Veritas Twin-Screw Vise

I have not used it. So saying I would suggest the following. I think you could get way more bang for your buck making your own twin screw vise using off the shelf parts for 1/3d the price. And you can have whatever dimension you want between the screws. Mine is 24 1/4” You also didn’t mention whether you intended to use it in the face or tail (or somewhere else) position.

This pair of screws was about 65 bucks. I’m all for buying U.S.A. and do so whenever possible but in this case it wasn’t possible. If someone is aware of bench screws made in the U.S. PLEASE post your source!

Here's an LJ review

-- Dorje (pronounced "door-jay"), Seattle, WA

I’ve seen them somewhere, but I forget, (sorry dude, it’s that swiss cheese memory of mine) where the two screws are joined with a chain drive. They both have to turn together.

My advise…Go with one screw. The object is to hold a piece not smash it. Also install a couple of rods to prevent racking. When you close your vise the top should pinch just before the bottom does. And make it 2’ wide and drill it for bench dogs. Then you’ll be set. And it will be all yours, not some Chinese guys.

-- Bob Vila would be so proud of you!

Bill
I just got done with a bench that has a twinscrew across the end (http://lumberjocks.com/projects/7307). There are a number of things I asked questions about during the install on other forums and got great advice. Here’s a few things I can think of to relay:
1) The instructions say to taper the outer jaw using a 7/32” shim to raise one side up for planing. This is so that after a bit of jaw sag due to gravity, the top of the jaws close up evenly with the bottom. If your jaws are going to be tallish (mine are close to 9” I think), increase that. I got advice to go with either 1/4” or 9/32”. I ended up using 1/4” but probably should have done the 9/32”.
2) Also because of jaw sag, I highly recommend you add the rub strips. LV’s instructions just sort of mention this as a side note, but it’s actually difficult to crank the screws when the jaw is sagging and once you’ve got the screws chained together it’s even tougher. Also ignore LV’s note to leave 1/16” between the rub-strips and screws. I’m using 3/4” UHMW for my rub strips and have some shimming in between that and the bench bottom. One side is just about perfect, but due to a bit of variance in the bench bottom or shim flatness, the other has a bit of sag still until it’s around halfway in. There’s a noticable difference in cranking ease between just cranking, and lightly lifting under the outer vise jaw while cranking until it’s reached the point where it’s making more full contact with the UHMW. Fixing the shimming is one of the things still on my To-Do list.
3) If/When you order one, order 2 extra of the steel dowel pins (#21 in the Instructions Parts Diagram). You can’t do it online (also not in the catalog), but will have to contact their CS. It’s a special order item but they had them in stock and they’re cheap. This is so you can also clamp outside the screws and keep work off the screws on both sides of them. I think the part nbr is 05G1222.?

-- Use the fence Luke