Travel Bench Part 8

Can't really hold a 6' board vertically, so I had to come up with a quick and easy way of cutting the tails for the front laminate. An angled sliding fence was the answer.









To cut the other angle I just moved the jig's stop block to the other end of the fence.



I cut the shoulders on a table saw crosscut sled and finished up with a backsaw.



I rabbeted the tails so I had a nice shoulder for laying out the pins. I used a router with offset base for this.



I clamped the front laminate into position and checked the width of the slot for parallel.



Then marked the end cap to length.



After cutting the end cap to length clamped a scrap the same thickness as the tails between the dog hole strip and the front laminate and positioned everything for marking the pins.



I scribed lightly all around the tails.





I routed out most of the waste.



Then pared the rest.



The fit was decent, but I did have to glue in some thin wedges at the end grain to make it cosmetically attractive.





I laid out the end template on the end cap and marked the center points for the flange screws and clearance hole for the vise screw.



I drilled them out on the drill press.



I mount the screw to the end cap with regular nuts (not the nylon lock nuts that are provided with the vise) for quick removal, and check the rough alignment. I also make sure the sliding plate assembly completely clears the cavity its entire length. Looks good. At this point I removed the end cap and glued the front portion of the tenon, then reinstalled the end cap permanently with lock nuts. I then glued the front laminate in place, gluing the dovetails to the end cap.



Once the top is completely assembled I begin the vise installation. I lay the rails on the bench bottom and check for a little side-to-side play in the plate. I don't want it to bind. I then mark the location of the rails with a sharp pencil. I like to position the rails so the first screw falls in the end cap. This makes for a strong connection. The first screw in the front rail also falls in the dovetail, further locking this joint together.



This is the left hand vise.



I route the mortises for the guide rails. My top is right at 4", so the mortise is 1/4" deep.



I remount the screw and test the action. It's smooth. Sometimes the guides are out of parallel in the horizontal plane if the router didn't cut a consistent depth, or dust or chips get trapped. Cleaning out the mortise is the solution, or adding some thin paper shims.



With the plate about half way down the cavity, I can lift up and slide out the guide rails without having to remove the screw.



Once everything looks good I marked for pilot holes with a center punch directly through the guide rails, then mounted the vise.



The tops are virtually complete.