2. Ball Vice Remix: Fusion, USA Hardware, Custom Inserts and More

The ball vice I made results from remixing three models: Open Ball V1 (Ball vise system), D-Series Ball Vise and D-series Dovetail Vises. Credit goes to Chris Borge for the original designs, Chris Deeter for his very helpful Build Guide, and ThatRobHuman for his remixes and excellent visual PDF instructions.

I made a number of changes overall, primarily to use hardware that’s cheap and easy to buy in the USA, but also to simplify my printing and add some new capability.

This is the second of three remixes needed to make the ball and vices in the way that I did. Included are modifications for the Index Plate and Dovetail Spin Plate from D-Series Ball Vise. The first remix includes parts for the bottom and ball. The third remix covers the vice and jaws.

I imported the models into Autodesk Fusion. I found it helpful to see how the assembly fits together before printing. The Fusion f3d file with my modifications is included.

• Index Plate
  • Added Inner and Outer spacers to account for bolt heads proud of the bearing surface (to avoid drilling deeper countersinks into the metal bearing). 
• Spin Plate
  • Combined Spin Plate and Dovetail into a component to avoid gluing the two parts together. Used a modifier in PrusaSlider to increase infill in dovetail stress areas.