MetMo Black Fractal Vise 32
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- Trusted by over 30,000 customers
Product Details
- Clamp any shape
- Your third hand
- Aerospace grade aluminium for a lighter, but still sturdy, vise option
A desktop Fractal Vise in black anodised aerospace grade aluminium with hardened stainless steel jaws and a 32mm (1.2”) clamping zone.
Materials
Hardened Martensitic Stainless Steel (Grade 420C hardened to HRC48-55)
Stainless Steel (Grade 316)
Hard Anodised Aluminium (7055-T651 aerospace grade)
High Tensile Brass (HTB1)
Class 10.9 bolts (Grade 304 stainless steel)
Silicone Rubber (Engineering grade shore 60A)
Shipping & Returns
Available to ship immediately.
30 day returns policy.
Dimensions
Size:
Closed: 56.5mm (2.2") x 38mm (1.5") x 44mm (1.73")
Open: 88mm (3.4") x 38mm (1.5") x 44mm (1.73")
Weight: 395g (14 Oz)
Technical Details
Finish: Heat treated stainless steel, hard anodised aluminium (black)
Maximum Tested Tensile: 3000Nm *We can definitely go higher than this
Clamping Pressure: 1965 PSI (pound per square inch)
Jaw Opening Distance: 32mm (1.2")
Jaw Depth: 20mm
What's in the box?
- Black Fractal Vise 32
- 2.5mm Allen Key
- 1.5mm Allen Key
- Spare Grub Screws
MetMo Black Fractal Vise 32
If you have any questions, you are always welcome to contact us. We'll get back to you as soon as possible, within 24 hours on weekdays.
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A Forgotten Relic, Reimagined for the Modern Day
Let's face it, most things we need to hold are not perfectly parallel, leaving what you're working on teetering on the edge of slipping out... No more, with the mighty fractal jaw!
Six independent movements allow the clamping surfaces to perfectly wrap around what you're working on, holding it secure and steady. Ever wanted a flexible iron fist with the grip strength of a coconut crab? Well, this is your answer.
Who's It For?
Whether you're 3D printing, model making, fixing things around the house, fancy having a completely unnecessary phone stand, or just want people to marvel at your new desktop wonder as they clamp their own finger… trust me it’s the first thing everyone does.
What Can It Do?
Need to hold a toy shark down? It might happen... But seriously, with two sizes available depending on what you work on, it can hold any arrangement of difficult shapes steady for you to file, paint, cut, drill, weld, or whatever you need. We're giving you that third hand you've always wanted, but made of solid metal.
Why Have We Created MetMo Fractal Vice?
We've been playing around with the concept of making a Fractal Vise for a long time, but the immense amount of machining made the cost im-fracitcal to make and sell (bah-dum tsh). Sure, there are really big versions of this around, but what about the desktop makers? That’s where we started; a classic design miniaturised for all of us working on things that little bit smaller.
A Powerful Tool and the Perfect Desk Toy
Watching the fractal jaws move with six independent parts shifting individually to gently wrap around an unusual shape is endlessly satisfying. You'll find yourself constantly clamping objects just to see the jaws move and appreciate this precision engineering wonder.
Back to the Future Part IV, the World's First Miniature Fractal Vice
"Someone must have thought of this before..." you say? You're right! The fractal vice concept dates back to 1913, but it was originally designed for massive, expensive machinery. We've taken that precision and miniaturised it into a handy desktop size – the versatile 'third hand' you need for everything from models and 3D prints to watches, jewellery, tools, and more.
Clamp Any Shape
The fractal jaws will clamp any difficult shape, like round tubes, irregular mouldings, or miniature bananas! It gives you a secure way to hold your commonly unclamp-able parts, so you can work on your projects in totally new ways or just save your hands from cramp!
A gentle hug for your weird shaped bits, each jaw moves to wrap around any shape to grip on multiple points. This makes it ideal for delicate items and difficult shapes that would be impossible to hold with a standard vise.
Do It Once, Do It Well
Every part is machined from premium metals then hand finished to a brilliant shine. Fractal Vise is designed to last a lifetime, and will still be a working vise in 200 years. "Do it once and do it well" was the mindset of toolmakers from hundreds of years ago and we have embodied that same mindset with Fractal Vise, intending for it to be passed down to future generations of young tinkerers, apprentices, and budding engineers.
