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With all the rails adjusted again, I decided it was time to go for the big assemble! I started by gluing the stretcher bar flange onto the bar using Loctite 603. I then clamped both ends of the bench to my workbench to make sure the feet were sitting flat and level. For the front feet, this...

I started today by doing some test assemblies. I put each of the vices together separately and played around with them a lot. They work really well! I then slid the two assemblies together with the screws of the dual-screw vice running in the rails of the standard vice. In this...

Earlier in the day, while I was having a break from touching any real parts in case I did anything stupid again, I decided to make up a few jaw test pieces to help me choose a finish for the bench. Two of them are going to be left as-is, two will get coated with boiled linseed oil, one will...

I went out this morning and marked up where I was going to cut the feet off to shorten them a little. I decided to go for 20 mm shortening rather than 15 mm as it looked like plenty. I marked all four feet with some pencil lines around three sides, then clamped one of the parts to the bench...

The problem with having nothing to do on the project while the glue dry is it gets me thinking. I've decided to make a small (but awkward now that it's glued together) change to the design. I'm going to shorten the feet. At the moment, they stick out about 75 mm on each side of the body. I'm...

With all that epoxy setting, there isn't much I can do for the rest of today, but I thought I'd get on with one little outstanding job that could be done without touching any of the epoxied pieces: sorting out the bore in the spherical seating washers I bought. There isn't much material to hold...

The feet/jaw assemblies look okay having come out of the clamps (although I won't know whether everything is aligned properly until I'm quite a bit further on, so I'm just having to hope for the best for now). With the clamps all removed, I could put a bit more epoxy into the fixed jaw for...

The first bits to get glued together are the feet to the fixed jaws. The dual-screw vice end fixed jaw is aligned with lots of dowels and a bit of the tube that I've used for vice rails. The standard vice end is aligned with the two vice rail bushes. I got everything set up and mixed up some...

Next job was (scary) to start to glue the first few bits together. Before doing that, I thought I'd get some photos of everything pre-gluing.

This afternoon I started with a very quick job: drilling a hole in the end of the fixed jaw for the standard vice. The aim of this hole is to be a loose fit for an off-the-shelf dowel. I don't want to have to modify the dowel as I expect to replace it fairly often. It'll act as a sacrificial...

With a small lump in my throat, I set my cross-cut sled up to take a big chunk out of the fixed jaw of the dual-screw vice: Having cut round two sides, using the little "kerfmaker" knock-off to get the right width, I used my baby router plane (one day I'll find an affordable big router plane...

A very nice man sent me a bundle of strips of American Black Walnut. I ripped three of these to size (two because I need them and one spare) and then planed them such that they were all exactly the same size. The actual size doesn't matter, but they need to match: I then proceeded to play...

Putting the decision about how to relieve the holes to one side for a bit, I decided to get on with the buttons for attaching the table top. I started by setting the table saw up at an appropriate height and offset for one side of the groove: Two passes on each piece later and I have grooves...

Today I acquired... Some spherical seating washers. I decided to take good advice and just buy these components. Until I can get round to making spherical turning attachment for the lathe, this seemed like the best idea. According to the dimensions on the website I bought them from, the...

I spent a bit more time sorting out the steel parts in an attempt to make them resilient to rust today. I experimented with a few different bluing methods, including heat & various types of oil, but I concluded that I preferred the look of the cold blued parts, so I decided to do that to the...

I'm sure I said something about having done all the metalwork a while ago. :whistle: One of the jobs on my list was to decide what to do about the washers for the dual screw vice. The latest version of the model has each screw having a pair of very custom washers designed to cope with...

I wasn't expecting to have any time in the workshop today, but I got the food shopping done fairly early and couldn't resist spending an hour or so in the workshop. The vice mechanism bodies for the dual-screw vice interfere with the beech rails that run along the sides underneath the top. My...

Thanks John

What with it being a work day again I didn't get much time today, but I did manage a little. I took everything apart again and ran round a few of the edges (outside of the moving jaws and the edges of the feet) with a 6 mm Arris bit in my small router. I then got some 120 grit sandpaper and...

Well, so much for "no more metalwork"... but more on that later. This afternoon I started by working out how much extra space was needed for the vice mechanism. To do this, I fitted the vice mechanism to the fixed jaw and slid the foot up as far as it would go: I could then measure how much...