Modular miniature vice

This miniature vice with remarkable strength and modular mounting system is made for those of us, that want to do a little hobbyist work on our clean desks. It does not have any sharp edges, so the risk to scratch furniture is minimal.

Update 23.01.2021: Version 2.0 of this vice is now available here:
https://www.prusaprinters.org/prints/53471
Since it is much easier to assemble, without the need for thread cutting, and features some other design improvements, I recommend go for version 2.0 unless you have a specific reason to stay with this design.

If you are looking for a tough vice for the rough work in your basement, this is not for you. Just go on Amazon or Ebay and get a metal vice and then bolt it down securely on your workbench.

The specs for this little guy are:

• 40mm jaw opening
• 20mm jaw width
• throat depth 12mm

Thanks to a metal screw (M6x60) and an M6 metal nut as inlay, it is possible to achieve a significant clamping force, definitely enough for model builders to hold a little wooden strip to saw it down, to file some small part into form or for holding a little electronics boards for soldering.

But the best is yet come: To use this vice on our desks (which need to serve as our home office at daytime during this pandemic), we need a table clamp that is tough enough to hold it in place, but gentle enough not to damage our desk plates in any way. This clamp is now available here:

https://www.prusaprinters.org/prints/50360

Since this design of the little vice turned out to become very popular within days after the first publication, I have put some more work into it and came up with a few additional parts and optional upgrades:

Yaw protectors to snap onto the upper edges of the yaws:
https://www.prusaprinters.org/prints/51570

Miniature feet for the vice, which also serve as test objects for the vice together with a holding fixture for round objects:
https://www.prusaprinters.org/prints/50551

A new moving block with tighter tolerance on the dove tail rail for those that want a bit of friction:
https://www.prusaprinters.org/prints/52357

I hope you find this thing practical, useful and likeable. If you do, please post a photograph that shows how you use it.

Take care everyone, look out for yourself and for others. We will beat this pandemic finally, but let's work hard to minimize our losses until we are there!

Print instructions

Simply print all parts in the orientation that I uploaded.

I have tested the parts made from PETG on a Pursa i3 MK3S and from PLA on a Ender3Pro. (The blue one in the photos is the one from PLA, the others are PETG). As for all mechanically functional parts, I do recommend to use PETG.

As an homage to Prusa for hosting this site for free and for being a great company in general, I have printed one vice in the typical Pursa colors orange and black.

I have printed basically all parts with 100% infill, except the lid for the hand knob that hold the M6 screw in in the knob, which should be a bit flexible, because it is pressed into the knob (I used 15% infill for that part). If you want to save a bit of material, you can have some areas of lower infill in the middle part of the ground plane.

Assembly:

All you need in addition to the printed parts are

• 6x M3x10 screw (with any kind of round head)
• 1x M6x60 screw, with hexagon head
• 1x M6 nut (standard hex nut, nothing special)

Step 1: Cut M3 threads into all of the six 2.6mm holes in the static part of the vice. If you do not have a thread cutter, you can simply warm up a M3 screw with a hair dryer and screw it in with a bit of force. Make sure you clean the upper and the lower surface after the thread cutting with a file or some sandpaper. Both must be absolutely flat for step 2 and step 8.

Step 2: Screw the printed dove tail rail on the static part of the vice, that you prepared in step 1. Use the M3x10 screws for that. The heads of the screws must be completely within the rail. If they stick out, the moving part of the vice will not be able to slide.

Step 3: Slide the M6 nut all the way into the cavity in the moving part of the vice. It is a tight fit by design, so you may have to clean out the print a bit upfront to make it go in.

Step 4: Slide the moving part on the rail. It should slide without too much force. If it does not, use a bit of sand paper to clean out your parts a bit.

Step 5: Put the M6x60 hex head screw into the hand knob from the rounded side, slide it all the way through and make sure the hex head sits well into the hex cavity of the knob.

Step 6: Press the lid into the hand knob. That is a very tight fit, so it will definitely not need any glue. You may need a vise or a hammer to get it all the way in. Once it sits flat with the surface of the knob, the screw will be completely secured and should not have any play (not a problem if there is some play, but ideally it sits very tight in the knob).

Step 7: Stick the M6 screw though the hole in the static part and into the nut that is imbedded in the moving part. Turn the screw a bit to catch the nut.

Step 8: Screw the ground plate onto the bottom surface of the static part of the vice, using the remaining three M3x10 screws. Please note that the holes in the ground plane part are not symmetrical along the center line, so make sure you orient it correctly. And of course the cavities for the screw heads must face downwards. For the table clamp mounting option that is linked to above, you will not need the ground plane part.

That's it, your vice is ready to operate.

License:

The license does not allow derivatives, as one of my designs in the past was “taken” from me in the past to collect donations on Thingiverse via a “Remix”, that did not add any significant value. That made me really sad. If you want to seriously remix this design, please contact me and I will glad approve that.