Leg vise retrofit (3)

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Man with many vises
Corporate Member
This thread is a continuation from Leg vise retrofit (2) and describes installing the X-cross in an existing leg vise.

The first choice is how to anchor the pins for the cross arm upper ends.
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There are basically two options; 1) drill holes through the leg and chop for the brass pins, or 2) use mounting brackets mortised into the chop and leg. With a new bench, option 1) is usually preferable since the leg can be drilled on a drill press before assembly. Since I am doing a retrofit, I opted for a hybrid by drilling the chop and using a bracket in the leg.

The bracket uses these pieces of 3/8" x 1-1/2" x 1-1/2" 6061-T6 aluminum angle:
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Here is the cartoon that I drafted:
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First, I drilled and countersunk the mounting holes.
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Next, clamp the spacer in position under the bracket and drill three #29 tap holes through each side bracket into the spacer angle deep enough for the #8 screws. This method ensures alignment.
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Next, remove the spacer, enlarge the three bracket holes to 5/32", and countersink for a #8 screw.
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Tap six holes in the spacer 8-32.
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Assemble bracket.
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Drill 3/8" through hole for brass pivot pin.
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Next step is mortising the chop. I used a trim router with 5/8" mortising bits and added an R4 bearing and a spacer to simulate a trim bit.
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Bearing plate mounted into mortise
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Here is the chop assembly after drilling the pivot pin hole on the drill press.
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The next step is the leg mortise. Here is the leg mortise partially cut and the completed mortise and the bearing plate.
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Next is the 3/8" deep mortise for the cross arm pivot bracket. The mortise for the back of the bracket was chopped with a chisel.
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And the cross arm installed in the leg:
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Here is my leg vise now retrofitted from a parallel guide to an X-cross mechanism. Also replaced the old leather pads with "crubber". No more bending over to insert a pin into the parallel guide.
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Last edited:

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Man with many vises
Corporate Member
This retrofit almost three years ago was time very well spent. My leg vise has a large capacity and moves very smoothly.
I only used a pivot bracket on the leg and just drilled the chop directly for that X-cross pivot pin.

I made two brackets and only used one. This second one if free to anyone upgrading their leg vise.
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jlimey

Jeff
Corporate Member
This retrofit almost three years ago was time very well spent. My leg vise has a large capacity and moves very smoothly.
I only used a pivot bracket on the leg and just drilled the chop directly for that X-cross pivot pin.

I made two brackets and only used one. This second one if free to anyone upgrading their leg vise.
View attachment 219597
Hi Mike. I'll take the bracket. PM sent
 

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