Ken Cohen
06-27-2009, 10:59 PM
Hi (again):
After using great advice from this forum on the best way to bolt a vise to MDF, I figured I was home free after mounting the vise this afternoon. Unfortunately, no such luck -- and I'm sorry to say I'm back for help.
The vise is a Jorgensen 10" with the back buried in the apron as shown below:
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_zGAEh1KA3WM/SkbPl8pVPjI/AAAAAAAAAwU/4rerOxxUyrg/s512/vise.jpg
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_zGAEh1KA3WM/Skbbozy1keI/AAAAAAAAAwc/dkJu7cXfqA8/s400/vise%20ext.jpg
I am generally following a Woodsmith bench plan from 2004 that incorporated this particular vise model.
My problem is that the outside vise face is toed away from the bench face rather than toward it (or at least parallel). I'd guess roughly a 1/16 is open at the top of the vise when the bottom is tight against the apron.
Prior to mounting, I was pretty sure that everything was square (though I didn't check the vise itself). Clearly, one step is to recheck that tomorrow.
My bigger concern is that the vise (per the plan) is held in place solely by the two bolts at the rear of the base -- leading to a potential high torque situation and downward slant. There are subtle symptoms of this possibility: the guide rods are bottoming against my cutouts on the apron (though lots of other things could explain this) and there is a very small gap (enough to take a .01 feeler gauge) on the apron side of the base vs. the MDF.
The vise comes with mounting holes on the rear face to attach to the side of the bench -- and emphatic instructions about the need to carefully shim the side/bottom of the vise to maintain tight contact with each surface (to maintain the integrity of the casting). The Woodsmith plan ignores this connection.
Couple of questions:
Is correcting a couple degrees of toe out (vs. toe in) worth it? Is this much ado about nothing?
Assuming that my woodworking is square, how can I best bring the vise up to the right orientation? Given the extreme rear location of the bolts, it's not clear how to shim it.
Should I just bite the bullet and figure out how to screw the now buried rear face into the MDF side? (One minute of work if I had done it before the apron glue-up). If so, I figured I'd drill through the apron, expose the screw holes, screw the rear to the MDF (back to the holding power question) and then plug the apron holes. Ugh.
Once again, thanks for your help and patience.
Ken
BTW, I just looked at the picture -- and should point out that the rear mounting holes are not on the visible part of the rear vise. They are buried in the MDF. The exposed part of the rear vise is not machined flat -- an additional challenge if tapping new holes is a possible solution.
After using great advice from this forum on the best way to bolt a vise to MDF, I figured I was home free after mounting the vise this afternoon. Unfortunately, no such luck -- and I'm sorry to say I'm back for help.
The vise is a Jorgensen 10" with the back buried in the apron as shown below:
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_zGAEh1KA3WM/SkbPl8pVPjI/AAAAAAAAAwU/4rerOxxUyrg/s512/vise.jpg
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_zGAEh1KA3WM/Skbbozy1keI/AAAAAAAAAwc/dkJu7cXfqA8/s400/vise%20ext.jpg
I am generally following a Woodsmith bench plan from 2004 that incorporated this particular vise model.
My problem is that the outside vise face is toed away from the bench face rather than toward it (or at least parallel). I'd guess roughly a 1/16 is open at the top of the vise when the bottom is tight against the apron.
Prior to mounting, I was pretty sure that everything was square (though I didn't check the vise itself). Clearly, one step is to recheck that tomorrow.
My bigger concern is that the vise (per the plan) is held in place solely by the two bolts at the rear of the base -- leading to a potential high torque situation and downward slant. There are subtle symptoms of this possibility: the guide rods are bottoming against my cutouts on the apron (though lots of other things could explain this) and there is a very small gap (enough to take a .01 feeler gauge) on the apron side of the base vs. the MDF.
The vise comes with mounting holes on the rear face to attach to the side of the bench -- and emphatic instructions about the need to carefully shim the side/bottom of the vise to maintain tight contact with each surface (to maintain the integrity of the casting). The Woodsmith plan ignores this connection.
Couple of questions:
Is correcting a couple degrees of toe out (vs. toe in) worth it? Is this much ado about nothing?
Assuming that my woodworking is square, how can I best bring the vise up to the right orientation? Given the extreme rear location of the bolts, it's not clear how to shim it.
Should I just bite the bullet and figure out how to screw the now buried rear face into the MDF side? (One minute of work if I had done it before the apron glue-up). If so, I figured I'd drill through the apron, expose the screw holes, screw the rear to the MDF (back to the holding power question) and then plug the apron holes. Ugh.
Once again, thanks for your help and patience.
Ken
BTW, I just looked at the picture -- and should point out that the rear mounting holes are not on the visible part of the rear vise. They are buried in the MDF. The exposed part of the rear vise is not machined flat -- an additional challenge if tapping new holes is a possible solution.