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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Apr 2008
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    AK
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    614

    TR: Make a cheap and wide ski & snowboard vise

    I hate paying for stuff that I can make myself, so I came up with a simple and cheap ski vise that can be easily made with a jig saw, drill, and a little spare time. Granted, it's not the best vise ever, but it's rock solid and can handle skis and snowboards and saved me some serious cash over Swix or Toko wide vises. Construction should be self-evident from the pictures below.

    One 2"x10"x8' board $4.50
    One box of 3" screws $5
    Two 3" C-clamps $10
    One old inner tube $0
    One old bungee cord $0
    Staplegun with staples (10mm) $0

    Total cost: 19.50 + tax

    Basic dimensions:

    Feet: 10" wide, 8" tall. 2"x0.5" cuts to hold skis on edge. Cut to match edge of my homemade workbench.
    Cross-beam: 2x4" cut from 2"x10"x8' board. 36" wide.


    Entire assembly, clamped to workbench. Ski is secured by downwards force of bungee cord. The inner tube is grippy enough that the skis stays in place, even when scraped

    Close inspection of "vise" with 90 and 60 degree cuts to hold the ski for edge tuning

    Ski held at 90 degrees, rock solid.


    Hope this is useful to some of you more frugal types!
    Last edited by critical-motion; 11-30-2008 at 06:20 AM.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Dec 2005
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    Mexitana
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    2,474
    nicely done

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Oct 2004
    Location
    Seattle
    Posts
    1,292
    That funny, I just did a search last night for this. My home made "stands" suck and I hate them and need something else. Any one make something different?

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Location
    SnoqWA
    Posts
    2,593
    Good idea, I do need to do something like this. Old sawhorses just aren't cutting it. I do remember seeing another rendition of something similar if someone has that thread to pull up.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Oct 2003
    Posts
    1,788
    Nice. This looks superior to the shitty swix vice I've been using for the past 5 or so years. I'm going to try to build something similar, I think.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Location
    northern BC
    Posts
    30,879
    http://homegarden.bizrate.com/home_g...nd+decker.html

    if you got NO work bench these things work pretty good ,they fold up and hang on the wall , the table vise will hold a wide ski by the fritchsi freeride binding ,or xc skis by the side walls for waxing ,the only draw back is they are not long enough to supprt the whole ski which you can get around with asaw horses or whatever

    I also bolt my park proffesional bench mounted bike reapir stand to the table and it will be sturdy enough to hold a DH bike

    you could even use it for home renos

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Location
    PNW
    Posts
    1,633
    B&D workmate WAY 2nd'ed.

    condo living puts space at a premium so i picked up a used one on CL for $20. 3/4" plywood sheet about 170cm long w/ two 2"x2" rails mounted underneath so the workmate can securely clamp the plywood. Stands are simple T-shaped 2x4 w/ old skin trimmings for traction. I will be pulling the skins because as the glue has aged it is now leaving too much goopy residue on topsheet n bases. Going to replace the skin scraps w/ a thick coat of silicone caulking.

    Would guess you'd spend about $25 on the plywood and 2x4 scraps but lucky for me my dad is a bit of packrat and i just had to dig through the scrap pile a bit.



  8. #8
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Location
    New in town
    Posts
    732
    Hillshire Farm is sexy

    Grab both cheeks and sink your teeth into the ass of life.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Location
    sfbay
    Posts
    2,179
    very nice, I've been thinking about making something like this for a while. thanks for posting!

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Location
    Denver
    Posts
    133
    kickass, been wanting something better than the horses

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Oct 2004
    Location
    Seattle
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    1,292
    I'm thinking something along the line of this

    http://www.snowmediazone.com/the_zon...544/ppuser/989

    but one clamp for bindings and 2 supports on the ends like c-motions above.

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Oct 2003
    Location
    Denver
    Posts
    2,837
    Very cool. I linked to this thread on my blog.

    I feel like such a nerd saying that.

  13. #13
    BSS Guest
    Nice job. Looks pretty similar to the homebrew job I built too.

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Oct 2004
    Location
    Seattle
    Posts
    1,292
    Also found this at the bottom of the vice page at tognar but it requires you build a foot bed thing. There is a similar one on epic.

    http://tognar.com/toolbenchplans.html

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Apr 2008
    Location
    AK
    Posts
    614
    Glad my cheapskate idea is proving useful. I tuned 4 pairs of skis today and not one went shooting off the workbench or popped upwards off the vises. So far, the design works well.

