Bench Vise.

Vigilant

Vigilant

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Hello,

Not sure if this is the best spot for this but I'll ask anyways feel free to move if not.

I got a vise as a birthday present and I'm in the process of building a bench for gunsmithing and other things.

I was wondering what is the best thickness of top for this style of vise?

http ://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/maximum-multi-purpose-vise-5-in-0579022p.html#

There is nothing in the box to say what is the minimum or maximum thickness and it doesn't even come with bolts,nuts and lock washers....

Thanks for the input!
 
I've used one on a 3/4" ply top with a square piece of 3/4" ply on the underside as a backer with no issues. Only reason I ended up doubling up on the counter top was because my reloading press was starting to wear down one side from too much repetitive downward force.

It depends on your usage. If you're putting a lot of downward force on it, I'd use two sheets of 3/4" ply.
 
I built my bench out off two by fours with a couple off two by sixes for the top. The main thing is a good vice is heavy and you are going to be hammering things in it so it needs to be mounted sturdy so I would go minimum of 1 1/2 inch if mounting on wood.
 
I once made a free standing bench with 1/4 inch hardboard over 3/4 inch plywood over 2 x 6's. It held a vise quite well.
 
my bench top is 2 x 12 fir and I would hesitate to go thinner. The front of the base of the vice is bolted flush with the front edge of the bench. What I would and should change is to add a piece of 3/8" plate for the vice to sit on and have than piece of plate extend about 1" beyond the bench top. The reason is that when holding a long object vertical in the vice, it is jammed against the bench top even when the vice is rotated 45 degrees. