Freestanding or Bench Mounted: What is your vise bolted to?
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12-08-20, 01:57 PM
#27
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If I didn’t have one, I’d jump. I recognize the kindness of your gesture. But then I’ve never read the rules of the forum. If no one wants it here, you could donate it to a bike coop for a deduction.
12-08-20, 02:44 PM
#28
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funny you should mention this - I have been working without a vise and only managed to eke out a workbench of sorts a year or two back, so have been casually researching what's out there. As a vise virgin, I'm reading that I should wary of all these jankier big box items and thus think I should be looking for a basic, older MUSA vise. so I'm interested in knowing what doesn't appeal to you about it?
12-08-20, 03:50 PM
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Bought it off CL advertised as MUSA and got romanced by that. Drove one hour. Screw drive is slightly bent, so it turns with a minor amount of difficulty and the jaws don't close precisely. I didn't pay much for it so I am passing it along for freight essentially and it does work to hold stuff, swivel base, and MUSA! The good vises worth having are $300+ unless you get lucky with a Harbor Freight.
12-08-20, 04:18 PM
#31
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But I will take a step further.
I rebuilt my Starrett this summer. In my humble opinion, having a heavy-duty vise married to a heavy-duty bench is the cornerstone of a good workshop. You may not need it every day, but when you do need it, there is no substitute. Got a stuck seatpost? Clamp it up and give it a twist using the frame as leverage. Shortening a steerer tube? Also I think that having it bolted to a bench is the only way to go because if its free-standing, well, you've got to walk around it. It also would have to be bolted to the floor for usability and safety.
When I moved, the first thing I did was go to the local lumber outfit and buy enough wood to build a very solid table with the vise at the corner by the garage side door. (I can open it and hold very long items in the vise.)
That vise is my number one tool, by far. I do have to replace it. Sears no longer supports them and neither does the US maker. VIse is fine but the jaws are shot. (They've been beaten on with some serious tools.) (I could take them to a machine shop and have them make new ones but a whole new vise will barely cost more.)
Ben
12-08-20, 04:21 PM
#32
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@3alarmer, I recently performed that task on my 1971 Raleigh Super Course. Afterwards, I couldn't screw one of the BB cups in. I was lucky that my LBS had the tools and know-how to chase the threads for me. I guess next time I'll screw cups in before I clamp it in the vise that way.
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12-08-20, 04:34 PM
#33
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...when I had a working blacksmith shop, I had one of those post vises mounted to wooden post near the forge and anvil. the wooden post went through the floor, and down into the subsoil in the crawl space. That was kind of cool.
I don't know how old that post vise was, but some prior owner had repaired one of the jaws by forge welding a strap of steel around it.
12-08-20, 04:39 PM
#34
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funny you should mention this - I have been working without a vise and only managed to eke out a workbench of sorts a year or two back, so have been casually researching what's out there. As a vise virgin, I'm reading that I should wary of all these jankier big box items and thus think I should be looking for a basic, older MUSA vise. so I'm interested in knowing what doesn't appeal to you about it?
So I actually looked around online for best quality and price in s couple that would go the distance.
Amazon has the most competitive prices by far, and often combines free shipping with the deals.
Look at Yost, don't worry soe much about where it's made, but what the thing is made from. You want to buy something bigger than you think you need, and the body should be made from ductile iron, rather than cast steel. If you are only going to have one vise, go for something that rotates (at les a swivel base). I also went for the rotating jaw model as well. It's hugely advantageous to be able to change the position and the angle of the jaws. You won't realize this until you've used one for a while regularly.
The other holding implement I have that gets plenty of use from me is an old, battered B+D Workmate. You can do great things with a Workmate, you just can't clamp stuff in them hard enough to pound on it very much.
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12-08-20, 04:52 PM
#35
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thanks for the digest! I have a lead on an older (70s era, I'm told) Craftsman 4" (a rebranded Columbian, with a rotating base) that is in "perfectly fine working order" and being offered to me for $60.
I will probably start with that one and if I end up needing more vise in my life, well, at least I will have determined as much myself. From this thread, sounds like bench-mounted is the way to go rather than trying to find a way to make it mobile.
I will probably start with that one and if I end up needing more vise in my life, well, at least I will have determined as much myself. From this thread, sounds like bench-mounted is the way to go rather than trying to find a way to make it mobile.
