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I thought I would show a recent, very handy, addition to my shop: A Wilton Pow-R-Arm, specifically a Junior Pow-R-Arm No. 343. If you get a bit frustrated with work positioning, maybe this will be of use to you. Here are a few photos of just the Pow-R-Arm:





A Wilton Pow-R-Arm is an industrial work positioning assistance aid. Think of it as a heavy duty carving vise stand. Many of you are familiar with the various models of work holders made by Panavise, the Veritas Carver’s Vise, etc. This is similar in function, but a lot heftier than most other options. Essentially, it has a mounting plate attached to a trailer hitch ball mount. A clutch mechanism grabs and (mostly) immobilizes the ball mount. Anything you attach to the mounting plate can be positioned in whatever ways the travel of the ball mount allows. It can rotate 360 degrees and tilt up to 90 degrees (depending on mounting obstacles).

I have my Pow-R-Arm mounted to a plywood base that bolts to my workbench (as do all of my vises, so that I can remove them when not in use). In order to provide a strong base for quickly switching out items that can attach to the Pow-R-Arm, I attached a ¼” x 4” x 12” steel plate to the Pow-R-Arm, with two mounting holes spaced 6” apart:





This allows me to mount things like a plate carving workboard, and position it however I like (within reason):









More in the next post.

Here are a few more workboard positioning photos:





I also put together a spacer bar:



This allows me to mount my molds to the Pow-R-Arm, like this:









The stability of the Pow-R-Arm is just right. I can really lean into it (or, to quote the great philosopher Dolemite, “put my weight on it”) and get it to move without releasing the clutch, but for normal carving or sanding pressure, the work stays put.

One weakness of the Junior model is that the mounting plate attaches to the ball mount with a single bolt, so you have to limit your rotational force to clockwise movement only, or else that bolt comes loose. But I don’t have any trouble with that one limitation.

The Pow-R-Arm has been a real blessing. As I get older, I really don’t like bending over my work; I would rather tilt the work. This lets me do that pretty easily.

I hope this is useful to some of you. Let me know if you have any questions.

That looks fairly handy!

Nice. Wilton makes good tools.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Yes, indeed. Wilton is a long time respected name in fabrication and machine shops across the world for their vises and workholding solutions.

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

I can also attach my neck carving jig to it, and it provides enough stability for carving and sanding. However, the longer an item you attach to the Pow-R-Arm, the more leverage you have to move the item, despite having the clutch fully engaged. So, if you get one of these, be mindful of the need to center long things on the mounting plate, and don't have unreasonable expectations about stability. If you need something to be the Rock of Gibraltar, a normal vise would provide more stability, but provide less positioning freedom.

I use a "Jerry Rig" carvers vise with a vacuum chuck on it to do basically the same thing. Super handy to have around...

Yes, the Wilton is pretty cool. I use it mainly for neck carving. I have mine mounted to a wood block that I can move around to different vises as needed. New they were crazy expensive, but old ones that might be found at tool auctions are pretty cheap I think. Most people probably don't know what they are.They are oil filled BTW.

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“ The meaning of life is to find your gift and the purpose of life is to give it away” Pablo Picasso

There are different models. Bob’s is a hydraulic model, filled with oil. Mine just has a mechanical clutch.

Pretty cool. Reminds me of the vise Stew Macs carried for a while. Forget the name. I was lucky enough to get a Veritas Tucker Vise before they were discontinued which does pretty much everything I want for positioning or I would consider it.

Neat! Are you going to add a vacuum holder? Seems like it would be a worthwhile addition and inexpensive as a DIY add-on.

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

In my world these would be great for binding repairs on Martins, g*bsons and Guilds.

Colin—

Maybe. I don’t do any vacuum holding or clamping at the moment, but maybe in the future. I think ballbanjos has a good setup along these lines (see above). I do remember reading that some folks are not crazy about the Panavise work holders that get paired with the vacuum holders sold by one of the big luthier suppliers. If a person wanted to have the same positioning freedom with greater stability, I think this is a pretty good way to get there.

There are lots of applications! Plate carving is what led me to this solution, but cleaning up the insides of rims prior to gluing on the plates, neck carving, binding installation, etc., could all be a bit easier with something like this.

You've got me looking at this now! Similar, but about 1/3 the price.

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

Colin—

The only suggestion I have is to do some research on whether this will have the level of stability you want. Some of these types of work holders don’t stay put as well as you would like. I hope this one does!

21 reviews - 17 x 5 star, 4 x 4 star, no complaints about stability, even with mallet and chisels work, and money back guarantee - can't be too bad.
https://www.axminstertools.com/axminster-trade-carver-vice-102627

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.