# Series of newbie questions 02 - IRWIN 6 1/2-inch vise



## Bub (Apr 12, 2016)

G'day gents
Just received IRWIN 6 1/2-inch vise from Amazon and have question 'bout it. Fully close vise looks good at the top, but still have kind of gap at the bottom. I did attached few pics to explain it better. Is it normal for that kind of vise or should I ask Amazon reps for exchange?

Thanks and have a great long weekend :O)


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## subroc (Jan 3, 2015)

Last weekend I picked up a used Morgan Dual Purpose. Both faces are parallel. See images. BTW, these faces are just pushed together and not tightened.

I expect they should be true and parallel unless there is some kind of mechanism preventing it.


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## m.n.j.chell (May 12, 2016)

Bub ... do as Subroc did and clamp a piece of wood in there. Given that the screw applies all the force at the bottom, the top may flex open a bit and the faces parallel out in use.


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## subroc (Jan 3, 2015)

mikechell said:


> Bub ... do as Subroc did and clamp a piece of wood in there. Given that the screw applies all the force at the bottom, the top may flex open a bit and the faces parallel out in use.


I did not do it, it was there when I picked it up last week. I will probably mount it in the next week or so. I haven't decided if the wood stays or I put leather faces on both sides.

It may be by design that it is gapped like that, then again maybe it was machined poorly. I only posted to show what a vice that just so happened to be sitting on my bench looked like.


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## epicfail48 (Mar 27, 2014)

Thats actually by design. Most vices are like that so pressure is applied towards the top first. Something about applying the pressure tip first or some crap like that, never looked to closely into it. If memory serves correctly Veritas actually recommends planing a taper in wood faces for their jaws so the jaws meet at the top first.


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## Bub (Apr 12, 2016)

Thanks a lot, epicfail48.
So I'll keep this vise then. Now need to figure out on how to integrate it into WIP bench/table...


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## Jig_saw (May 17, 2015)

What epic says is true. Yours has a 'toe out' design. Some vises have a 'toe in' feature where the tops meet first while clamping.


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## Bub (Apr 12, 2016)

Jig_saw said:


> What epic says is true. Yours has a 'toe out' design. Some vises have a 'toe in' feature *where the tops meet first while clamping*.


Em... The pictures shows fully close vise. As tight as it could be.
And there is no way to tight it more.
So is it ok or not?


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## Jig_saw (May 17, 2015)

Bub said:


> Em... The pictures shows fully close vise. As tight as it could be.
> And there is no way to tight it more.
> So is it ok or not?



Yes, this is normal. The toe in (or toe out) feature ensures your vise grabs a workpiece more securely. Now you have to make wooden facings for the jaws which are parallel to each other (that is, they meet uniformly at both top and bottom).


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## Bub (Apr 12, 2016)

Jig_saw said:


> Yes, this is normal. The toe in (or toe out) feature ensures your vise grabs a workpiece more securely. Now you have to make wooden facings for the jaws which are parallel to each other (that is, they meet uniformly at both top and bottom).



Interesting. That's what I thought, but I did watched half dozen of videos on how to install or mod exact this model and no one mention that they did wood adjustment to make jaws parallel. That's why I did post my question in first place ...

Once again, sorry for a bunch of newbie questions...


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## epicfail48 (Mar 27, 2014)

Bub said:


> Interesting. That's what I thought, but I did watched half dozen of videos on how to install or mod exact this model and no one mention that they did wood adjustment to make jaws parallel. That's why I did post my question in first place ...
> 
> Once again, sorry for a bunch of newbie questions...


Ive never heard of anybody doing any work to make the wooden faces of the jaw parallel. I have, however, heard of doing the exact opposite and cutting the faces in such a way to cause the top of the wood faces to toe in, exactly like what you already have.

Joint and thickness a piece of maple, use that as the wood face and call it a day


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## WesTex (Jan 5, 2014)

What epic said. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Jig_saw (May 17, 2015)

Your vise has a toe-out built into the jaws. It will apply greater pressure on the bottom than at the top. If you don't want the workpiece to slip upward and out of the jaws, you must cancel the inbuilt toe-out feature by making the wood facings parallel. (Actually, you could do more and achieve a toe-in.)

If you had a toe-in (jaws meeting at the top) instead of a toe-out, no such mod would have been necessary, and flat wood facings would work fine. But given the situation of your vise, a mod as suggested is necessary. Just make the wood facings such that they are parallel on the meeting face.


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## Jammer (Jul 15, 2009)

Jig_saw said:


> Your vise has a toe-out built into the jaws. It will apply greater pressure on the bottom than at the top. If you don't want the workpiece to slip upward and out of the jaws, you must cancel the inbuilt toe-out feature by making the wood facings parallel.


Uhm...

oh, never mind.


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## Jig_saw (May 17, 2015)

The screw being at the bottom of the vise applies more pressure at the bottom than at the top when the jaws are uniformly parallel. A toe-in helps to even out this difference in the pressure, and holds the workpiece more securely.

I have made a little drawing to explain this:


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## Jig_saw (May 17, 2015)

One thing I missed in my previous post:

Wood facings lining the jaws should always meet parallel, even though the jaws may have a toe-in. The pressure is applied by the jaws, and the wood facings are only holding your workpiece (like a glove) by friction. You want the friction of the wood facings to be the same at all points, which will not be the case if they are at an angle with respect to each other.


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