New Yost 6.5" vise

[John Conroy]

I ordered this vise on Amazon.ca on December 24, they promised delivery between January 4-7. Well it arrived on December 29! Canada Post did themselves proud this time, delivering a 60 lb box a week ahead of schedule.

This vise has a cool feature, the movable jaw can be installed from either side of the fixed jaw to give 1 side opening from 0-7 inches and the other side from 3-12 inches. It is massive compared to my old 5" bench vise but is still considered by Yost to be a medium duty vise. I never use my vise as an anvil so it should last forever.

Very high quality castings, made in the USA, fit and finish is very nice. The jaw plates are reversible, serrated and grippy on one side and smooth on the other.

I'm pretty pleased with it!

 

[John Conroy]

I wanted a set of soft aluminum grooved jaws for this vise but they are $150 from Yost so I made my own from a 1/2" by 1.5" bar of 6061 I had laying around.

I machined all the face grooves with a 3/8" carbide 45 degree pointed end mill, .160" deep.

I drilled holes for the 5/16" fasteners and counter sunk them with a 5/8' end mill.

After each jaw was machined I mounted them in the vise face to face and reduced the height to 1.25" and machined the finished length to 6.5". I beveled the outside edges with the same 45 degree end mill.

Perfect for holding round bar stock with no marring of the finished surfaces.

 

[Tom Kitta]

Looks great!