the jaw plates. In comparison to the ball system it was very complex to set ,needing repeated adjustments and finally getting torqued to a certain level. This pseudo-fluidic ball system is far superior.

[@joseguzman9448]

I have never seen that type of vice before,interesting,thank you

[@jeffreykipperman6894]

Great video! And nice nod to Hand Tool Rescue at the end, I could tell that was one their spanner wrenches in the vice!

[@MakeEverything]

I’ve got to give Eric credit every now and then

[@jeffreykipperman6894]

@@MakeEverything Both your channels are terrific!

[@jpkatz1435]

Love the form factor/engineering, clear plate over ball-bearing, not the removel/repainting of the original paint. And it's YOUR project so you do it YOUR way. Much thanks for showing This VERY interesting vise!

[@rpower1401]

Great video. I rebuilt a milling machine version of this device a few years ago. Doesn't get a lot of use but is handy when needed. As for a magnetic base, I took magnetic tool holder strips, screwed them on a oversized board, covered it all with some aluminum flashing and it works great. Just clamp the board to the work station and use just as yours works but cheaper!

[@JestersHammer]

Thank you for making the acrylic lid. Great idea!

[@emel60]

Your video made me want to buy a thing I never knew existed!

[@Jazzythebarbarian86]

Love watching you restore stuff! You are awesome and so much fun to watch. Now that said, as a machinist and tool and Die maker by trade, "You did what with a Brown and Sharp magnetic vice?!" 🤣

[@Jazzythebarbarian86]

Oh, and also as a Machinist; this design would be absolutely FANTASTIC for my line of work

[@MakeEverything]

😂😂 thank you for watching!!!

[@Jazzythebarbarian86]

@@MakeEverything if you ever need any bits and bobs machined, you know where to get ahold of me 😂😂

[@Demicron]

The use of the magnetic chuck for a gringing/wire wheeling is ingenious and can cut down the work time.

[@clarklindquist8137]

I first thought this was a fractal vice, but its quite different. Love this video. Thank you so much

[@glencarolo2597]

Love that simple, elegant solution to dimensional holding.

[@bernardstokes6550]

What a clever and practical devise, nice restoration to boot. thanks for bringing this to our attention.

[@mattving61]

Whoah whoah whoah wait a minute... that bag over the magnet is amazing.

[@4dirt2racer0]

holy shit! thats an inGENIOUS design!!!!! i wonder how or y that didnt become more popular..

[@derwissenskiosk8041]

Thats a truly great implementaion of an adaptiv vise. I could see myself building one with that ball bearing design!

[@gaugeblockjenga]

The vice is very clever and your video was a pleasure to watch!

[@luck3949]

It's a really cool idea that you can replace liquids with ball bearings

[@karenalefounder4083]

What a fantastic vice. Great job on the restoration.

[@MrDestroys]

Your one of my favorite youtubers

[@MrDestroys]

You're

[@AnthonyCurreri]

Ingenious design

[@tomthompson7400]

Great video ,, a handy vise too ,, the clear plate was a gem of an idea.

[@frick566]

Awesome "fractalish" vice!...great restoration!

[@ExtantFrodo2]

It's not at all fractalish. "Compliant", yes, but there is nothing fractal - like about it. There are vices that are, but this is not that.

[@frick566]

@@ExtantFrodo2 yes I know what a fractal vice is that's why the ish...

[@robertbernard3828]

Awesome video man! I’ve never seen one of these before. Like your narration.

[@ethanspaziani1070]

I'd love to see you make a fractal vice and a larger version of this one that would be really cool man! You have a subscriber Hopefully someday I can watch you build yours and recreate my own

[@Bartyron]

Amazingly simple for such a useful tool. Thanks for showing it!

[@jeremyspecce]

What a cool find and restoration. Man, that would be pretty crazy if you actually manufactured a version!

[@caodesignworks2407]

It's interesting to see how this thing was constructed. I wonder how many iterations it took them to come with rounding off the back of the gripper plates. Flat obviously wouldn't push the balls aside enough, but too sharp won't let any of them build up pressure behind it.

[@EvoKeremidarov]

I've always been fascinated with the fractal vise.. this one is just as fascinating.. the best part is that I will make a very interesting project to try and build one in the home shop.. the most complicated thing will probably be the leadscrew

[@paulwomack5866]

leadscrew is straightforward single point turning on a lathe?

[@EvoKeremidarov]

@Paul Womack yes 100% correct... I've just never been quite successful turning acme threads on my Myford... especially a bigger pitch for a leadscre. Always get a lot of chatter and have to take a million finishing passed to clean up.