....four or five years ago, I got tired of replacing the $49.95 special vises that people had been buying at Home Depot, Lowes, Walmart, etc.
So I actually looked around online for best quality and price in s couple that would go the distance.
Amazon has the most competitive prices by far, and often combines free shipping with the deals.
Look at Yost, don't worry soe much about where it's made, but what the thing is made from. You want to buy something bigger than you think you need, and the body should be made from ductile iron, rather than cast steel. If you are only going to have one vise, go for something that rotates (at les a swivel base). I also went for the rotating jaw model as well. It's hugely advantageous to be able to change the position and the angle of the jaws. You won't realize this until you've used one for a while regularly.
The other holding implement I have that gets plenty of use from me is an old, battered B+D Workmate. You can do great things with a Workmate, you just can't clamp stuff in them hard enough to pound on it very much.
So I actually looked around online for best quality and price in s couple that would go the distance.
Amazon has the most competitive prices by far, and often combines free shipping with the deals.
Look at Yost, don't worry soe much about where it's made, but what the thing is made from. You want to buy something bigger than you think you need, and the body should be made from ductile iron, rather than cast steel. If you are only going to have one vise, go for something that rotates (at les a swivel base). I also went for the rotating jaw model as well. It's hugely advantageous to be able to change the position and the angle of the jaws. You won't realize this until you've used one for a while regularly.
The other holding implement I have that gets plenty of use from me is an old, battered B+D Workmate. You can do great things with a Workmate, you just can't clamp stuff in them hard enough to pound on it very much.
12-08-20, 04:56 PM
#36
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I’m also on the corner of the bench team:
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12-08-20, 05:03 PM
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My only vise...
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12-08-20, 05:30 PM
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Your idea of a steel plate under the vise is exactly how I was going to go. It's essentially a massive washer, plus a little extra weight. Both of which are perfect for the application.
I don't work for a shipyard so my conundrum will be to find a place that will sell me a squared piece of steel, which shouldn't be too difficult.
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12-08-20, 05:54 PM
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The Wilton is bolted to the bench.
The Versa Vise is clamped on and moved around. It covers most directions.
The Versa Vise is clamped on and moved around. It covers most directions.
12-08-20, 06:06 PM
#41
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Wilton 846, I use wingnuts so I can easily move it out of the way
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12-08-20, 07:42 PM
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12-08-20, 07:49 PM
#43
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FWIW, and for anyone interested, over at the Garage Journal there is a huge thread just for vises.
https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/...ad.php?t=44782
Lots of vise porn!
https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/...ad.php?t=44782
Lots of vise porn!
12-08-20, 10:00 PM
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12-09-20, 04:59 AM
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12-09-20, 06:23 AM
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At home I have a medium sized Craftsman mounted on a heavy duty workbench . At my shop I have a larger Wilton mounted on a Maple topped Kennedy bench. Both serve me well. I also have many different sized machinist vises I can mount on my machines or comparator. At home I also have a floating vise for my drill press that can also be bolted down for heavier work. We all have vises and I have a few more than most!
12-09-20, 07:07 AM
#47
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Still trying to figure out where/how to mount this:
Reed 204, from about 1914 as far as I can decipher the date stamps. Spent a bunch of time with citrus paint stripper and a wire wheel to clean it up...
This thread is dangerous..... combining vices, as it were....
Reed 204, from about 1914 as far as I can decipher the date stamps. Spent a bunch of time with citrus paint stripper and a wire wheel to clean it up...
This thread is dangerous..... combining vices, as it were....
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12-09-20, 07:25 AM
#48
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Avoid Chinesium made, go second hand
As so many machine shops have gone under there are many fantatastic ancient vises that are bombproof and reasonably priced. Pay as much as a brand new Chinesium version for the old timer and big enough to hold a BB side to side in its jaws.
If bench mounted, mount it as close as you dare to the worktop edge as any clearance on the bench side of the jaws comes in handy.
If bench mounted, mount it as close as you dare to the worktop edge as any clearance on the bench side of the jaws comes in handy.
Last edited by Johno59; 12-09-20 at 07:28 AM.
12-09-20, 07:35 AM
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I cut a tree to the height I wanted the vice at.
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12-09-20, 11:54 AM
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$5 Wilton from an estate sale on the corner of the work bench. I'm thinking of swapping it out for the Wilton I just finished overhauling, free from a garage sale. Then put the red one on a stand.
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