I picked up a vise last weekend (hooray!) and purchased the hardware to bolt it to my workbench today. I now have two problems:
1.) The hardware was too big (I'm dumb). This is easy to fix. I thought I needed 1/2" but the bolts are barely too large for the ears on the base. I'll just run to Ace at some point and get the next size down.
2.) I want the vise to hang over the edge of the bench so I can stick tall things in it. However, my bench is framed in 2x4s so the bolt holes can't be close enough to the edge for the vise jaws to overhang. This is harder to fix. What's my move here, GRM? Can I cantilever the vice out with some plywood? Should I dig up the looooong 3/8" drill bit I have for Miata rollbars and just drill through the 2x4" and use slightly under-sized hardware for those two bolts? Is there a better third option?
Vise picture:
Mine is mounted on a sheet of 3/8 plate that I covered my bench with, and I stuck it out 6 inches as you are thinking which is very handy. And the plate doubles as an anvil.
Mine is bolted to a section of plate, welded to a section of pipe, welded to a wheel, so I can move it around.
It's not as rigid as mounting to a hefty bench, but I need it moveable more than I need to wail on something in fury.
Mine is held down by 2 bolts and 2 lag screws. It stays put.
Two lag bolts in tne front, two normal bolts, nuts, and fensee washers in the rear. Had mine mounted that way for many years with a similarly designed bench.
In reply to thatsnowinnebago :
Your picture shows lag screws, not bolts. Lag screws will tap into the 2x4 without the need to penetrate through the bottom.
Get the next smaller diameter lag screws and washers. It will work fine.
Yep, lag screws in the front, bolts in the back. It should be fine.
I've had mine on several benches over the years and I've always used 3/8 lag bolts for the front and 3/8 bolts, nuts, and washers for the year. Never any problem with sturdiness.
That said, I do have a very nice Wilton vice that I paid quite a measure of money for so I don't do abusive stuff to the thing. I have broken vices in the past by asking too much of them. If a task requires high amounts of force I figure out some other way to spare my Wilton the potential damage. I have a hydraulic press and various other tools to do tougher jobs.
In my NY shop I used Lag screws on the front and a bolt in the rear and that worked great. When I installed that same vice here in NM I used Timberlocks on the front. So far that's worked well but I haven't really abused it yet and it's only been installed for eight months or so. I'm not anticipating any issues but it has yet to stand the test of time.
Nut/bolt trailer receiver to bench, nut/bolt vice to plate, weld plate to 2x2 tube, enjoy removable vice. Also makes it so you can put the vice in the receiver of your truck if you need to hold down something huuuuge.
iansane said:
Nut/bolt trailer receiver to bench, nut/bolt vice to plate, weld plate to 2x2 tube, enjoy removable vice. Also makes it so you can put the vice in the receiver of your truck if you need to hold down something huuuuge.
That's a cool idea, but how bad is the slop in the trailer receiver/2x2 tube? That part seems like it could be really annoying.
Thanks to everyone telling me to use the hardware in the photo. I forgot about those screws 
That should work swimmingly.
In reply to obsolete :
Shove a shim or two in alongside.
I have a plate on tube that fits my receiver that I swap my vice and small tire changer on. Works great in the hitch, but I don't do precision work with a vise, mostly holding things too make other things unstuck.
In reply to obsolete :
It's not a perfect fit but I ran a couple beads down the length of the hitch and it fits snugly for most everything I've dealt with.
obsolete said:
iansane said:
Nut/bolt trailer receiver to bench, nut/bolt vice to plate, weld plate to 2x2 tube, enjoy removable vice. Also makes it so you can put the vice in the receiver of your truck if you need to hold down something huuuuge.
That's a cool idea, but how bad is the slop in the trailer receiver/2x2 tube? That part seems like it could be really annoying.
That's what I did as well. I also put a few beads of weld on the 2x2 tube to minimize slop. It's not really a big deal, and you can always shove a shim into it if you're doing really precise work. It's great. I have my vise, bench grinder, tubing notcher, etc. all set up to be modular. I have 3 hitch recievers embedded in my bench.
Thanks GRM. Here's a photo of the finished job, lagged right into that 2x4 framing the bench. Almost cut some metal just to use it, but it's 10:10p and I'm wearing flip flops.