[@RookieLock]

I was looking forward to this! Such a great vice. So glad you shared this with us, otherwise I would of never known they existed !

[@darrelsartin4355]

Fascinating vise, never seen one like it. Great restore. One thing, it's a pet peeve. Those aren't ball bearings, they're bearing balls. Ball bearings have balls, two races, and a cage and maybe seals.

[@ExtantFrodo2]

good point.

[@jamesbarisitz4794]

Try running a bead of epoxy around the base of the wire wheel inside and outside where the wires crimp into the base. It virtually eliminates wire strand ejection. 👍

[@mediocreman2]

Great advice!

[@KeithOlson]

Very cool! As a geek, though, it behooves me to point out that a version with multiple rows would work even better, like one of those pin boards that kids love to play with.

[@doylerabjohn3435]

After seeing the reel. I looked for one it must a rare antique very interesting vice....Never seen that style before. I to see you build a larger one. Great video.

[@Bobbymull7174]

I wish I had one of those when I was still working it would have been very helpful I did a lot of work on small parts in vices including a 1-1/2" hand held vice I got at a swap meet!

[@Rustlerbear]

Very awesome mechanism. Thank you for sharing and for the clear cover reveal.

[@JazzLowrider]

That is one cool vice, and you did a great job restoring it, i would love to own one of those, great video, thanks for taking the time.

[@WildStyleWorks]

these jaws are briliant! same as the idea with the magnetic table! love it, need to get one my self 🙂

[@joshbrucksch]

That vice is so cool!

[@4dirt2racer0]

i canNot believe thiss didnt become a standard design, thats n absolutely brilliant idea!! it looks like it works well i Will b making one lol if i can find it

[@GTL77]

Such a cool looking vice

[@532bluepeter1]

Thank you very much for sharing this video. I have never seen one of these vices before though many times I could have done with one.

[@constantinosschinas4503]

Amazing, simple design.

[@p3ntastar]

That does look like an interesting, accessible fabrication project to replicate. The challenge of creating a larger-scale version with only salvaged or off-the-shelf components could be of use.

[@robertlevine2152]

Bearing size and material would also be critical. As you increase the size the force on the bearings would increase. My guess is its proportional to the square of the applied force. Flattening the bearings would become an issue.

[@siriustraveler7083]

Very nice restoration ❤

[@SB-dv8ih]

Genius idea

[@TheShadeTreeFixitMan]

Very unique design for sure.

[@tupera1]

1st time viewer...really nice job. I like the pace and length of the video. Keep up the good work!

[@Slash1066]

Very clever design indeed

[@arustydodge2111]

Fantastic job, CHRIS!⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ You have the patience of a Saint, for R&R like this one!😇 Would love to find one of these vises for all the crazy things I have to clamp up.👍 Great channel⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[@ExtantFrodo2]

The working principle seems much like the kind of robotic gripper that consists of coffee grounds in a rubber balloon like bladder. At normal pressure the grounds and the bladder conform to the shape of the target after which a vacuum is applied to tighten the grip. This vice employs bars that implement the gripping action. Might not the same principle be applied to a 2D array of hexagonal rods? I find myself somewhat motivated to attempt to make one.

[@HWMDesigns]

Wow, what a great bit of engineering. Simple design but super-effective. I think you could adapt the principle of this design to make other hold-down tools. It might work for an adaptive box brake.

[@SchysCraftCo.]

Wow that's pretty cool. Congrats on your new to you tool/ toy. Hopefully you get great use out of it for many years to come my friend. Cant wait to see more videos soon. Keep up the great craftsmanship and hard work my friend. Forge On. Fab On. Weld On. Keep restoratioing. Keep Making. God bless.

[@JeremyMakesThings]

Nice, I’ll cool to see some of the minor differences between this and the Ampogrip version. I like the set screws to lock the jaws.

[@JeremyMakesThings]

I’ve also considered trying to build one out of a Kurt clone…probably one of those things I’ll never get around to.

[@1gordon4u]

"schmutz" i like that one, great job.

[@JGV_IX]

Very cool! Awesome find!!

[@blarrrggminecraft]

Did you check the paint for lead? From what I could find, E.W. Bliss was bought in 1969, and had it's name changed, which is before the 1978 ban of lead paint sales in the U.S..

[@JamesJohnson-kw9gh]

I only wish your would slow down so could see more of the machining that was done while I'm pretty sure could copy this it would help but very cool vise .and im gonna make 1 for my wife .it will come in handy for her rock work for sure and may even work on are rock cutting .

