# One More; Morrison & Marvin Model Builders Vise



## idahoan (Jan 3, 2012)

Hi Everyone

I finished my vise late last year and thought about doing a build thread on it; but I didn't get it done. So this will be a condensed version to show the steps and tooling I used to build this wonderful little vise. 

I will also show the ½ size Power Arm Jr. swivel base that I scaled from my full sized one.

As Tom has shown in his build thread this is a very complete kit and the lost wax castings are top notch.









Starting work on the moveable jaw; there was a bit of a shrink and the shaft had a pretty good warp to it. So it took a little fussing to get it running true in the lathe. I believe the foundry mounts these on the wax tree differently now to prevent this from happening.








Turned around in the collet and finished to dimension.








Drilling clearance for the screw.








Machining the front end for the screw and lock plate.








Squaring in the collet block to dill and tap for the lock plate retaining screws.








Set up in the mill for drilling and tapping.

More to follow.


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## idahoan (Jan 4, 2012)

Hi Everyone
Here are a few more photos of my vise construction.









Working on the base and nut retainer; these are cast as one piece so the nut needs to be finished and parted from the base. Otherwise there is not an easy way to hold onto it. All of the castings have chucking lugs which makes setups a little easier. 








Here is the base is a little farther along.








Working on swivel lock plate; it is machined from a piece of 12L14 that I had onhand.








Transferred to the mill to cut the pockets.








A quick trip to the saw to remove it from the stock.








Sawing the excess material from the body casting.








Boring the body casting for the movable jaw.








The body casting in now installed on a mandrel so the back end can be cut to length.








Body casting set up in the mill vise to face the bottom and drill the holes. The top of the jaw is sitting on a parallel for proper alignment.








Trial fit of the pieces completed so far.








Bottom view with the lock plate and hardware.








Ready to press the nut retainer into the body.








Here it is pressed in, blended and lightly bead blasted.


Thanks for checking in.
More later


Dave


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## lazylathe (Jan 4, 2012)

These look like interesting projects and the castings do look very nice!

Great work on the vise!
Looking forward to the next set of pictures!

Andrew


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## smfr (Jan 4, 2012)

I would love to find castings for a 3" to 3 1/2" vise like this that I could use as my regular bench vise! Does anyone know if such things exist?


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## Lamachina58 (Jan 4, 2012)

Nice photos and build sequence!


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## idahoan (Jan 5, 2012)

Hi everyone,
Thanks for the comments; here is the next group of photos.





Here are couple more shots with the screw retainer plate and brass nut in place.






















Starting work on the screw; the acme stock has been turned and end is ready to be silver soldered in place.








Still to hot to touch.








The screw assembly cleaned up and the end has been skimmed so it is true to the screw and can be placed in a collet. 








Cutting the groove for the screw retainer.








Checking the fit of the retainer plate.








Checking the fit in the moveable jaw.








Back in the lathe the end is finished to length and chamfered.








Soft jaws used to hold the steel handle balls for drilling.








The ball and handle assembly is heated and the protruding metal is peened to lock the ball in place.








After dressing and polishing the ball the handle is inserted into the screw and the process in repeated for the other ball.








Dressing and polishing the second ball is not as easy as the first one. I made a split bushing that could be placed on the handle and larger than the ball diameter. This was slid into a collet and the screw allowed to dangle while the second ball was finished.








The finished handle assembly.





More later & thanks for checking in,
Dave


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## idahoan (Jan 8, 2012)

Hi Everyone
Here is the next set of build photos.








The keyway has been milled and here the retaining pin holes are being drilled.








These are the individual parts for the broach bushing/alignment tool.








After silver soldering.








Cleaned up and ready for use.








Another view.








The broaching operation in process; note the top of the jaw has been shimmed to align it with the fixture. After the first pass though with the broach; .005&#8221; shims were used on each additional pass; until the final depth was reached.








Setting up on the fixture plate to mill the cuts for the jaw inserts. The mandrel which is a light push fit was indicated to the Y axis and the edge finder used to pick up the face of the jaw.








The moveable jaw assembly installed and tightened and both jaws are cut in one operation.








The body casting clamped to an angle plate to drill and tap for the jaw plates.








Milling the stock for the serrated jaw plates. The stock was made oversized and long enough for two plates. The serrations were cut with a 45° countersink at a 30° angle to form a nice diamond. 








Here the stock has been finished; it is now cut in two and the serrations nested together. The outside profile is carefully milled while the jaw plates are nested. After milling to size the screw and dowel pain holes are put in and the jaw plates casehardened. 









The finished jaw plates installed one the vise.

More later,
Dave


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## moconnor (Jan 9, 2012)

Hello Dave,

Beautiful work on your vise. Thanks for showing us the photos of your machining ops, they are most informative.

What type of broach did you use for your keyway? Was it a 'B' Series broach and what was its length? Did you also end up using a pusher to complete the keyway? I still haven't done the keyway in mine yet, I am worried about using a pusher on my broach. I asked Tom who just recently documented the vises that he built and he used a 'B' Series broach with a pusher. I guess that I am taking a survey.

Can't wait to see the rest of your photos, especially the ones of your 1/2 scale Powerarm Jr. What a great idea.

