Lidl metalwork bench vice and heavy duty f clamp coming up 26 sept

[Ttrees]

Just thought some of you might be interested in these upcoming tools
what I believe will be available in Lidl on the 26th September.
The vice is £20 and the f clamps are for sale @7 each for a single, but a pair or a three pack of the smaller sizes are there too.

Needed a decent compact vice in the workshop, as ones I've been using up to now, aren't up to much hacksaw cutting.
Was researching these, as I've something similar at the folks (Powerfix) which has held up well possibly the same foundry?
The older version from Lidl, which was blue, and maybe before that, also had an additional swivel base.
I never found that useful but would have liked to know it was from the same place or not.
The newer ones are in green paint with Parkside cast into them.

Seeing as you might also be interested in the clamps, I bought one last year and haven't used it for much,
but seem to be no different in quality compared to a bucketful of the older ones which would hold up to a blacksmith!
Quality seems good on these castings, so took a gamble with the vice should it be from a different foundry.

So was in the shop and there was one opened already, didn't seem promising as the plate/anvil part
(which I won't be using as an anvil) had a very very shoddy looking casting imperfection.

I picked a box and took the key out, (this one) which was much better looking
and I gave it a once over as much as I could, seemed about as good as I could expect I suppose,
compared to the other one.

We bit of a lump on the underside, and took all of 40 seconds to remove with a file,
didn't want to go overboard, enough to stop it rocking.
Might try a poor mans clocking later on the pillar drill.
Casting seems very soft to me, but I haven't worked very much cast.

Bit of a skimpy lookin screw to me, wonder if the one at the folks is the same?

Could have bought two of the medium size of clamps to test them out, these are more suited to holding down the vice as they don't foul the tommy bar.
Can fit a clamp tight into the corner of each side, as there's no roughness or heavy rounding at the intersection of the base area and the main body.

The bed of the vice, should you be using parallels seem well machined, not detectable by fingernail anyway.
Might investigate this later on yet.

Stands up well to a prying test, even when loose.
See newer large f-clamp on top of the older one.

Might do an update soon,
and maybe more than a honeymoon review again at a later date when if I have a challenge for it.

Tom

 

[Sachakins]

Nice to know, thanks for posting.

 

[Ttrees]

Just giving you guys an update with the vice.

Got the table level using the poor man's clock method, very useful tool if you haven't used this method before, everyone who owns a pillar drill and doesn't own a dial indicator should have one of these! (beside the allen key and chuck)

Seems less than a millimeter to file off the back of the base, to make the front jaw parallel along it's length, and only about half a mm to remove to get it parallel along its width,
Shouldn't take more than a few swipes.

Haven't found a concerning fault yet.
Tom

 

[Ttrees]

Flattened the base this morning, an knocked off some sharp edges.
Didn't need quite as much taking off as I stated in lengthwise axis,
and was actually much less off in the widthwise axis, (it was my table was a bit out)
After a bit more filing, very pleased the cast iron wasn't as soft as I thought it seemed.
Took the file down the centerline once leveled up, and wouldn't be surprised if a bit of creep
made it a bit proud again in time, as I likely didn't take quite enough off.

Good for now, made a wee probe from some round stock for a better job,
and gave the vice it's first taste o misuse, doing the ol using the jaws for a nice finish
(I used a nice file, so I was only polishing)

Picture seems to have went into the either, but it was the same as the last without an upside down bit.
Very nice to be able to use a hacksaw with a vice that won't make 5hite of the blades
Sorry nothing exciting yet, just thought I'd share.
Must make a wee block, maybe magnetic for underneath the jaw sometime.
Maybe some custom wingnuts to clear the webbing of the drill table might be a good idea sometime too.

On the clamps front
Went to Lidl again and got the last two of the big clamps hidden at the bottom, even in the half full cage I did need to root around a lot to even find them.
The shiny concave shape might well trick the eye, if mostly the mid size ones are remaining!
Didn't go to see more vices, sorry, might have another look the next time I'm in there, should any more be out of the box.
Still curious if the screw is the same as with the (first iteration?) with the additional swivel base.

Tom

 

[JSW]

On the clamps front
Went to Lidl again and got the last two of the big clamps hidden at the bottom, even in the half full cage I did need to root around a lot to even find them.
The shiny concave shape might well trick the eye, if mostly the mid size ones are remaining!
Didn't go to see more vices, sorry, might have another look the next time I'm in there, should any more be out of the box.
Still curious if the screw is the same as with the (first iteration?) with the additional swivel base.

Tom

Hi @Ttrees, I have two of those 120 x 400mm F Clamps, and they are indeed incredibly robust, I think it would take a great deal to break them by overtightening, I use them any time I need some heavyweight clamping.

