Making a screwless vise from salvaged cast iron

I wanted a small screwless toolmakers/grinding vise for my benchtop surface grinder, and I had some leftover pieces of salvaged cast iron, so I made one. This is my submission for #toolfest2021, organized by Emma's Spareroom Machineshop: / emmaritson .
Check out the other tools folks made by clicking that hashtag.
If you like what I'm doing here and find some value in it, consider supporting my work on Patreon: / jeremymakesthings
I promise I'll still mostly make stuff out of rusty junk and not just buy shiny things with your money.
#shopmadetools

[@joeg9630]

Jeremy, I am forever indebted to you for this series of videos. I've owed a Sanford grinder for 20+ years and never used it. The magnet was actually powered by tubes that didn't work. With your help I was able to restore it and make it fully functional. Thank you again.

[@mumblbeebee6546]

I’ve been fairly addicted to machining videos now for three years, and never seen someone recycle like you do, rather than do everything from fresh stock or at least something very close to final product. - Nobody’ fault but mine of course. Such an experience to watch it, I am so glad I found your channel!

[@auxchar]

Yeah, that was some of the most extreme stock squaring I've ever seen

[@Rustinox]

Make something useful from junk. That's how we like it.

[@MPenzlin]

well done, nothing spend, but some time and good planning

[@RamblerMan68]

I love watching you machine cast iron....because I hate cleaning it off my machines, hahaha. Excellent videos...it's people like you that really convinced me to buy a lathe and a mill in the first place and now, couldn't imagine not having them.👍😁. Thanks for sharing the excellent work!!

[@AmateurRedneckWorkshop]

Wonderful results. From old rusty metal to a nice vise. Keep on keeping on.

[@kentuckytrapper780]

Excellent job man, love the way you take junk and turn it into a jem..

[@CraigsWorkshop]

Awesome result Jeremy - very envious of your surface grinder setup! :) Some great tips in this episode too: The knee/quill combo depth stop, and also using a bit of paper to test both ends of the angle block setup. Also the 123 block angle plate is a neat idea - and the borrowed idea to pin two 123 blocks together.

[@rickpalechuk4411]

Nice! Scrap metal challenge ... Gotta love it. Thanks for sharing, Cheers

[@kayhaverkort4220]

I love the way you use scrap metal like that and make something satisfying out of it.

[@MrSaemichlaus]

This is the kind of real world stuff that everybody tries to hide. Thanks for showing the poor man's methods, not just the flashy polished materials they got from a millionaire friend.

[@welcometothemachineshop466]

Excellent!!! I like how you used scrap materials.

[@kenknight4560]

Very impressive turning those scrap pieces into something. That surface grinder is a gem!

[@danielabbey7726]

Really top-notch work, Jeremy. Making useable tools from readily available scrap is very appealing!

[@craigtate5930]

Awesome. I really like how you leave just a lil imperfection in the materials to let it be know it wasn't a store bought item. Looks amazing as usual

[@bdove7939]

Good job. Very inventive

[@nadam35]

i dont know how many times ive watched this...love this project

[@kemc77]

1 2 3 block shenanigans is lovely to hear

[@joell439]

Fantastic results. Thanks for the angle block checking trick. I’ve never thought about it that way before. That’s very simple and robust way to check it. 👍👍😎👍👍

[@eyuptony]

Great job, interesting work. Enjoyed watching the scrap slowly transforming into vice components. Love your setups on the surface grinder. Never would have thought that was a rusty chisel lol. Tony

[@GoCreatehms]

Quality tool from junk material, great build!

[@homemadetools]

Great work. We shared this video on our homemade tools forum yesterday :)

[@stxrynn]

Very good work. Using scrap that others would pitch is right in line with my way of doing things as well.

[@nigelcrockett4032]

If you use the vice to clamp a 123 block and stick that to the grinder magnet you can grind the back end as it would be hanging over the edge gaining some extra height

[@bobnwashington]

I won’t be building this, but this is well presented & executed.

[@TrPrecisionMachining]

good job

[@AA-69]

Hats off to you my friend, I've never seen such bad stock turned into such beautiful tools 👍🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

[@rexmyers991]

WOW! Very inspiring. I like your ingenuity. Especially the conversion of 1-2-3 blocks to a right angle fixture.

[@ccbproductsmulti-bendaustr3200]

Great work 👍👌

[@metusa666]

Good piece of work and great to see all the scrap being reused

[@EleanorPeterson]

Reworking old cast iron looks a bit like woodworking: you find an interesting chunk of 'organic' material full of splits and voids and keep slicing bits off until you're left with something clean and true and really quite beautiful.🙂

[@stacysimon8864]

Great video sir! The 1-2-3 block stuff was awesome. As a machinist of three decades, my preferred term for that is 'creative fixturing'...lol. You keep up the great work sir!

[@CreaseysWorkshop]

An amazing transformation!

[@anelpasic5232]

Those corners are just screaming for a filing. Great to see you turn scrap into functional tools.

[@MagnetOnlyMotors]

Great use of “ diamond in the rough” ! Like your skill, excellent!

[@EmmaRitson]

thats awesome!!

