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Fractal Vise
- trymas 3y agoRare Antique Fractal Vise [Restoration] - Hand Tool Rescue https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBeOgGt_oWU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBeOgGt_oWU
- exabrial 3y agoThis is the stuff the patent system is _supposed_ to protect
- Trellmor 3y agoMaybe in 1912 https://patents.google.com/patent/US1059545 https://patents.google.com/patent/US1059545
- s0rce 3y agoIt did, from 1912-1930.
- max51 3y agoIt's literally the opposite of what patents were supposed to protect. They are trying repackage an old technology they did not create and are threatening to sue everyone else making it. This product already existed before these "inventor" were even born. The original innovator who made this product already profited from it and are long gone from the market.
- ecf 3y agoA Chinese machinist is already selling these on Alibaba while the American machinist attempts to repatent something invented a century ago. One wants to produce a tool that helps others make cool stuff, one wants to rip off an inventors design to try to pass it off as his own. This is everything the patent system is supposed to protect AGAINST. Differences in societal values I guess.
- causality0 3y agoHow is this "patent pending" when fractal vises have been made for decades? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBeOgGt_oWU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBeOgGt_oWU
- nine_k 3y agoA special small variation can be as well covered by a patent, because it can make all the difference. See e.g. Phillips screws vs Posidriv screws (cut the tip), or, more prominently, a normal needle vs the Singer sewing-machine needle (move the eye).
- NegativeLatency 3y agoOr even more egregious: the patent game being played with insulin https://www.vox.com/2019/4/3/18293950/why-is-insulin-so-expensive https://www.vox.com/2019/4/3/18293950/why-is-insulin-so-expe...
- mihaitodor 3y agoNo clue about the patent, but this restoration video is absolutely gorgeous! I'm mesmerised
- smusamashah 3y agoThis says in description that original product is by Mantle and Co from 1920s.
- dragonwriter 3y agoThe innovation protected is supposedly some adaptation for suitability as an engraving vise.
- sleepybrett 3y agoadam savage just bought a new one from alibaba: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUhrF0xkhhc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUhrF0xkhhc
- JKCalhoun 3y agoNot cheap: https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256805435947425.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.main.3.25c56137rfQKfv&algo_pvid=94ed15c9-376b-4199-a93c-d74ebd64d058&algo_exp_id=94ed15c9-376b-4199-a93c-d74ebd64d058-1&pdp_npi=3%40dis%21USD%212767.55%212601.5%21%21%2119967.88%21%21%40211bd7bf16889466401885688d0748%2112000033779459374%21sea%21US%21170398917&curPageLogUid=RLGDHucNtM6p https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256805435947425.html?spm=a2g...
- cbsks 3y agoAnd Adam’s review of it was not very stellar. He immediately had a bunch of fixes that he wanted to do to it.
- wolfram74 3y agoI don't think that's quite as damning a problem with Savage as with some people, he is an inveterate tinkerer afterall.
- skygazer 3y agoEven his “stellar reviews” also contain a list of immediately planned mods. I think that’s his nature. He appears to love the purchase and not regret it at all, even despite the $2,500 price tag. He praised the tolerances and interchangeable parts, and he touted the connection he felt with the designer in China.
- SoftTalker 3y agoHe seems to be the type of person who enjoys building and improving stuff as its own reward. It doesn't necessarily have to have a purpose. I don't think he bought that vice for any reason other than he thought it was cool and he wanted one.
- RicoElectrico 3y agoHonestly for me it falls into "generates a lot of YouTube content, but is of dubious practicality" category. Tesla valve also belongs there. Can someone give other examples?
- slang800 3y agoPrince Rupert's drop is another.
- andrewflnr 3y agoThere's no doubt, Prince Rupert's drop is useless. Just neat.
- defrost 3y agoWhile they're still hot you can press in a pattern along the side (from fat head to long tail), say a lengthy passkey. You now have a physical copy of a passkey that can destroyed in an instant. Neat. Potentially useful.
- esperent 3y agoIt's only useless if you consider all art, games, and educational tools to be useless. Which is a very sad outlook. Art: they look beautiful and can be displayed. Game: breaking it, or watching it being broken, is a lot of fun. Education: I would say that a huge number of people have been inspired to take up glassblowing after seeing one of these. But not only that, they also serve as a great tool to demonstrate that an object's physical properties are often unexpected based on appearance. I would say a decent amount of people have been inspired to study physics because of this too.
- blincoln 3y agoSurely there is something interesting that can be done with something that has such unusual properties, even if it's a corner case. It's basically a single-use "transistor" or "valve" for mechanical force. Does the glass explode with enough force to be used as the primary detonator for a high explosive? I'm no explosives engineer, but seems like having an all-mechanical (no chemicals, no electricity) primary detonator could be useful in some situations where the system should be very stable for decades, like car airbags. What about emergency release valves? Plug the release channel with the tough end of the drop. Use a simple mechanical system to break the weak end if the emergency conditions are met. e.g. a lever attached to a float that snaps the weak end if the fluid level is too high. That should work safely even in an environment full of flammable material. Getting into more fanciful territory, could a professional assassin create one that was large enough to work as a hand grenade? Or encase the weak end in a jacket and then use it as a bullet with the tough end being seated in the case?[1] Seems like it could almost be a real-world version of the mythical "ice bullet", where after use there wouldn't be enough left for forensic analysis. [1] Here's a video of someone shooting them from a shotgun, but there's no jacket or spin-stabilization to keep the weak end pointed at the target: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lc9pPOrZ_0Q https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lc9pPOrZ_0Q
- nine_k 3y agoNot entirely fractal, just third-order! Fourth-order would likely not be sturdy enough though. But cool, while also practical.