Vise on Vise
With its parallel design you can upgrade your existing vise by placing your Fractal Vise into any standard or machine vise in seconds. You can adapt your pillar drill, milling machine, or bench vise with a Fractal Vise to work on difficult parts with your existing setup.
Clamp on the Move
Designed to be mobile so you can move it around your desk or workspace to wherever you need it. Want to move it under a light? No problem! Need to evade a tiny child’s fingers at speed? Easy.
Then when you're done, easily tuck it away; "keep it secret, keep it safe" as a wise wizard once said.
Delicate Bite
This sturdy 395g/14oz vice acts as a solid counter balance to give you a third hand, while simultaneously holding on to delicate parts with the gentle jaws. The perfect combination of precision hold and concrete heft.
Never be stuck wishing for an extra pair of hands again!
Sneaky Fractal
A new take on the traditional vise. We've made the Fractal Vise ultra compact so you can keep it on a regular desk, unlike having a big vise hanging off the edge of your workbench.
This gives you more space to work, tinker, and do the things you love. You can also go mobile and carry it with you to your next job, so you're never without the handy power of the fractal.
Pocket Sized
Is that a fractal in your pocket or are you just pleased to see me? Vises aren't something you can typically carry around with you unless you're a nomadic metalsmith with a mule strong enough to carry your anvil. With the MetMo Fractal Vise you can carry this compact clamper with you wherever you go, so you too can embrace the nomadic metal life and work on projects wherever your legs may carry you.
*You may want to re-enforce your pockets before trying this one!
Rock Solid
Every component is machined from solid metal and held together with high tensile cap head bolts, all moving on precision ground rails making this compact vise extremely dense. We've not removed any metal for weight or cost saving, so this makes for one very rigid piece of kit. Even though its size is small you can use it like a serious tool while cutting and hammering, so it won’t slow you down while you work.
On the Flip Side
MetMo Fractal Vise is the only fractal vise to have reversible jaws, so you can clamp on the inside diameter of any object! Perfect for holding glassware or pottery while engraving and painting.
A Stand Up Fractal
Designed to be free standing and highly mobile, you can use MetMo Fractal Vise as a vertical vise too. Each side is precision ground so you can stand the vice on its end while working on your project from a whole new perspective, without having the hassle of undoing and repositioning your parts.
Moving the clamped part into different positions allows you to get to the most comfortable working position, giving you full access to three of the four dimensions.
For the Model Makers
Struggling to hold a difficult part? Need to hold two weird shapes together whilst the glue sets? It’s a constant battle in model making, and sometimes you just need that extra hand for five minutes! The fractal jaws recreate the finger thumb pinch, wrapping around a part without damaging it and holding it secure.
The Vise That Makes You Look Twice
Designed to look like an engineering masterpiece on your desk, gaze in wonder at a marvel of mathematics that's so unusual everyone one who passes by will ask 'what is this thing?'
It also makes a pretty neat pen holder when not fulfilling your vicey needs.
A Fine Drive
A precision fine screw drive gives superior clamping power and also very fine adjustment, all whilst reducing backlash and movement that is experienced with most vises. When clamping you're in full control, applying just the right amount of pressure without damaging what you're working on.
No More Floppy Vises
Fed up with floppy vises? We were too! Most vises you can buy are made cheap, unless you're buying gear for heavy duty machines, resulting in things just clanking about until they're done up. With Fractal Vise we've used precision ground slide rails to re-create a linear slide from machine tools, so the winding in and out of the jaws is a perfectly satisfying motion.
Turbo Drive
Really need to crush the life out of something and don’t quite have the forearm? Then you can use the hex drive in the end of the adjuster to attach a hex key (or a MetMo Pocket Driver) to get some real torque into it!
Getting Down and Knurly
Use the tie bar, or the knurled adjuster for extra grip, to give you direct feedback on what you're clamping so as not to over tighten and damage what you're working on. Designed to be comfortable when applying pressure.
A Fractal That Sticks Around
Get a grip with a silicone rubber foot! You won’t scratch the surface you put the vise on and it'll keep it from sliding around on a smooth worktop while you're using it in free standing mode, giving you a stable clamping platform you can work from.
Deep Jaws
Designed with a jaw depth of 20mm to give the vise a gripping height double that of standard desktop vises.