Thanks again.

Regards,
Mike


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## idahoan (Jan 9, 2012)

Mike 

Thanks for the kind words. The broach is a standard Dumont 1/8 B size broach 6.750 long; and I did use a pusher to get it the rest of the way through the bushing.

The fixture and tip about using the .005 shims are not my ideas; they come from a friend in Bozeman Mt. who is also a vise builder and master machinist. 

I dont have step by step pictures of the Powrarm; but I will post some of the finished product.

Dave


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## karlw144 (Jan 9, 2012)

Dave, nice job. I'm also building this vice,need to,finish the jaw inserts. Yours really look great, what depth of cut and spacing did you use? I have also built a power arm for mine, scaled from my 2 1/2" Wilton vise with factory power arm. I'll try to post some Picts of the power arm later this week.
Thanks,
Karl


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## Rockytime (Jan 9, 2012)

Beautiful little vise and the photos are excellent. Good work!


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## idahoan (Jan 10, 2012)

Mike & Rockytime thanks for the complements,

Mike the spacing on the serrations is .025 and they are at a 30° angle. The depth is about .020. I would love to see pictures of your Powrarm please do post them.

Well Im out of build photos for the vise so here are some of the finished vise with the Powrarm to follow shortly.


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## Mosey (Jan 10, 2012)

The beauty of your work is inspiring! Spectacular.


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## Orrin (Jan 10, 2012)

Dave, you are in a league of your own! Workmanship such as yours is something we can aspire to, but never hope to equal. 

Members of this forum, you can go to the Oregon GEARS in September and see what I mean. 

Keep up the good work, Dave. Your projects are a delight for the eyes.

Best regards, 
Orrin


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## lee9966 (Jan 11, 2012)

Beautiful work. I love the jaws you made.

Lee


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## AussieJimG (Jan 11, 2012)

Great work and great photos. The finished product is a joy to behold. It would be a pity to get it dirty.

Jim


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## Generatorgus (Jan 11, 2012)

Dave, Wow. NICE. Thanks for the heads up on your build. I've been way too busy and haven't kept upon the builds. I turned 64 today and it's like a birthday present.  Your work is impecable and I might add that your hands are very clean, also. Did you get a manicure or did you use laquer thinner? ;D 
All kidding aside, it's nice to see that I have so much to learn, it should be fun. Also, very nice quality pics.

GUS


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## idahoan (Jan 11, 2012)

Guys

Thanks you so much for your very kind words; this has been a fun little project and it makes it all worthwhile when folks enjoy the progress and finished project. 

Here are the photos of my baby Powerarm; it is ½ size of the Wilton Powerarm Jr. and fits the little vise just right. I purchased the 2&#8221; Wilton vise and Powerarm Jr. on eBay for use in my shop; while cleaning up the base I thought to myself that it wouldn&#8217;t be to hard to scale and build. So here is what I came up with.








Finished Powerarm.








Bottom view; showing the lock adjustment plate.








Powerarm with the vise mounted.








All the finished parts next to its big brother.








Closer shot.








The base showing the little tiny lettering.








I cut the letters on my CNC at work; they are .02&#8221; tall and took most of the day to carve out.








Group shot!

Well that&#8217;s about it; thanks for following along and THANKS again for all your kind words; I really appreciated it.

Dave


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## CMS (Jan 19, 2012)

Very clever. I'm guessing that the base is from a mold???


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## idahoan (Jan 20, 2012)

CMS

The base was machined from a chunk of 12L14 leaded steel. It was all done on manual machines except for the lettering and screw slots. I did the screw slots at the same time as the letters so I didn't have to deal with getting it dialed in With regards to the slots. Just a light bead blast to give it a matte finish.

Thanks,
Dave


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## JaamieG (Jan 23, 2013)

Lovely vise. I have already a couple of them but looking at your work I feel the need of one ;-)


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## idahoan (Jan 23, 2013)

Hi Jaamieg

This is an enjoyable little project and a very nice kit of castings and parts. The castings are investment cast 4140 so if you choose to put to use, it will be plenty strong.

Thanks for the comments,
Dave


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## Rivergypsy (Feb 18, 2013)

Hi Dave,

I've only just found this post, but beautiful work. I do like the quality of those castings too, especially compared to some of the stuff we get around here - very envious!

Keep up the good work


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## Omnimill (Feb 18, 2013)

Very nice project Dave, thanks for sharing!


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## idahoan (Feb 19, 2013)

Dclark and Omnimill

Thanks for the kind words!

Dave


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## ronitbobo85 (Nov 24, 2022)

Hello, just registered and I know this is an old thread but anyone ever got a bronze casting of the Morrison and Marvin model builders vise? 

I bought the 4140 casting a few months back and was told that only dead stock remained. I procrastinated and these kits were sold out. I hoped to get another as a spare. After contacting the company I got assured they had 2 left and when they arrived, they were in bronze! I asked about them but no reply from the company yet. I prefer 4140 casting then bronze. Very beautiful vise and this has trumped the Wilton baby bullet in my books! I love miniature things and so glad M&M made this. It’s both functional and so beautifully made.


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