[@whca_tech]

Two Words... VHT Epoxy Paint... It will change your life. Dries so fast, and super durable.

[@Aleph-Noll]

making a huge version would be cool

[@dallaseggleston4731]

Did a great job, I would love to find one of those.

[@JDeWittDIY]

Nice restoration, thanks for sharing the video! At 9:30 you use rubber cement. When I use rubber cement, I apply it to both surfaces to be joined, then let it dry for 15 to 30 minutes before joining them. It was hard to tell in the video how you did it. I'm curious to know how you use rubber cement.

[@paulg3336]

Your way is the correct one

[@HouseDoctorRay]

Awesome! Thanks so much for sharing. It is incredible how the old timers were able to make things work without all the 'technology' we have today. Thanks again.

[@therestorationshop]

I have one of these that used to live on a Navy ship. Another nice feature of this vise is that the fixed jaw is on the same side as the handle. Most vises have the moving jaw and handle on the same side. Where this is particularly helpful is on a shaper or planer. With a shaper or planer you want the force of the stroke against the fixed jaw. If you positioned a regular vise such that the force was against the fixed jaw the handle would be against the machine and basically unusable.

[@paulwomack5866]

Does it carry the same E W Bliss branding?

[@JeremyMakesThings]

You’ve got the “Anpogrip” version, right? I’ve found that with mine, and the size of my mill, I actually have mount it “backwards” so the handle is toward the column, otherwise it really just doesn’t line up with the cutter with any useable range. But I can work around it when I need to use it.

[@therestorationshop]

@@paulwomack5866 Mine has no branding. The only maker of a vise like this I had found was AMPOGRIP.

[@therestorationshop]

@@JeremyMakesThings I've always thought it was an AMPOGRIP but there wasn't a brand name on it so I guess it could be something else. The ALL CAPS seemed to be how they branded themselves. I found a matchbook on eBay and they had it that way there as well. Before this video I didn't know anyone else made them. Seems like the exact same vise.

[@JeremyMakesThings]

@@therestorationshop the small amount of info I’ve found on these, E.W. Bliss bought the rights to them in 1957 from “American Machinery co Inc” aka “American positive Grip vise co” (where the name “AMPOGRIP” comes from.). The biggest difference I see between the Bliss version and my AMPOGRIP is rectangular (Bliss) vs dovetail (AMPOGRIP) ways. I have to imagine there were various versions of each. Super interesting vises all around.

[@Hellsong89]

This is pretty interesting design. I have floor stands that use same principle to have fully adjustable jack stands having two pipes that fit over each other and inner one has bottom plate with triangle hole cut on it that allows ballbearings to drop down but wont allow them to flow up so easily. Taking jack stand off is bit harder since you need to turn it around to get bearing to fall back into inner tube or twist it to get them slip in. Also after long use there is metal dust and due poor storage water has gotten in and balls in couple of them had rusted in place, but lots of oil and smashing with steel bar got them out, cleaned and with some cleaning i have several working again and one missing most of its ball bearings. Taking them apart tool effort, essentially hammering the inner tube out since the bottom disk is bit larger than neck support on the larger one and only got it out by brute forcing the bottom plate to rip from one of its spot welds, bending it and then rewelding it back before brute forcing it back when assembling.

[@Nickgowans]

So the idea behind the balls is that they appears to work like a sort of "hydraulic" pressure, that is they behave like a non-compressible fluid. But without the issues of having to seal everything and all the engineering that would have to go into that. It's ingenious when you think about it

[@paulg3336]

It's all particle dynamics regardless of the size of the particles

[@MV-vv7sg]

You get a better set as well with them being much larger particles. Hydraulic fluid isn’t viscous enough. I bet no liquid would really work. Clever how it’s same same but different.

[@ryansrandomshop]

Been waiting for this video!

[@____________________________.x]

The reason this mechanism works so well is that the rear of the jaws are rounded. This is exerting sideways pressure forcing the balls to move sideways rather than just backwards. It’s a detail that people should be aware of

[@robertlevine2152]

Really interesting! I have never seen a vise like that. I'm surprised that there aren't more of these being sold. The quantity of bearings and the size of the void above the bearings are critical for the jaws to move. Today you could program a computer to calculate the number of bearings needed. Based on age I'd guess trial and error was how the mechanism was designed. Your restoration is first class, except for the labels. There are people that can make duplicate labels for restoration projects. It would be worth the effort to get new labels. Bob

[@thedave7760]

You don't need a computer. Computers are really good at doing mathematics you can do mathematics with a pencil and paper. LOL.

