Friday, September 20, 2013

I Win The PanaVise Contest

I discovered that PanaVise is running a contest every month on their Facebook page, where they ask people send in pictures of their PanaVise use, modifications, etc. Being the sort of guy who uses PanaVises I sent in a picture of my third-hand jig that mounts in a PanaVise base. As nobody else entered in August, I won by default. I’m sure I would have won even if I had competition. No, I wouldn’t, I’ve won two things in my life, a pumpkin in 7th grade and two ugly centerpieces at a Eugene Chamber of Commerce dinner. Both prizes were underwhelming. But the third time is the charm and a box arrived from PanaVise today!
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A box, the suspense is killing me.
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Nick! Why are you teasing us? Move aside, foam peanuts.
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Cool!
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And there’s more…so what did I get?
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A PV JR. which is really handy for electronics projects.
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A nice weighted base that works with the vise or any of my other PanaVises.
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A speeder handle and some non-marring neoprene jaws. Nice.
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I stuck the rubber feet on the base…
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This will be useful.

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Rubber jaws will be good for when I take up quail egg engraving or toothpick carving.
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Vee grooves in the jaws so I can hold round things.
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Like this screwdriver. Not that I need to hold screwdrivers, it was the only round thing I had to hand besides a pen.
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The Speed Control Handle. It works well.
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Adjustability! Thanks so much, nice people at PanaVise!
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Oh, might as well introduce it to the rest of my PanaVise herd.
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I already had a worn PV JR. While it seems redundant, trust me, there are many situations where having two identical vises comes in really handy.
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Since nobody has entered the contest this month, and they explicitly told me I could enter again, here’s my engraving vise mount. I used this until I bought a proper engraving vise. I hope I win again. I obviously need more vises.
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Made from a cheap import jeweler's hand vise, bolt & nut and a piece of steel rod I drilled out for the bolt. Simple. I see Eurotool makes one that is way flimsier. PanaVise should die cast a head like this. They would probably sell dozens and curse my name for suggesting it.
Anyway, back to PanaVise.
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My 309 base says “COLBERT DIE CAST CO.INC”
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My 337 head “COLBERT INDUSTRIES”
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“Pana Vise” or “PanaVise”?
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Notice the old style of low profile vise.
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Manufacturing was simplified. While I love the rounded guide rods and screw, there is absolutely no reason to add cost by making the parts that way.
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There different bases and logos.
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If only my only vice were vises.

2 comments:

linius said...

Hello Nick,

I see between your collection of panavises a vise head with alligator clips. Is this also custome made ?
Because I'm searching a head or a design of a vise head for holding wires (automotive).

Keep blogging ! love your posts.

Cheers

linius said...

I'm sorry !
Just found your post of the hand jig.
http://mechanicalphilosopher.blogspot.be/2011/10/making-third-hand-jig.html