The reason I posted is because Aldi had the exact same sizes and price on promo on the 5th Sept, I picked up a pair of the midweight 80 x 350mm ones last week, but only got around to trying them this afternoon. Obviously they are smaller/lighter than the heavyweight beasts from Lidl, but I was pleasantly surprised just how good they were, for £3.50 each they are a steal, do you have any of the Lidl mid range one's?

Comparison pics:

 

[Ttrees]

Never used the medium sized ones from either place JSW, but they do appear better than same capacity ones which used to be in the pound shops.

I just have a bunch of those, and another bunch of SIlverlines which are 600mm long
and same 80mm capacity, so likely have enough of that size.

Both examples the pad tends to be delicate and some of them fall off, especially if you only have the few of them.

Definitely would get some if I had none though, as they are handy for semi permanent jobs.
But for something like a hold down, it's hard to beat these bigger ones,
fast thread, the big chunky handle, which is a very nice addition compared to the old workzone ones, once in Aldi, which musta been too cheap that they didn't get em in again.
I couldn't find them on the bay as cheaply.

Pity the handles don't have any give anymore, compared to the older ones below.
Suppose you couldn't say they were over five percent nicer,
well, I haven't felt the need to seek out the older ones in the bucket for anything.


Should everything else be identical with the medium size, the handles might be the difference where you get your groceries this week.

 

[Ttrees]

Just a reminder that these hefty clamps are on sale today!
£6.99 for the big ones, smaller sizes available too.
(the chunky red handled ones)
Best of luck
Tom

 

[paulrbarnard]

Just a reminder that these hefty clamps are on sale today!
£6.99 for the big ones, smaller sizes available too.
(the chunky red handled ones)
Best of luck
Tom
View attachment 118576

I was at my local Lidl for opening time. A guy beat me by 30 seconds and nabbed most of the big ones. I did get the four he didn’t take, plus six of the middle size and six of the small. More people were arriving after me and by 10 past the bin was down to just a few packs.

 

[RichElfin]

Thanks for the heads up on the vice. picked one up this morning.seems fairly good for what i will use it for.
Also picked up a couple of the metal rack shelving units 2 for £50 seems like a good price and will come in very handy in the new shed.

 

[Ttrees]

Hope I was a help rather than a hindrance, although I'm not quite sure how much a post here would get noticed, could be a load of folks following those shipwright channels or somethin like that.
Seems I'll have to be quick on the draw myself next year!

I'm relatively happy with me vice, got to use it for the pillar drill and the machine is quite pleasing to use now, as it's got quite a bit of oomph to be using a wee ball vice for.

Gotta make a wee magnetic block for under the jaw.
Might make a plate of some sort also, as I'm not welding beside this to keep the bed nice,
and it would make for handier clamping.

Not sure if mine made noise whilst moving, of if that happened after a bit o bending.
No resistance on the thread so likely has something to do with the innards like the spring.
Hadn't really used it to check if that's normal or not.
Hard to resist the urge to use the force when you have it, often a bit late to do those jobs like that with a hammer and anvil (sledge hammer head)

Must try and keep this one in good order, as it's made the drill usable, and also the hacksaw.

Might have a good look to see if the threads on all components are replaceable, bodgable sometime.. can't be that hard to check that out, would imagine it is as there's a spring involved.
One good thing about having what appears to be a regular thread is I wouldn't need a fancy nut
for an acme thread or whatever, as my cheapo wood vice suffered that fate.

Doing all those jobs whats been niggling me for ages, quite a productive investment should anyone need something light duty.

Tom

 

[thetyreman]

I picked up the vice and some clamps today and really happy with them for the money, thanks for the heads up, an absolute bargain and they will be getting a lot of use.

 

[Ttrees]

I'd be curious on how you get on with yours Ben,
and if you plan on permanently mounting it to something?

I've got a big plate of 8mm steel that I'm considering getting the angle grinder out for to make a base.
Not too big or awkward but enough to be mounted to the bench a bit easier, with an overhang for vertical workholding, while also being suitable for the pillar drill.

Gotten too spoiled with the beefy clamps/keeping this vice away from weld spatter, so a faff to put on and off.
I presume there is some sort of common pattern plate which allows multiple choice locations for tight spaces and others for stability, as it's definitely quite a tippy wee thing!

I don't remember the old version of this being so, (had a swivel base) which might have helped.
I might make a post on the metalwork section to see what folks suggest.

On a similar note
Had a bit of trouble clamping with my old 80mm f clamps alone, thought there was a lump on the clamp head/face, as the left side seems to work loose?..
Thinking back to when I used to use the one at me folks, I recall using a big g clamp on one side, and one of the f type on the right side, I was clamping onto the boss instead, or whatever you call it, should that matter, I can't recall doing any special shove to get it gripping better.
Same slippy countertops in both cases though.
Will be trying to sort this out soon, as I need to use the drill.

Tom