Metal 4" Vise Non-Scarring Jaws

prusaprinters

This model is intended for but not limited to PETG filament. PETG filament was chosen for its ability to give a little while still being very strong. It could also be printed in TPU or PLA. TPU would probably be pretty awesome, but I have not tried it. So, let's talk about what makes this design better than some of the others on this platform (I did look around before designing my own).Elements of the design that stand out:Covers most of the upper metal surface of the vise to protect the vise and tools that may slip off and otherwise hit the vise.Has a hole slot instead of a single hole. These vises aren't made with a “hole” lot of precision. The holes on my vise were off form one side to the other so i decided to make a slot that could accommodate dimensional variations.There are grooves in the surface of each jaw to accommodate round objects both vertically and horizontally. The vertical grooves allow one to hold on the outside end of the vise for longer objects or on the inside for shorter objects. the horizontal grooves allow pipes/rods to be held in place for sawing.I'm aware that the build plate side is on the clamping side and that does mean the flat sides will be slippery. If you want less slippery, you could always use some course sandpaper to score the surface. I printed this on the Prusa MK4 but I don't think it requires a Prusa to print.Printing recommendations for PETG:I recommend using a skirt to keep the corners from pulling off the build plateI used a 20% grid fill 8 solid bottom and 6 solid top layers and 6 perimeters. Grid fill is great for this application because the direction of the force will always be on top of the grid. Other fill patterns will not be as good for this with exception to gyroid but that's going to increase your print time significantly. I'm using a 6 mm diamondback nozzle (not really the best for PETG due to the large flat surface that the PETG can stick to). Ideally you would use a hardened steel nozzle to reduce the ability of the PETG to stick to the nozzle. The g-code is for a 6 mm nozzle MK4.I DO NOT recommend printing PETG with 100% infill unless you have it dialed in in every single way. PETG tends to blob and infill patterns allow the blobs to be displaced into the vacant areas of the print.I used a nice sharp wood chisel to clean out the supports in the grooves and skirt (PETG supports stick VERY well).One word of warning: it will leave edge marks in soft wood so I recommend sanding the edges down if you intend to use for wood; the grooves will still be there but you don't have to worry about leaving edge marks. A harder TPU would be Ideal for wood applications. Obviously don't use a brim or supports if you print in TPU. The angles of the grooves are 45 degrees.