VERITAS 05A01.01 User manual

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Workbench: Owner’s Manual 05A01.01
Your Veritas®Workbench comes in a knock-down state
for shipping purposes. All required hardware is included
and holes for assembling it are predrilled. Assembly
should take only an hour or so.
The only tools that are needed are:
• Ratchet with 9/16"socket
• #3 Robertson®screwdriver (square drive)
• #2 Phillips screwdriver (cross drive)
• Hammer
Base Assembly
1. Remove the T-nuts from the levelling feet and drive
them into the holes in the lower rails with a hammer.
Install the levelling feet. (Note that these parts are in
the smaller box.)
2. Install one 3/8"flat washer and hex nut flush to one
end only of each of the truss rods. Slide the opposite
end of the truss rods all the way into each of the four
holes in one of the trestles, from the counterbored
side. Place the other trestle onto the exposed truss
rods (counterbored face out), and install one 3/8"flat
washer and hex nut flush with the ends of each of the
truss rods.
3. Place one stretcher (both contained in the larger box)
onto one pair of truss rods, as shown in Figure 1.
Using a ratchet fitted with a 9/16"socket, tighten the
hex nuts just enough to hold the stretcher in place.
Repeat for the other stretcher.
Note: To prevent the truss rods from spinning until
tightened, a flat screwdriver can be wedged between the
truss rods and the grooves in which they rest. Also, when
tightening the nuts, do so alternately from opposite ends
to keep the exposed rod ends approximately equal.
Trestle
Upper Rail
4) Place stretchers on
truss rods and tighten.
Stretcher
3) Install nuts, washers
and truss rods.
2) Screw levelling feet
into T-nuts.
1) Drive T-nuts
into holes.
Figure 1: Base assembly.

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Top Assembly
4. Near each end of the upper rails on the trestles there
is a hole. These are used to fasten the bench top,
which has four mating pilot holes, to the base. Place
the bench top over the base, aligning the mounting
holes. Using a 9/16"socket or wrench, secure the top
to the base with four 3/8"× 3"lag screws and flat
washers. Firmly tighten the eight hex nuts holding
the base together, and cover the counterbores with
the plastic caps provided. Adjust the levelling feet as
required to eliminate any rocking.
5. Slide the front vise into the holes in the front vise
jaw and, using a #3 Robertson®screwdriver (square
drive), fasten the two together with three #14 × 11/2"
flat-head screws. Wind the front vise jaw assembly
into the mating holes located on the left front corner
of the bench.
6. Install the Veritas®Twin-Screw Vise following the
instructions provided with it.
7. Install the three vise handles onto the vise tees, using
a #2 Phillips screwdriver to fasten the end caps.
Note: One of the handles is equipped with a speed knob;
this is intended to fit onto either tee of the twin-screw
vise for faster opening and closing.
Using your Veritas®Workbench
The Veritas®Workbench, with its Veritas® Twin-Screw
Vise, front vise, matrix of mating 3/4"bench dog holes and
four brass bench dogs, provides an extremely versatile
work surface with many clamping possibilities.
The twin-screw vise has some features that may not be
obvious. Besides its two clamping screws that eliminate
all possibility of racking, a spring-loaded drive/lock
pin lets you disengage the connecting chain drive for
controlled skewing needed to equalize pressure on
slightly out-of-square work. This is activated by simply
pulling back on the brass knob located on the right-
hand tee. Disengaging the drive/lock pin lets you turn
either screw independently of the other to produce the
required skew.
Warning: The vise should never be skewed more
than one full turn in either direction.
To realign the jaws, turn the handle you moved in the
opposite direction (back to how it was) and you will
hear and see the drive/lock pin “click” back into place.
If you try to disengage the pin with the jaws clamped
tight, you may find that you have to first slacken the vise
screw containing the pin.
The drive/lock pin also acts as a shear pin. If you apply
excessive force to either screw, the pin will shear before
the vise becomes damaged. A spare pin is enclosed
should this ever occur. An exploded view of the twin-
screw vise is shown in Figure 2.
Main Chain Cover
Set Screws
Chain Cover End Cap
To balance the chain,
squeeze together in the
center before tightening
the set screws.
Balancing the chain
prevents it from skipping
a tooth on the sprocket.
Tee
Figure 2: Veritas®Twin-Screw Vise. Figure 3: Balancing the chain on twin-screw vise.

