Woodworking

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Scaffolding jack screws for a vise? (lemmy.ca)

submitted 1 day ago by HewlettHackard@lemmy.ca to c/woodworking@lemmy.ca

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While looking into workbenches, I came across a suggestion that scaffolding screw jacks could be used to make a large vise, but also comments saying that since they’re designed for use on muddy construction sites, the threads have excessive clearance or slop. Is that a problem in practice? I can’t figure out why it would be, since I would think backlash just means you need an extra fraction of a turn when switching from tightening the vise to loosening it. What am I missing?

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[–] WoodScientist@sh.itjust.works 5 points 23 hours ago

I've done it for a leg vice. And honestly it wasn't worth the hassle. It's not like scaffolding jack screws are free. Looking on Amazon, it looks like the scaffolding screws are around $20. Meanwhile, for $50, you could get an actual basic vise screw.. And I know you can maybe get scaffolding screws cheaper used, the same applies to vise screws. I swapped my scaffolding screw out for a vise screw I got at a yard sale. It works so much better and is just a lot less hassle. There's a lot less slop in it, it moves cleaner. And it's clearly designed to do the job it is doing. A scaffolding screw can be cobbled into a vise screw. But personally, it was not worth the hassle. $30 would have saved me a lot of hassle.