This is a design for a desk vice that could be printed with a makerbot, obvioulsy this would not be as solid a normal metal desk vice, however it should still be strong enough for many light jobs.

The vice head could be shod with metal (using a couple of metal strips and a few drops of glue) to improve the usefulness of the tool.

I designed it around a long metal bolt I have in my junk draw, but the design could be modified to use a commodity bolt available at a hardware store or preferably a printable threaded bolt (still trying to figure out how to make threads in Sketchup - any advice on this would be appreciated).

This design is untested

The two main vice halves fit together as shown in the diagram, the crank fits on the end of the bolt which then goes through the first vice half (where a loose fitting nut is placed on the bolt with some loctite to hold it in place. (NOTE the printed halves have no thread in their hold and the bolt is meant to free spin in them when first inserted).

A single nut is glued to the second half inside the slot provided to act as a thread to push and pull the second half of the vice.

Finally the crank is attached to the head of the bolt.

3 STLs + the SKP

Plate 1 = The first half of the vice Plate 2 = The Second half of the vice Plate 3 = The crank in two pieces