MIMF

I have a cheap but very serviceable drill press vise that I bought either from Harbor Freight or a local industrial surplus shop that sells the same kind of Chinese stuff. I started to use this in slotting and shaping a nut, but it left something to be desired, not the least of which was that it was NOT designed to effectively grab something at the tip of the jaws.

A little bit of red oak from the stash and some quality time with router, oscillating sander, some hand tools, some longer 1/4-20 machines screws and I was good to go. I used the original jaw inserts to secure the new jaws as you can see in the pic below. Grabs that nut real nice now...

I plan on fabricating some kind of rotating base for it so I don't have to secure it to the bench with the holdfasts as you see here.

Looks good. Hmm, the handscrew in the background suggests that I might reshape the tips of one and use it for nut vise. It could be clamped in the regular bench vise.

Bob, I have doing that for many years. The handscrew makes a wonderful nut vise. Just round over the tips a bit. Keep the bench vise a little bit loose so that the jaws of the handscrew can be adjusted.

Bob Hammond wrote:Looks good. Hmm, the handscrew in the background suggests that I might reshape the tips of one and use it for nut vise. It could be clamped in the regular bench vise.

Ooh - that'd work!!

Consider a few stepped vise jaws as well.
Steps can be sized as needed.
A step will prevent the object from being pushed down into the jaws while applying working pressures.

Glenn - I like that. Just bought another drill press vise at a flea market yesterday and might make some inserts like this.