Machinist's Vise Adapted

[Tom Bender]

For wood I have an excellent vise but for metal it has been a struggle. My shop is small and a fixed metalworking vise is not an option. I have a couple of drill press vises and often clamp one in place as needed but still...

Last year I picked up this 4" machinist's vise and adapted it to clamp to the end of my split top bench. It works great! Takes 1 minute to mount on the bench.

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Not just for metal, it is good for shaping ebony pegs and other small, close work. It gives better access around a piece and it is higher so less stooping. Jaw pads are needed. Here is a detail of the mounting.

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And to make it more useful for wood I made a set of wooden jaws. I think I'll trim these a little shorter and add leather faces. They take 3 or 4 minutes to install.

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Now the DP vises are used only on the DP.

[Todd Trebuna]

Necessity is the mother of invention. I’m going to steal this idea, because I’ve run into the same problem. I can’t justify mounting a metal vise, because my wife would have crippling anxiety that a forge and anvil will follow.

[Jim Becker]

That's a good method to use that vice with your bench. Very nice! I have mine on a piece of 3/4" plywood with a strip of material on the bottom that I can grip with my front vice for similar use. If I need to put it somewhere else, there's more than enough ability to use a couple of C-clamps to hold it to a surface, too. I agree that having this kind of vice around when doing certain tasks is very handy!

[Mike Wilkins]

Mounted my metal working vise on a thick chunk of wood with a vertical piece dadoed to the bottom that is held in the bench vise.
First time seeing round legs on a workbench. Neat shop furniture.

[Keith Outten]

Find a way to mount a 2 inch receiver in your shop, even on your wooden bench if that is all you have.
You will find a thousand uses for this option. I have dozens of tools ready to mount in my receiver in just a few seconds, a Sanding motor with sleeves or flap wheels, throatless shear, a 1 by 30" sanding machine, arbor press, tire changer, and many more. Sometimes its a quick table setup with a vac pod for easy edge routing.

[Bruce Wrenn]

My shop has two support columns in it. On one of them, I welded two pieces if 3 X 3 angle (I had it.) On one side machinist vice is mounted, and bench grinder on the other side. Electrical and DC comes down the column, along with compressed air.

[Tom Bender]

Bruce
Be careful about welding to building steel, and the stresses your vise and grinder are adding to it are in harmful modes.