[@trialnterror]

I love making things out of something that was thrown away!

[@TheAyrCaveShop]

Jeremy, turned out fantastic. Found you with the #ToolFest2021, One minute in I hit that sub and thumbs up button. I’ll be checking out your other videos as well. Love the use of scrap materials and leaving the little imperfections to preserve the character. ATB….Dean

[@93Martin]

I love the character that the casting imperfections give it. Looks great!

[@d-lishproductions4119]

Really nice build! I'm liking the subtle This Old Tony vibes as well! 😁

[@kenbabione7946]

I just found your channel, I hope you keep up the videos, I enjoy them very much. I spent 30 years in the Navy, most of it as a Nuclear Submarine Auxiliaryman, you would have been a welcome addition to my small, but resourceful division. We were often tasked with making something from nothing, because once you leave your homeport and pull the plug, you have to make do with what is on board. Well done Jeremy, keep up the fine work. Ken, Pearland Tx.

[@DK-vx1zc]

That came out great! Nicely executed, especially starting from scrap. Thanks for sharing

[@jamescole2093]

Dang that’s awesome!

[@metalworksmachineshop]

Nice work 💪

[@jimsvideos7201]

I like the idea of the banjo fitting having a through hole, my commercially available one has a cross-pin and half-round grooves to seat in and that's a fussy arrangement.

[@canonsonico3752]

Awesome job! Love your work👏👏

[@clintchapman4319]

That was a good project! Way to get something done!

[@peter360adventures9]

Awesome work

[@athrunzala5337]

Thanks man you awesome !!

[@MatthewTinker-au-pont-blanc]

Nice!

[@crichtonbruce4329]

Great stuff! I'm just getting back into machine tool metal working and it's hard to find materials. I do have a bunch of cast iron: gears, heavy brackets, etc. and I've been cannibalizing them for stock. It's proving a fine source. One trick I found was using a high quality hole saw in the drill press to get round or cylindrical pieces. I clamp them well, run the press at it's slowest speed, and keep moderate but steady pressure on the bit. If the clamping is good you can run the cutter without the pilot drill.

[@klausnielsen1537]

Well done on all counts. Enjoyed it

[@seamusbolton215]

That was amazing, one of the best I have ever seen, thank you

[@PaulMorley1]

Fantastic Build Jeremy! I'm inspired to make one now.

[@stephenbridges2791]

You have a very nice shop and the skills to go with it.

[@paulpipitone8357]

Supporting Emmas Crew..... and i subscribed really nice work considering the stuck you found....i look forward to seeing your other work...

[@dannyarendall5233]

U have some cool old tools

[@enzowilson345]

excellent. watched your shaper vice build pt1, I just (almost) finished a vice for my boxford shaper.

[@brucewilliams6292]

Nice work! most people wouldn't fight with stock like that.

[@chrisfinley4816]

Very nice

[@infoanorexic]

My style of build. Didn't start that way by choice, for so long it was make do or do without. Done it that way for so long, it doesn't feel right starting something from new stock. At minimum, it at least has to be a drop. Today's new material prices makes me even more determined to do it that way ...

[@bearsrodshop7067]

Had to make another comment this morning on the 25th,,,,Wow 3K views,,I had to come back and re-watch again (@@)! I have an old 83 Mercedes cast iron block,,and was going to toss it,,but after seeing you turn cast that looks like it came from the Titanic into a useful tool,,,I will cut it into usable cast,,thx for a tool entry..Bear.

[@MrArray1967]

Very interesting project! Liked what I saw👍🏻

[@BarryBranton]

Nice.

[@tomeyssen9674]

Nice job with what you had!

[@loganlawlyes1980]

Great video and nice vice, not sure on the material you used but it was from scrap so well done

[@vandalsgarage]

Liked, subscribed. Proper job.

[@robertseltmann]

Wow thats cool

[@michaelosmon]

Your mill is awesome I never seen one like that.

[@JayFude]

Looks like a great tool, with the bonus that you can now use your surface grinder on non-ferrous materials. Perfectly cut copper D20's for your next D&D game! Alu-minimum D-10's!

[@Xlaxsauce]

One thing I learned is that at high temperatures you can burn the carbon out of the steel near the surface which prevents you from getting the steel as hard as you could get it. Having a non reactive atmosphere to prevent oxidation is generally how you prevent burning the carbon off. You can also use a foil sac with something to burn the oxygen out of the bag so the part has a hard time oxidizing

[@Reman1975]

That looks very presentable. Not a 100% perfect finish, but considering it was made from salvaged materials it's remarkably nice. I personally shy away from going overboard on home brewed tooling anyway. it's hard to use something in anger if you've put serious effort into making it immaculate. It's like when I see folks refurbish old bench vices on KZbin, and use car body filler to get a perfectly smooth surface, then polish any exposed metal to a mirror finish. After putting in that amount of work, there's no way they're ever going to use it for the purpose it was originally made for. They turned it into a show piece and nothing more. :(

[@Akitene]

That's what I call recycling. And then turning trash to top notch tool.

[@r.j.sworkshop7883]

Nice work. I just did some V-blocks from an old tractor counterweight. Cast iron sure makes a mess. I need to try a Silicon Carbide wheel. Thanks for the video.

