This vise can hold things just like a regular vise;
By shifting the lever on the face, you can change the angle of the vise to grip odd shapes.
Here it is skewed the other way!
Easy to shift it back to normal!
It can be set up to remove or replace the face block easily, as most good vises can.
Here it starts to get interesting, the vise can rotate.
This gives you the ability to alter the face you are working on.
It also has different jaw configurations that allow more options when rotated.
With the small jaw up, you can hold stuff with more of the material exposed for working.
The vise is equipped with vise dogs. By pushing them in at the bottom,
Spinning the face back around after pushing the dogs, gives you this,
With these dogs, you can hold round plates and other odd surfaces. You can grip where the object held is outside the jaws, for working more freely.
On top of all of that, the angle of the vise can be changed.
This give the user even more options.
The vise can even be brought up flat with the table and rotated.
This vise gives well secured, and solid access to work.
Rotation and change of angle can give you more choices for filing, cutting and chiseling.
I do love this vise!
Bob
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Just got an Emmert clone such as depicted here, in new condition, and am trying to figure out how to mount it. I can use some thin (1/8″ or 1/16″) steel sheet under and a bit wider than the flange to strengthen the bench, which won’t have much thickness after the mortising. But the hinge bothers me a lot. Cast iron is such brittle stuff! What has been your experience? Thanks!!
Cast Iron has a wide range of properties and formulas. The limits on wood thickness area and shape, in order to install one of these seems like a plan destined to fail. So far, the far too few screws in too small a section of wood, has held up admirably. Hopefully my email has helped you plan you setup.
Bob
I’ve had some experience with patternmaker’s vises. The weak link is the hinge, not the cast iron. Over time, like a door hinge, the hinge loosens and results in some slop. The bench in the photos seems flawed in that it cuts away the bench. I think the idea was to allow the vise to act like a bench vise where you can use the edge of the bench for addional support/contact on longer pieces. This is not what a patternmaker’s vise is designed for! If you want that function, use a standard cabinetmaker’s vise. One I worked with (save the hinge slop) was mounted on a very substantial maple bench. I would make the top as thick as possible. This gave excetional mass to support the piece which I think is very important. A few more screws on the hinge would also help.