Workbench 2: The saga continues – Vice mounting

A long time ago in a semi-rural location…

Ok, you et the idea. Anyway, I’ve spent the first two days of my ban holiday weekend wisely, making myself a 3m long workbench that’s actually tall enough for the tall person that I am, has space for a tumble dryer (grrrr! didn’t want that) and other stuff underneath and has a top that’s solid enough for a reloading press.

The hard bit (building the frame, _very_ carefully measuring the cut out for the soil pipe (twice) and cutting it out) is done and I am now into the “applying wood oil” stage. This also means that I am planning where to put things, one of which is a 4″ bench vice.

The vice is causing my issues. It’s occurred to me that I don’t have a clue how to mount it properly and so I need the help that only STW can provide.

I know it needs a solid, stable base, and thought that mounting it directly over the middle support post would be a good idea, but the four attachment points (it’s also a swivel type by the way) will foul on the 18x44mm batten that joins the posts and which the worktop sits on. Drilling through these battens with the vice mounted in an “X” orientation is a possibility (I have 10mm bolts), but I’d rather not if it’s going to weaken things too much. Mounting the vice in a “+” orientation would mean it sitting further back from the edge, and would still mean battens getting drilled, but would mean that one of the holes could not be drilled.

I appreciate that this is an appalling thing to as for help on given the lack of photos, video or technical diagrams, but hopefully someone might understand. Also, how far back from the edge of the worktop should the vice sit? Immobile jaw level with the edge? Further out? Further in?

Nothing useful to add, apart from how and where you mount a vice is largely dependent on what you expect to do with it.
Start from there and work back.
For instance mine is used mostly for sawing and filing things in, so I’ve got it mounted on a separate pedestal rather than a bench. That I’ve got all round access to it. However it’s a crap set-up if you want to use the vice as an anchor point for bending stuff.

Its not going to weaken things to much.

Also

You will regret setting it back as it seriously limits the usefulness.

What are you planning to use your vice for?

Mine has been fine bolted with just three coach bolts, but I don’t use it for hammering things.

IanMunro has a good point, worth thinking what you want to use the vice for and where you will be standing as you might find yourself in that position longer than you expect once you have a vice 😉

Cheers all. From the sounds of things, having the static rear jaws close to or over the edge of the worktop is the way forward, so finding a way of getting all four bolts to drop on the surface is the best way. Having it over the vertical post is still my preferred option (it’s about 1.5m from the end wall and will give me vertical load bearing) so I think a sheet of ply immediately under the vice and some large metal washers under the batten might make it solid enough.

Of course, this is all subject to change…

I also have a large sheet of ply to go up on the wall. Is it a bad thing to paint it white and trace round tools hung up on pegs?

Ski, sorry, missed your last. It will be used for some light metal work, probably some grinding and some woodwork. Not bike stuff, it’s a little industrial for that.

It depends a lot on the dimensions of the vice. Mine swivels, I fitted it so the face of the inner jaw sits slightly forward of the edge of the bench so I can clamp something vertically. Mounting at the corner makes it more versatile too.

Cheers McM. Sadly, a corner mount is not going to work. Part of the deal was that the tumble dryer (*spit*) got a space under the bench and that’s going at the end. The other end is against a wall.

I’ll get some pictures up tomorrow.

A bit offset from the centre post will be fine, if you need to clear things – definitely mount it so the rear jaw is forwards of the edge of the bench, otherwise you won’t be able to fit anything long vertically. My preference is for X pattern with rotating vices.