[@zaneaggie]

Hi, great channel. I’m not a machinist, does it help to keep bits etc sharper if lubricant is used for medal cutting. And I’m patiently waiting for the electric CJ5. I have a 58 but i think I’ll keep my Hurricane. Thx Barry

[@vl_hantverk]

I really liked what i saw, and i subscribed right now. Nice job especially considering that you started with rusty junk lol, that's what i start all my projects from too, sure it'll take twice as long but it's cheap and readily available

[@DingleFlop]

Can you not use the side of a surface grinder to grind that really tall dimension you couldn't get by fitting it beneath?

[@billbaggins]

Just remove the bits that don't look like a vice👍 More awesome magic

[@fredfarnackle5455]

Interesting video, however I'm not sure that using cast iron for any type of vice is a good idea. Cast iron is great in compression but hopeless for the opposite. I'm interested to know if it is has broken yet?

[@JeremyMakesThings]

Actually, most vises are made of cast iron. This one is working great.

[@shanerorko8076]

Good work, but it has a screw?

[@daveys]

Nice build, particularly as the starting material looked pretty awful! You have a new subscriber.

[@MrArray1967]

BTW. I also like that you reuse old resources. It gives a little bit more waste some times.

[@markloving11]

Noice indeed

[@kendingsor]

Is that a giant tote full of evaporust?

[@JeremyMakesThings]

It’s basically a home brew evaporust.

[@CraigsWorkshop]

@@JeremyMakesThings Would love to know the recipe! (Could it be an acid based formula like vinegar or citric?) I think evaporust is pH neutral - and works by chelating/chelation - whatever that means.

[@CSGATI]

The tightening screw has a screw.

[@rallymax2]

Just discovered your channel. Sub’d! Is that a Sanford surface grinder?

[@JeremyMakesThings]

It is. There are a few videos a ways back on it.

[@mikekerezsi9672]

Thanks man. I use a milling machine at work and theres alot of wobble in the table any suggestions

[@JeremyMakesThings]

First thing would be to check the adjustment in the gibs- Keith Rucker has a good video on that: kzbin.info/www/bejne/pKK0ZHuwpLihi8U. If that checks out, unfortunately, it’s probably wear on the machine, and the only way to fix that would be to rebuild it.

[@SergeiPetrov]

You forgot to pin.

[@brandontscheschlog]

Nice Sanford SG! I have the same model. Where do you get your grinding wheels from?

[@JeremyMakesThings]

eBay. It’s a hunt though.

[@russguppy8761]

I’m watching a video about milling cast iron and you have commercials about Barbie dolls ? My friends at the shop don’t play with dolls on their coffee or lunch breaks.

[@villijs33321]

Well nice vise but kind a missleading to call it a screwless and thighten with a screw :D Screwless is some kind a cam action. I think this one is called as toolmakers vise, not 100% sure...

[@TalRohan]

I like it...Ive never really tried making anything with cast iron...except a sculpture out of what turned out to be cast iron pipe and it didnt go well when I was trying to weld it together....it didnt become a sculpture..if I had known at the time, about nickel welding rods it might have worked, but thats a long time ago lol

[@Peter_Nottle]

who says you can't make a silk purse out of a pigs ear

[@jameshicks6753]

I don’t know, I think you dead very well😁

[@RedDogForge]

where are you soircing all your cast scrap?

[@JeremyMakesThings]

“Down by the river.” There are a couple of old paper mill sites near me that we’ve been working on cleaning up to turn into a park, and there’s a lot of interesting junk out there.

[@RedDogForge]

@@JeremyMakesThings indeed. that cast sprue woulda been a foundry relic no?

[@JeremyMakesThings]

Oh yeah. There was also a foundry too. After it burned down the second time, the pushed the remains of it over into the remains of the paper mill.

[@RedDogForge]

@@JeremyMakesThings neat. northeast?

[@JeremyMakesThings]

Yes. New Hampshire.

[@TheRealFOSFOR]

I'm seeing a screw

[@jameslaurencesmith7537]

could you make me one 2 1/2" jaws .. $200 ? regards laurence

[@EugenBadau]

MENGHINA FARA SURUB NU ECSISTA surubul este piesa principala la o "MENGHINA" el stringe piesa prinsa in menghina!!!

[@yyabay]

No you cant be like THIS OLD TONY.. please give up

[@JeremyMakesThings]

You’re absolutely right. No matter how hard I try, I can’t figure out the time travel thing.

[@kennethelwell8574]

@@JeremyMakesThings If you had a Clausing lathe, maybe you could find a way, you might even reach the stars...

[@Man-in-da-shed]

Jeremy I was recommended this by YT, To me an impressive build, I was particularly interested to see you have a Index model 40, I bought one as a project ( still in bits ) and seeing what you did with it cutting wise has eased any doubts I had over its capabilities. Now to-scan the rest of your vids for more on your Index.

[@JeremyMakesThings]

Hi Ian- your videos were very helpful when I was tearing down my machine to clean it when I got it. Mine was and still is very much a project as well, but even in a worn out state, it’s a capable little machine.