  16. #16
    Join Date
    Apr 2008
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    I-70
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    Quote Originally Posted by critical-motion View Post
    Glad my cheapskate idea is proving useful. I tuned 4 pairs of skis today and not one went shooting off the workbench or popped upwards off the vises. So far, the design works well.
    Just made my homemade work even better, didn't think to use an old tube on the supports.

  17. #17
    Join Date
    Feb 2006
    Location
    Among Greatness All Around
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    6,628
    I did a Workmate style knock off bench from Harbor Freight

    http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=47844

    I picked up a pair of snowboard tuning stands similar to these off EBay much cheaper during a summer off season auction
    http://shop.surftheearthsnowboards.c...9.html?AFF=ggl
    and use it to clamp and hold a longer scrap plywood board that gives me some more work room.

    I also had a pair of Swix standard ski vise that tended to not hold the skis very well when scraping. At some point I may end up putting these on the other side of the stand strictly for edge work.

    And when the shorter and narrow mounting of the vise rocked too much when scraping, over the summer I added a pair of these to support the tip and tails of the skis when Harbor had a sale.

    http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=95621

    Still working on a cinch or cleat to hold the bindings and may just have to buy one from Slidewright or others that have the lasso cleats. Best I've come is to use small bungy cords down around the tuning stand but they have to be stretched to their limits so they do not move.

    All told I probably have less than $50 to $60 in all the major parts (other than the Swix ski vises which were more than that years ago off Ebay.

  18. #18
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
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    New in town
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    Quote Originally Posted by edmoloco View Post
    I'm thinking something along the line of this

    http://www.snowmediazone.com/the_zon...544/ppuser/989

    but one clamp for bindings and 2 supports on the ends like c-motions above.
    That is brilliant for side edge work and sidewall planing. Gotta put that in here:


    Last edited by Gordyman; 12-01-2008 at 09:57 AM.
    Hillshire Farm is sexy

    Grab both cheeks and sink your teeth into the ass of life.

  19. #19
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Location
    Mid-Atlantic
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    1,140
    OP's design is similar my brother and I built, we used silicon instead of innertube to keep skis from sliding:

    Sorry for the shitty cell phone pictures:



    Before big games I shoot Rabies, it gives me the edge I need and it’s undetectable. Only idiot losers do steroids anymore...

  20. #20
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Location
    Terra Firma
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    1,370
    Quote Originally Posted by Gordyman View Post
    That is brilliant for side edge work and sidewall planing. Gotta put that in here:
    Gotta agree with G-man here. Simple, brilliant design.
    Just one easily stored dedicated piece and the clamps can be used for other things(delams).
    Haven't seen those clamps used for this purpose, surprised I haven't seen this before.
    What are those white blocks used for keeping the clamps secured to the table?
    "this thread is an odd combo of win and fail." -Danno

  21. #21
    Join Date
    Oct 2004
    Location
    Seattle
    Posts
    1,292
    ^^^^ he just calls them corner blocks? here is the page where he talks about it, sorry should have posted this first:

    http://snowheads.com/ski-forum/viewtopic.php?t=36579

    Last photos he sets the clamps closer and clamps them to the bindings. This is what I was thinking, but with supports on the ends.

  22. #22
    Join Date
    Nov 2008
    Location
    JH
    Posts
    97
    Critical-how does the bungee hold for scraping? I just bought a swix bench at a yard sale and don't want to pay $125+ for vises on a cheap bench.

  23. #23
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Location
    Norway
    Posts
    219
    Quote Originally Posted by U.P.Ripper View Post
    Critical-how does the bungee hold for scraping? I just bought a swix bench at a yard sale and don't want to pay $125+ for vises on a cheap bench.
    The inner tube is grippy enough that the skis stays in place, even when scraped
    Reading....

  24. #24
    Join Date
    Feb 2004
    Location
    208 State
    Posts
    2,577
    this "vice" works great for tele's, just used it last night.

    The bungee works great for scraping as long as you get enough tension on it and you have something on the supports to keep the tip and tail from slipping (i.e. inner tube or some of that blue foam used for sleeping pads)

    Nice post critical-motion, great info

  25. #25
    Join Date
    Nov 2008
    Location
    JH
    Posts
    97

    Works Great

    Just built a similar bench based on Critical's plans. I had found a Swix bench at a yard sale for cheap. I used the foam shelf lining stuff because it seemed to have more tack than the rubber that I found. With good tension on the bungee, this works great! Thanks again Critical.

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