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Some of us, due to having significant spine problems, really need ways of avoiding strain on our backs caused by hunching over a guitar on a bench. Others of us just don’t enjoy all that bending over. I’m in the latter category. About a year and a half ago, I started this thread to show photos of a work positioning tool I had added to my shop at that time, the Wilton Pow-R-Arm:

viewtopic.php?f=10101&t=54436&hilit=wilton

The Pow-R-Arm works pretty well, but it has its limitations, so I kept my eyes out for something better. I think I have found it by using three products together from Howard’s Total Vise. Here are the three products, attached to my workbench:



Shown above are:

The S Mac Vise Pedestal Conversion Plate ($59.95 USD)
The Crossover Mini ($179.95 USD)
The Bench Vise Mounting Plate ($49.95 USD)

Together, these three products give me the ability to rotate and tilt my workboards in any direction and then (here is the kicker) lock them down with the highest rigidity I have ever seen from tools like this. How rigid? So rigid that, when I lock these tools into place and put my full weight on them, I am more in danger of turning over my workbench than flexing the tools or loosening the clutch mechanisms. That’s solid! I could never count on my Wilton Pow-R-Arm to be that solid.

The Total Vise products rely on two basic mechanisms to provide these levels of both adjustability and rigidity. First, concentric steel pipes with the outer pipe outfitted with a clutch screw mechanism provide a full 360 degree rotation of anything placed into a mounting base. Below is a photo of the S Mac Vise Pedestal Conversion Plate, which has one of the clutch mechanisms:



I have this base mounted on a thick piece of laminated maple, which is connected to my workbench via bolts into threaded inserts through dogholes. This way, I can put it on or take it off in less than a minute.

The next piece of gear is the Crossover Mini, which combines the ability to tilt (via a different clutch mechanism) with the ability to rotate 360 degrees whatever you mount in it:



The third piece of gear is a mounting plate that matches up perfectly with the 6” hole spacing I had already established for all my workboards:





This gives me the ability to fully rotate the workboard, as well as tilt it up to 90 degrees in one direction and 45 degrees in the other. Since the Crossover Mini itself can be rotated inside the base, the tilting can be done in any direction, limited only by the surroundings (like the workbench itself).

I’ve attached several workboards and platforms to this Total Vise stack (photos only upon request):

Brace carving workboards
Body Mold (mounted to a holder that provides access to everything inside and out)
Neck carving platform

I even went semi-crazy and built a Moxon-style guitar body vise:







It gives me the same Troji-type body clamping that I get from my twin screw vise, but adds the benefit of full rotation and tilting. I have to work without a sling (since there is no up or down), so I have to keep my wits about me and not drop a guitar when I loosen the handwheels, but I think I can handle that.

If you browse the Howard’s Total Vise website, you will see lots of products beyond what I am using. Some of them might be a better fit for you than what I am using. Others might not be useful to you at all. One product I did not like is the Quick Docking Station. It has a lot of flex in the mounting plate, and that allowed whatever I mounted in it to flex around that point. I switched to the S Mac Vise Pedestal Conversion Plate as my base, and it is much more stable.

I hope this is helpful to some of you, particularly those who have back problems. It is definitely the best work positioning tool I have ever used. It puts my Wilton Pow-R-Arm to shame.

Looks like that would make a handy neck carving jig holder…

Indeed!

Wow! Nice Don. Great set up.

Thanks! I'm just about ready for this!

_________________
Formerly know as Mandodiddle.

That looks like a very nice set up!
I can get most of the positioning features with my versa vise (parrot vise), but I like the mounting plate feature that allows you to rotate the fixtures you have made.
I may try making a "poor mans" version by boring a hole in a block of wood, clamping it in the vise and using a pipe nipple and flange for the mounting plate.
I like the Moxxon style vise you made. Where did you find the hardware for it?

Clay--

Regarding the Moxon hardware, it wasn't easy, for these reasons:

1. Different Moxon vise kits use different threads.
2. All Moxon vise kits that I saw online used shorter threaded rod than I thought I needed (and I was right).

I had a Moxon hardware kit I had bought used from someone, and tried to buy longer threaded rod to match it, but that wound up being too much trial and error (they don't make Thread Detectives this large). So, I started from scratch, picked a thread size in which I could buy all four things (handwheels, threaded rod, nuts, and washers), and ordered them separately. It all worked out that way, and I still have that other Moxon vise hardware kit if I ever want to build a more traditional one.

Here are eBay links to the parts I used:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/111894752797?var=410855758643

https://www.ebay.com/itm/383891808965

https://www.ebay.com/itm/175198799383

https://www.ebay.com/itm/164947305641?var=464482144663

I had to cut the 36" threaded rod in half and then both halves down to the perfect size (once the whole thing was together and I could figure out the perfect rod length), but that was just an expenditure of elbow grease and wear and tear on a hacksaw blade.

The vise works great, by the way. I used the same closed cell foam I used for my twin screw bench vise, and cut curves in it so that it only grabs the edges of the guitar body.

Very cool, Don. I'm glad you found a solution that helps you work more comfortably!

I also really like your Moxon setup. I made a Moxon about 7 or 8 years ago to learn dovetailing. I've used it off and on for some body holding tasks and see a lot of potential, but my acme threaded rods are just long enough. I'm going to look into the hardware you linked to.

I also really like the addition of the closed cell foam. Is it just thick closed cell foam?

James—

Yes, it’s 2 inches thick, and it looks like it is two 1 inch thick pieces fused together. I cut the curve on the bandsaw. Open cell foam (like seat cushion foam) is too squishy for my taste, for this job. But the closed cell foam could exert too much pressure on the middle of plates if I didn’t cut the curve.

I had an "aha" moment today regarding another tool I can mount on my work positioner: My bending iron. I normally work with my bending iron standing up vertically, bolted to my bench. But there are some bending operations that are easier to do when the iron is horizontal, so that I can push down on the work. I can go from vertical to horizontal in a moment using this work positioner. But there's more! With the bending iron sitting horizontal, I can rotate the iron 360 degrees in the work positioner, and get easy "pushing down" access to every curve on the ellipse-shaped iron's profile. The same is true with the iron sitting vertical; no more standing at odd angles to access a specific curve on the iron. I can just rotate the iron in the work positioner and have the desired curve situated across from me.

This work positioner is really earning its keep around here. Money well spent, IMHO.

I’ve been looking at these a while now…. As we know positioning is a really big deal.

I’ve also considered a vac clamp but for holding jigs as well this looks great


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This Total Vise work holding setup made today's brace carving waaaaaay easier on my back than what I used to do. End result (and no back pain):