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Thread: Machinist's Vise Adapted

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Apr 2017
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    Michigan
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    Machinist's Vise Adapted

    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.

    Machinist's vise 2.jpg

    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.

    Machinist's vise 1.jpg

    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.

    Machinist's vise 3.jpg

    Now the DP vises are used only on the DP.
    Last edited by Tom Bender; 11-20-2020 at 7:58 AM.

  2. #2
    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.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
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    SE PA - Central Bucks County
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    65,688
    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!
    --

    The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jul 2003
    Location
    Winterville, NC (eastern NC)
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    2,360
    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.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Location
    Hayes, Virginia
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    14,760
    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.
    Attached Images Attached Images
    Last edited by Keith Outten; 11-22-2020 at 11:49 AM.

  6. #6
    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.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Apr 2017
    Location
    Michigan
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    2,758
    Bruce
    Be careful about welding to building steel, and the stresses your vise and grinder are adding to it are in harmful modes.

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