Gack Vice as a 3D Print - Woody's Workshop

A possible light duty clamping solution

I came across the design of a Gack machine vice on a metalworking forum. This is a two part vice that picks up on the tee slots in a mill table to allow an infinitely variable clamping width within the limits of the table dimensions. It is ideal if a part needs to be skimmed flat over a wide area. The item to be machined is clamped by an adjustable jaw against a fixed jaw and is supported by parallels as needed.

The grip tightening adjustment is done with a ball bearing pushing centrally on the adjustable jaw with a M10 cap head screw and the gripping jaw hinges downwards on two dog point grub screws. Here is an image of my interpretation of the concept. My aim was to create a vice that would be able to be mounted on my M8 tooling plate which has holes on a 25mm matrix or directly on the milling table tee slots which are spaced at 50mm.

I modelled my version in Fusion 360 and below is the Fusion exploded view.

The metal side plates are to increase the strength of the two hinging pivots of the clamping jaw.

The idea works well for light skimming jobs but would not be suitable for large depths of cut.

If you want a really robust version then you could replace the PLA print with a metal equivalent or you could buy a kit from Hemmingway Kits but their castings restrict the use to tee slot mounting only.

Click here to download a ZIP file containing my full write up, 2D drawings and the 3D STEP file.

UPDATE: – Since the original post I have updated the design to a totally metal version. The static jaw is now much easier to fabricate using a piece of angle plate. The mounting slot dimensions are specific to my M8 x 25mm matrix tooling plates.

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