Inspired by machinist vises so you can grip deeper parts and have more contact area on them, preventing them from slipping and moving around while you're working.
Hold Your Ground
With the Black Fractal Vise 32 weighing in at 395g (14 oz), this vise will be plenty sturdy and hold its ground. A solid enough weight that it provides you a very firm base to work from, much like the launch crawler for a Saturn 5, moving to where you need it on your desk then slowly sinking into the tarmac when you leave.
Built to Last a Century
As with all things MetMo we machine everything out of solid metal; no casting or rough edges, no plastic, and no shortcuts. Just satisfyingly smooth fitting, engineering quality tools. Built to last multiple lifetimes and work beautifully, like the Swiss watches of the vise world.
Breaking It Down
Bolted together and serviceable, so you can easily maintain each part of your Fractal Vise. Living by the mantra of 'look after your tools and they will look after you'.
Remove parts and re-configure your vice so that it works best for you and your work - this is your tool.
Agile Rogue or Sturdy Blacksmith
The Black Fractal Vise is machined mainly from anodised aluminium with hardened steel jaws, and is perfect for lightweight tasks like model painting and fine detail work like watch repairs. The extra maneuverability allows you to quickly move the Vise to the perfect location.
The Stainless Steel Fractal Vise is made entirely of heavy duty steel and is built like an absolute tank to survive anything you can throw at it. They'll be digging these things up in a few hundred years, marvelling at the still functioning fractals as they clamp their bionic future fingers. Choose this option if extra stability is what you value, as it's perfect for tasks like metal work or light machining.
Small But Mighty
Designed with a high clamping force in mind, the thread is specifically designed to get as much torque as possible into the clamping faces, driving over 3000Nm of torque at maximum (around 300kg).
That’s the same as a one year old baby elephant standing on it, so you can grip what you're working on with confidence, or crush something like Vader. Just remember - the tighter your grip the more star systems will slip through your fingers.
Testing
With great power comes great responsibility. With some background in testing things to destruction, we set to work to figure out the weak points of the Fractal Vise.
There is more to vise design than just pure power, so we took that into account whilst still wanting to test things to the limit. We used a combination of simulation and good old fashioned test rigs.
On this rig we tested the vise to have a maximum clamping force of 300kg (the equivalent to a jaguars bite!), and everything was still fully operational afterwards.
What's the Deal, Why This Price?
Here at MetMo we aren't your usual 'buy it cheap, sell it high' kind of company. We think 'what would make this truly great?' then uncompromisingly work towards that goal. This pursuit means we take a totally different route to make products.
"But what does that mean?" I hear you ask! Well that means that we machine every part on state of the art CNC machines, normally used for slow precision engineering not designed for mass manufacture, and it means that we use the best materials and surface finishes we can find and not the cheapest and fastest to make. This all costs more to do, but gives you a great end product.
We do all this to make sure we are making products the way our forefathers used to, totally over engineered to last generations, because they wouldn't be happy with something that broke after a few years and neither are we!
This is a brilliant tool for my hobby. I collect and restore vintage calculators, and with this Fractal Vise I can clamp even complex components with ease.
The Fractal Vise makes it easy to clamp every part.In the past, I had trouble clamping this type of part. But with the Fractal Vise, it’s no longer a problem.
This add-on makes working with the Fractal Vise even easier
Yeah, I bought this because it looked great, it was ridiculously engineered and generally just had to have one!The reality is that this vice is truly amazing, small details always catch me out, probably because my hands aren't steady enough. I'd already repainted the eye of the model in the pics 4 times but it's making progress now that I've got a solid base to work from (still a bit of work to go but considering I just dislocated my shoulder I'll cut myself some slack).Everything is so solid, right down to the work station. It's great to know I can work with no movement of a miniature and so far the rest of the paint on the model hasn't scraped a bit, the precision of the vice is amazing.This really is a must for anyone that works on small and precision work!
Very well made and works great for holding unusual objects securely.
