Does such-a-thing exist? I am looking for a light-duty bench vise that has a horizontal clamp for a mounting system, but all I have seen are vertical mounts that are under the bench. I need one that comes in from the side.

Leg vise?

Unsure what type of vise you're referring to. For bike work (as this is a bike forum) common bench top vises work very well. Like this:


Then there's this type with a rotating vise jaw:
This "parrot" vise also mount to a bench top but offers two jaw orientations:

Andy

Thanks, Andy. Those are bolt-on mounted vises. There are less-substantial ones that are secured to the bench by a clamp. I'm sure you've seen them. Paul

The 2.25"-wide border on the top of this oak desk is what I need to attach a clamp-on vise to. This typical vertical clamp unit will not work, for obvious reasons:

Border is 2.25" wide

Clamp needs to come in from the side, opposite the clamp tension handle.

that style you're after will be for very lite-duty loads.

Get two identical benchtop vises, of capacity at least 2.5 inches, and bolt the baseplates together.

That's what I use, but I live in a London flat and my work bench is an old kitchen table.

Stanley hobby vice: https://www.tooled-up.com/stanley-mu...e/prod/162143/

I have a Parrot vise mounted on a 1'x6" board about 2' long. I clamp this board to a table top with a couple common wood clamps (could be C clamps too). This provides a much more sturdy anti twisting resistance compared to a single point clamp on the imaged Stanley vise. For simple bit holding services when little stress/force is being applied (I think of tying fishing flies as example) the Stanley vise should be fine. But for any forceful efforts (freewheel removal comes to mind) these single clamp mounted vises will not play nice, step up and do the job a solidly mounted vise can.


I would not choose this type of vise for heavy work too but the idea of mounting a vise to a mobile board that can be better secured to household tables is a neat one. Andy

I don't have a dedicated work bench. I have a standard vice that is simply bolted to a piece of plywood. If I needed to, I could clamp the plywood onto whatever with some C-clamps. Generally the plywood provides enough support with no additional clamping needed.

I forget the name, but there is a special nut designed for bolting into wood that provides a flat bottom in my setup.

That's what I'm talking about. What is it?

Probably available under several names, but Stanley Multi Angle Hobby Vice is one of them. https://www.stanleytools.co.uk/produ...lti-angle-vice

Does the vise stay-put when you are twisting, pressing or pulling the item in the jaws with force?

I need the securing clamp to come in from the side, to mount horizontally. Like you, I am limited as to what I can use as a platform, but I do have this big, old oak desk that weighs maybe 300 lbs.

A big advantage of the Stanley clamp is you can rotate the ball joint so it goes horizontal.
It's shown that way on the Stanley web site:

"Does the vise stay-put when you are twisting, pressing or pulling the item in the jaws with force?"

That very much depends on the direction of the force, the 'desk clamp' will twist off the desk if you put a big rotational force on it.
Otherwise it seems fairly robust.
For removing freewheels I use a brick wall and a cheater bar.

What you are calling the "clamp", I call the "jaws". It is the mechanism that mounts the vise to the table or desk that I need to be horizontal.

Nope I did mean the clamp
I'm just pointing out you can change the angle a lot so you can probably use the clamp horizontally and have the jaws in a useable position.
You can probably work out from the Stanley pictures if it will adjust sufficiently for your situation.