Introduction: Bowling Ball Wood Carving Vise

This is a fully changeable wood carving vise made to hold wooden workpieces securely in any position.

I made it mostly as an experiment because I thought some kind of bench vise-like apparatus would be useful for power and hand sculpture. But it ended up working a good deal better than I had expected!

The bowling orb is nested in a bed of concrete and pivots in all directions. Information technology is locked in place by clamping the lid down with a industrial toggle latch clamp.

It's ridiculously heavy and definitely non mobile. I suspect it weighs 200 to 300 pounds, merely I really don't do it. It takes all my effort to push, pull and drag it around my shop. But I rear place a littler log therein at 45 degrees and go to town on IT with a chainsaw or angle grinder and information technology doesn't move.

The shadowing steps outline how IT was successful.

Step 1: Materials

This could comprise made some phone number of ways, however I used the following items:

  • an old pine table best
  • a section of middle-aged hardwood butcher block countertop
  • an old bowling ball
  • fleck metal shrill and piece of 1/4" steel plate
  • heavy duty toggle door latch clamp
  • thick tariff gate hinges
  • lag screws

Step 2: Build a Tough Box

I started by cutting up an old pine table round top to make a sturdy wooden boxwood. A mate of pieces had to make up glued together to pee-pee a dialog box for the tail end.

All of the pieces are glued and screwed together into pilot holes.

The interior of the box is 17.25" by 17.25" and 9" deep

The top lid piece was made from a composition of hardwood butcher board countertop. Information technology was shredded to size to mates the box and set apart for now.

Footfall 3: Support the Bowling Ball

This metallic-looking pipe was from an former prevue jack. It has a diam of 1 5/8" with a threaded nut attached into one last.

I cut a 4-inch lengthy piece from the end with the threaded captive nut, and positioned information technology midmost rear of the box.

I used a lag screw and a washer to fasten the pipe to the box into a pilot yap, through the nut on the bottom remainder (examine last photo).

Any other way to securely fasten a piece of scrap piping to the rump center of the box could be used.

The bowl was laid on the pipe and pieces of Gorilla gorilla Tape were used to hold the ball firmly against the shrill.

Few shims were added under the box to make over IT level on my sloped service department floor.

Step 4: Confuse Some Solid, Occupy the Box

I happened to cause a render of all the ingredients to make my own concrete from scrape, so this is what I did.

I used a 4:2:1 ratio of aggregated (small crushed gravel), sand, and cement.

The concrete mix was scooped into the box being mindful to not disrupt the recorded ball and knock it out of positioning.

I ended sprouted having to mix a littler second mess of practical to arise to the halfway manoeuvre on the bowl.

Afterward a couple of hours, a circumstances of water had pooled up so I gently sopped up all but of it with a rag and used a dinky trowel to smooth the top of the concrete, then left the box of concrete to cure.

Whole step 5: Let It Cure

Later about a calendar week I grabbed the bowling musket ball and with a pocket-sized tug it popped perpendicular out. I cleaned up the ball A well as the boxwood.

I pushed the box into the corner of my garage and left hand it entirely for another few weeks.

Step 6: Make the Metallic Emily Post

The leftover piece of metal pipe that I used to prop ascending the ball to begin with was about 16" long. I took a 5" aside 4" piece of flake 1/4" sword and welded this to the closing of the pipe, and then trained 1/4" holes in the corners.

Step 7: Aegir a Hole in the Bowling Ball

This step is the hardest and messiest, and piece I eventually got IT done with the tools I had, a CORE drill bit would have probably worked very much better than my hacky approach.

I started by oil production a 1/4" hole with a standard drill bit as sound every bit I could go.

Then I switched to a 1 3/4" kettle of fish saw and used this to travel as deep arsenic possible.

After this I used a 1 1/2" spade bit to spin and chip exterior the middle section. This is wild and messy and shoots woody bits of rosin every last around at high fastness. If you try this, make sure there are no other people around, wear whol the protective center and face gear, and persevere tight. (Mayhap a forstner bit would have worked amend, but I didn't hold a big sufficiency one.)

I and then went to and fro betwixt the hole saw and spade bit boring deeper all time, until the hole was nearly 3 inches deep.

The next smaller trap sawing machine size of it was then used to shuffle the outer circular groove showing in the last photo wide enough to conform to the bagpipe, so IT would descend downhearted further into the hole.

Step 8: Epoxy glue Time

I mixed up astir an apothecaries' ounce full of common 2-percentage epoxy resin and poured this into the groove at the bottom of the tired hole shown in the last step, and pushed the pipe into place.

I then shoved trio lollipop sticks into the gap around the pipe to both center it in the golf hole and tightly wedge information technology into place while the epoxy resin cured. The protruding ends were disrupt and the inside bits left in situ.

I past mixed up some 2-part epoxy putty and shoved this into the gaps around the pipe as far as possible, so formed a fillet round the pipe up where it entered the nut with the leftover putty.

Step 9: Wooden Lid

This part required a little trial and error, and you will likely indigence to fare the same to fiddle around and land at the right fit depending on the position of your bowling ball.

A circle was marked in the center of the butcher impede set up mentioned in the beginning.

A gap was issue on the band saw to reach the center hole out, and then the put over adjusted to 25 degrees. This opening was cut inline with the cereal and the add-in will be positioned on the box seat indeed the clamping pres testament be against the grain for strength.

The board was slid onto the band saw table from right to left, so the angled blade was properly unsmooth up to begin the angled circular cut.

After the initial turn out I had to make over the hole a little bigger, and then a trifle bigger again, until it mated against the bowling ball with just a humble amount of gap remaining that prevented the lid from sitting flush on tip of the corner.

This is critical - if the hole is too big you stern't crack down along the bowling ball!

Step 10: Attach Hinges, Then Toggle Clinch

Cardinal worrying duty logic gate hinges were affianced to the back side of the box using gaol screws fastened into pilot holes.

The lid is then placed happening upper side and settled belt down against the bowling ball.

The upper halves of the hinges are now attached in the very matter As the bottom using lag screws fastened into drilled pilot holes. Doing it this in order ensures the lid stays locked into position directly nested all over the bowl as needed.

The forepart on-off switch latch clamp is now added using lag screws. The latch has loony that can be threaded up or knock down and locked in situ to adjust the pressure applied by the clamp.

I may add several handles at some point. As is, it's really hard to move some - only that's bankable because it works so well for what I wanted.

Footmark 11: Use It

My first project using this vise was my Grim Reaper carving.

Thanks for checking this out. If you use this instructable to make something similar, please let Pine Tree State know!

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