Since the Veritas/Lee Valley and Jorgensen press screws are no longer made and the Grizzly/ShopFox gets so-so reviews, I went looking for a quality alternative.
I ended up with the 5096A16 from McMaster-Carr, which is $25 and has 12" of travel. The actual unit I received is pretty nice, so I wanted to sharer a more detailed photo for others looking to build their own jigs. Note the vertical handle spins independently of the horizontal bar attached to the screw, and the whole assembly is nicely machined steel.
The only real possible negative is no real "bearing" at the bottom - there's a bushing and a set screw that holds the bottom flange on the screw. I can't imagine it will be an issue in normal use though.
John Dahl
I ended up with the 5096A16 from McMaster-Carr, which is $25 and has 12" of travel. The actual unit I received is pretty nice, so I wanted to sharer a more detailed photo for others looking to build their own jigs. Note the vertical handle spins independently of the horizontal bar attached to the screw, and the whole assembly is nicely machined steel.
The only real possible negative is no real "bearing" at the bottom - there's a bushing and a set screw that holds the bottom flange on the screw. I can't imagine it will be an issue in normal use though.
John Dahl
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