- hammock 3y agoIt’s like the gator grip socket wrench https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&hl=en-us&sxsrf=AB5stBi-dp2UPyK_VYF692aGg6HkzYi68w:1688940585040&q=gator+grip&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi-y_j80YKAAxX3g4kEHRSbCZQQ0pQJegQIChAB&biw=390&bih=664&dpr=3 https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&hl=en-us&sxsrf=A...
- Konnstann 3y agoI got one as a gift and have never successfully used it despite trying really hard. It might do ok with thick bolt heads and not a lot of torque but in my experience it either doesn't catch properly or slips.
- kveykva 3y agoIronic that the video of the vise is recorded handheld it seems
- mdorazio 3y agoDoes anyone know how the dovetails of the individual jaw pieces are machined on a curved surface? I can’t figure it out even using a 4 or 5 axis CNC.
- xtagon 3y agoI don't actually know, but maybe electric discharge machining?
- mitthrowaway2 3y agoI must be missing the difficulty. It looks to me like you could turn those dovetails on a lathe. You cut them into round stock before sawing it in half and facing. The female dovetails are done directly on the OD of the round stock. For the male dovetails, it would require mounting the work offset (eg. on a faceplate); alternatively, you could do it more awkwardly on a mill with the tool offset in the spindle like a boring bar. Either way, it could be done with manual machines.
- doubleg72 3y agoExactly.. turned on lathe, millwork if not 5 axis, hardened, and then ground to finish.
- userbinator 3y agoThe male dovetails might've been made with something resembling a hole saw, but with the teeth angled appropriately.
- mdorazio 3y agoThat's fine for the outer pieces, but the ones they mount into have dovetails on both inner crescents. I can't see how you could turn those on a lathe without some weird offset going on.
- mitthrowaway2 3y ago>> For the male dovetails, it would require mounting the work offset (eg. on a faceplate)
- andybak 3y agoToday at the age of 52 I learned that Americans spell "vice" differently.
- explaininjs 3y agoHave you never experienced the engineering marvel that is Vise-Grips?
- HideousKojima 3y agoAmericans also have a vice with a c but that refers to drugs, gambling, and similar acts (i.e. vice cops are the cops on anti-narcotics assignments, like in the old show Miami Vice) or in stuff like Vice President (Kamala Harris).
- sprior 3y agoYou can even 3D print one: https://www.printables.com/model/180109-fractal-vise https://www.printables.com/model/180109-fractal-vise
- catlifeonmars 3y agoThis post reminded me that someone used the fractal vise configuration to construct a very mediocre chair: https://youtu.be/e8pvjEHAt6U https://youtu.be/e8pvjEHAt6U
- beachy 3y ago> Please be aware of imitators, as the use of jaws with an engraving vise may infringe any patent that issues from my pending patent applications. Don't really know much about this area, but this comes across as aggressive, overreaching, and leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
- lelandbatey 3y agoThat's amusing, as original fractal vise's from over 100 years ago (1913) can be found online, including restoration videos of very old ones. Someone trying to repatent such old tech sounds... dubious.
- userbinator 3y agoThis is supposedly an enhanced version, which could plausibly be patented, but I agree with the parent that it seems a little odd.
- bee_rider 3y agoThey’ve also got an infringement info page that seems pretty aggressive… maybe they’ve had a lot of trouble with knockoffs or something?
- poizan42 3y agoNote that their product isn't available yet. > Question: How much do they cost? > Answer: Price is not known yet. Production has not started and therefore not enough of them have been made to know what the cost will be. You pre-order with a down payment toward the purchase, and be placed in line. See above. > Question: When will one be ready for me? > Answer: It will be a while yet before production in quantities begins.
- orangepurple 3y agoThe Chinese already copied the design, improved it, manufactured it, and listed it for sale on a global marketplace. The poor guy is finished.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- userbinator 3y agoNormal vises just have jaws, but this one looks like it has teeth.
- natas 3y agoThey can be ordered today for approx. $1500, url: https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/Fractal-Vise_1600318578412.html https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/Fractal-Vise_16003185...
- quickthrower2 3y agoVery cool. Does anyone who uses a vice a lot think this is beneficial, or more gimmicky?
- luma 3y agoI don't fully understand who this style vice is actually for, and despite looking very cool, there's a reason nobody has these things 100+ years after their invention. A woodworking vice typically has softjaws and despite the flexible-ish nature of this vice they still would leave marks in wood so not much help in the woodshop. A metalworking shop typically uses vices to hold work that they are going to beat on with a hammer, lean on it with a pry bar, attack with a torch, and generally use as a super-secure hold while applying a lot of forces to the work. The vice here has a lot of precision moving parts which wouldn't really hold up to that sort of use case. A machinist vice is a precision tool and the fixed jaw is a reference surface for the work. With suitable stops, one can use a machinist vice to place work into a predictable position time after time ("repeatability"). This style of vice can't do that either. I could almost maybe see this used for small parts fabrication on a drill press maybe? The OP uses it as workholding while engraving which feels a little contrived and there are other cheaper/faster/easier solutions out there but sure maybe?
- cowl 3y agoit says it right there in the website. it's for engraving so definitely not a machinist tool, more like a jewel-crafter or watchmaker tool. Engraving does not apply a lot of forces generally.
- Filligree 3y agoI’ve got one that I printed in PLA. It’s useful for holding arbitrary parts in arbitrary orientations while I paint, glue, or do other post processing work on them — installing electronics sometimes — that sort of thing. No force is intended to be applied at all, beyond gravity. A dedicated jig is always better, but takes time and effort to create. This thing always works moderately well.
- 3y ago
- nickisnoble 3y agoI put a deposit down a year ago and still haven't heard anything.
- napo 3y agoWould be nice if it had some springs to have the different parts try to go back to their original position by themselves.