Alright stop, collaborate and listenMy Vise is black, a brand new invention Always grabs hold of things tightly Captain Scarlet, Koenig or Joe 90
I have searched for a small vise for my hobby desk for years. I had no idea what I would get when I followed MetMo on Kickstarter. This vise is beyond anything I could have imagined to fit my needs.I started with the ball mount and workstation base, but switched to the desk clamp; it has made this unit more versatile, flexible and capable to address the many needs of this hobbyist. I could not be more pleased and I recommend this vise and it's accessories, with everything I have. Buy it, you will never be disappointed. MH
Always on my desk, just in case.
Got a pair of these guys a few weeks back.... great machining, decent tolerances.
I build lots of scale models of cars which have uniquely shaped parts. The holders used in the model community are not dynamic which creates an unsteady environment for holding them. When MetMo kickstarted the fractal vise I knew I needed it. The driver is amazing quality and I knew the vise would be as good. The jaws form around the the barrel shape of the transmission for my '68 Dodge Dart perfectly, giving me a steady hold to paint and attach other pieces. This item is a game changer for these types of pieces. And the soft nylon jaws add-on are just as good with zero risk to the delicate plastic. Thanks again, MetMo.
I got this vise and the desktop workstation with the ball mount.Pros: This thing can grip a wide variety of shapes. It is compact, and doesn't take up a ridiculous amount of room. The jaws can open up fairly wide for how small it is. The workstation is useful for holding little screws. I have already used it to hold my mouse and not lose the tiny screws while disassembling it for repair. The workstation has weight to it and a grippy underside so it won't slide around on your desk. It is a nice finish, and the cutting mat has convenient angles with a removable ruler.Cons: The ball mount can be moved in the locked position with minimal force. You have to be careful not to apply too much force if you are working on something. Overall, I am very happy with this vise. It is obviously not a replacement for a big vise that a carpenter would use, but it is a great little desktop unit for work on smaller things.
Bought as a gift, so havnt tried using it. It is, however, very well made and packaged. The overall quality looks very high and i am looking forward to presenting it to its future owner.
Fantastic tool I ever have had !
Very High quality product and it's small size really adds to the novelty, while still being perfectly capable of holding larger objects (especially if you but the larger version). Very smooth movement and alot of great accessories to customise it to your liking. Personally use it for building and painting minatures and it's perfect. Also just a great curiosity for your desk to fiddle with and look at.
I’m absolutely thrilled with this brilliant tool.It makes my work on historical calculating machines so much easier, and it’s a joy to use.
Very solid grip. I also like the range of accessories. The only minor quibble is that the silicone foot has to be removed to use the quick release and it's not easy to just pop the foot back on when I need it.
An amazing bespoke tool. Has enough heft to stay in place, has a powerful grip (I clamped the end of a pen and was waving it around). Feels great to hold in your hand.
Got my Fractal Vise setup in the mail and within 24 hours, had it unboxed and assembled. Overall - wow. Fit, finish, quality is all top notch. It's one of those things that's a pleasure to put together, and then again every time you take it out to use.
The engineering and mechanism of this vise is just flawlessly smooth. I’m very impressed. I’m a big fan of Metmo, top quality tools.
Everything works so smooth. The build quality is so premium. And it just looks so cool. I love it
This is the newest addition for my electronics toolbox. Perfect for clamping oddly shaped devices and boards for soldering and so much smaller than the desk mounted vise I used before.Also all the parts move so smoothly that I sometimes use it as fidgeting toy as well.
A lovely piece of jewelry that also does practical things like clamp small objects safely. I like tools that look nice!
This little fractal vise is marvelous and wonderful. Extremely well made, and a thing of beauty. Plus it is really, really, useful for odd-shaped items. Well worth the Kickstarter wait.
Kickstarter backers here, and it was neat to watch this take shape. The unit itself is brilliantly engineered and very functional. As a neat aside it looks pretty cool too sitting on a workbench or desk. I’ve used it for only a few small projects so far but it’s great. Well done!
Good quality but wildly overpriced and some of the other product add-ons were misleadingly advertised. So small it should be half the price of what it is.
Thank you for taking the time to leave us a review. We really appreciate your honest feedback. We’re really pleased you like the quality, that’s exactly what we aim for when making our products. We are not your 'buy it cheap, sell it high' company. Instead, we focus on well-engineered products built to last. The Fractal Vice is CNC machined from high-grade materials with a high standard of precision and finish, which is reflected in its cost.We aim to keep our messaging clear across all our products, and I’ll pass your feedback on to the team for review.Cheers MetMo Team