[@tsm688]

You don't need to count the bearings, you can just measure weight and/or volume to get it close enough.

[@mediocreman2]

There are no bearings in this video. Those are steel balls that are often used in bearings.

[@greglaroche1753]

Nice job!

[@charlestannehill7537]

Hope you read this. You should try painting the Allen key bolt heads a secondary complimentary color to give more contrast and pop. Little trick I thought of customizing my motorcycles. Everyone is amazed by the "detail". Just be careful inserting Allen key into bolt head, transfer and tighten.

[@portalkeeper978]

So if the balls have higher compression strength, the maximum clamping force will also be higher so long as everything else doesn’t break. Would be cool to see this vise implemented with 2D molding jaws made with a fine mesh of spherical metal ends to really get into those small crevices. Wonder what the trade off in performance here would be as you go finer and finer

[@jeanbotha182]

Very nice vise,, I think the oil you put in with the bearing balls are making them stick a little bit, maybe a thinner oil wil be better?

[@briangoldman8209]

That is soooo cool, I want one !!!!!!

[@cdrive5757]

Absolute genius!

[@garagemonkeysan]

Great video. Super interesting device. Gotta get me those W40 products. Mahalo for sharing! : )

[@whca_tech]

coolest thing since the fractal vise...

[@nilegod1]

i think i may make one of these for my machine school project, thats bomb

[@brentfowler2317]

Awesome vice man! Love this restoration! Nice work!

[@henrikjorgensen1614]

First time i see this cool wise Keep it for your self😀

[@Minky-mv1pm]

Super nice product

[@muzzarobbo]

if i was to design a vice like this i would have it be hydraulically actuated with a 2 dimensional array of pins on each jaw to apply the pressure. each pin could potentially also have an articulating pad on the end.

[@seananderson7794]

Awesome thanks for the info!! 👍🖐🙂🇨🇦

[@1620GarageAndFarm]

Very cool old school vise/holder .. Great job on the restoration. Any reason you didn't just sand blast the castings clean? That would have been much faster than the wire wheel, and cleaner..

[@abbv2x]

Great vid and awesome vice. Might I suggest a pop filter for your mic :) Constructive criticisim of course!

[@strawman9410]

Never heard of gel lube WD 40, could be good for a bike chain. Like the vice too with it weird grip.

[@SpookyMcGhee]

Abom79 has a very similar vise to this one, came here from looking for the one he has. Keep up the good work and cheers from Cleveland Ohio Also you did WHAT to that poor Brown & Sharpe mag chuck?!?!?!?!? Ahhhhh I'm just kidding weve got an old B&S mag chuck thats junk at our shop that we use for painting so its fine

[@eyuptony]

Brilliant really enjoyed watching.👍

[@MV-vv7sg]

This is awesome. Came here in a flash from your IG short that was recommended to me . Clever how you used the magvice! In your insta short you mentioned this refurbish AND building your own larger one? Have you got plans to still do this. Would love to see you make a big one!

[@MakeEverything]

Thanks for watching!! Yes I’m working on the drawings for it as we speak! Same basis of design just scaled up to 6” wide

[@MV-vv7sg]

@@MakeEverything Great, that’s super exciting! Looking forward to see how it turns out.

[@TheZombieSaints]

That's brilliant how it uses the bb's. Why aren't these still made I wonder? It would be easy to replicate if you had the workshop and tools to do so. Great video 👍

[@randombloke82]

Probably the same reasons the fractal jaw vice never took off: as-new the device was too expensive for most hobbyists and, for a commercial shop, custom cut soft jaws are both more repeatable and can be set up to relieve stress points rather than applying equal pressure everywhere.

[@me3333]

That is such a genius design I'm surprised the Chinese haven't copied it yet. I'm a little touched in the head, there's no way I could've taken that apart without counting the balls to satisfy my curiosity. 🙃 Great video! As others have said, I like the format of sped up video with voice over audio.

[@norwegiangadgetman]

That's a really neat vise. Do you happen to have some profile pictures of the 'fingers' or the bar used to reset them? I would love to make a small version of this to use on my Sherline mill.

[@kmacksb]

Abom79 just posted a video showing a modern-day version of a similar set of vise jaws called Adaptix. I don't know if they use a similar internal mechanism, but they look a lot like these.

[@garyjones2582]

Very cool vise, never seen one like that before.. if i wanted one, how much money would I have to spend to acquire one..Thx for sharing your experience...