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The front jaw of the twin-screw vise has been adjusted
to be parallel with the rear jaw. Over time, regular use or
seasonal movement of the wood may cause the front jaw
to become misaligned. To reset the front jaw, remove the
chain guard and, using the hex key provided, loosen the
two set screws on the follower sprocket located behind
the left tee. Check that the drive/lock pin is engaged
in the driving sprocket. Turn each tee at the same time
to snug the vise jaws together. Balance the chain by
grasping it in the center, pinching it together with two
fingers, and tighten the two set screws.
Note: The inside face of the front jaws on both vises
is slightly tapered. This is intentionally done to ensure
intimate contact with the top edge of the vise jaws and
the workpiece being clamped.
Periodically check that the nuts holding the truss rods
in place are tight. Seasonal wood movement can cause
them to become slack.
Bench Accessories
Accessories increase the functionality of the bench
and turn it into a woodworking station. Veritas offers
a host of clamping accessories compatible with the 3/4"
dog holes. Because of the flexibility of the grid of dog
holes, shop-made accessories are limited only by the
builder’s imagination.
Shop-Made Accessories
The grid of holes in the Veritas Workbench allows an
endless variety of shop-made accessories and jigs to be
fabricated to enhance its versatility and customize it for
specialized tasks. Here are a few of our suggestions. We
would like to hear about yours.
Leg Clamp
If you wish to work on large panels and doors, a leg
clamping fixture is a convenient addition, providing
enhanced front panel clamping. A pair of leg clamps
allows large objects to be supported when used in
conjunction with the front vise. The use of a single leg
clamp provides support to long objects. Leg clamps
are easy and inexpensive bench accessories that help to
extend the functional range of the Veritas Workbench.
21/2"
11/2"
11/4"
3/4"
1"
2"
297/8"
73/4"
TYP.
3/4"
3/4"Dia.
Holes
11/2"
11/2"
3/4"Dia.
Dowels
Glue 11/2"× 11/2"× 21/2"
spacer block to lower rail.
Figure 4: Leg clamp.

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Carver’s Sub-Table
Carvers may wish to fabricate a sub-table from 3/4"
plywood to raise their workpiece to an ideal height for
detailed work.
A sub-table fixture is particularly useful for engravers
and chip carvers.
The sub-table shown in Figure 5 raises the work 5”.
The center hole allows a Veritas®Carver’s Screw
(05G08.01) to be used to secure delicate work. One of
the many advantages of the sub-table is that it allows
the workpiece to be removed from the bench for storage
without having to dismount it.
The builder may wish to make the sub-table larger or
alter the height for a particular application. The base
can also be left open on the front to allow access to the
carver’s screw without dismounting it from the bench.
Constructing a Simple Tail Vise
You can construct a low-cost, high-value, home-made
accessory for your Veritas Workbench system using a
Veritas® Wonder Dog®clamp (05G10.01). Most useful
in pairs, they convert any part of the bench edge into
a set of tail vises with a capacity nearly equalling the
length of your bench.
5/8"
5/8"
2"
11/2"
4"to 6"
3/4"
3/4"
3/4"
4"
11/2"
2"
Figure 6: Constructing a simple tail vise.
Figure 5: Carver’s sub-table.
31/2"
45/8"
45/8"
103/4"
11/2"
11/2"
6"Dia. Hole
11/2"
3/4"Dia.
Dog Holes.
11/2"
45º
73/4"
103/4"
103/4"

Veritas Tools Inc. Ottawa ON K2H 1C2 Canada veritastools.com
© Veritas Tools Inc. 2018 209 INS-094_D
Under-Bench Storage Systems:
Using the Free Real Estate
The Simple Shelf
It is easy to add a shelf to the base of the bench for
storage. Cut a 1/2"plywood panel 371/2"× 17". Install the
plywood shelf into the inside grooves of the stretchers
during base assembly. No fasteners or glue are required
because the shelf is held captive by the stretchers. The
use of glue is discouraged; if the shelf is fastened into
place, it can make any distortion or warping impossible
to correct through selective truss-rod tightening.
The Bin System
Bin boxes have an advantage over a shelf in that their
contents can be grouped into tasks or projects and they
can be lifted onto the bench top during use.
The spacing between the leg stretchers allows the use
of standard plastic storage boxes to straddle the gap,
providing low-cost off-the-shelf storage.
Several manufacturers make these storage
containers. They are available from warehouse or
restaurant suppliers.
Bin boxes can also be made from shop scraps.
Figure 7 offers one suggestion for bin box construction.
Boxes should be made 16"front to rear and can be any
depth up to 91/4"from the rail sill. Their widths should
sum to 36"to fit between the rails. The following bin
widths allow 11/2"of total space for easy removal.
Because of the thickness of the stretchers, great amounts
of weight can be stored in these bins, while serving to
enhance overall bench stability — so go ahead and load
them up.
The recommended bin widths are:
• 4 Bins at 9"
• 3 Bins at 12"
• 2 Bins at 18"
Protective Top
If you will be doing any finishing or other work that
may disfigure your bench top, you may wish to add
a removable protective top. The protective masonite
sheet that comes with the bench can serve to cover
nearly the entire bench surface.
To keep the sheet from shifting, it can be line drilled
from the bottom side of two dog holes, at opposing
corners, with 3/4”× 1/2”long stub dowels glued into the
sheet. To use, simply drop the sheet onto your bench,
locating the dowels into the mating dog holes.
Figure 8: Protective top over complete bench.
3/4"× 1/2"
long dowels
glued to top.
16"
Any depth
up to 91/4".
Any combination
of widths that
sum up to 36".
Figure 7: Installing a bin system.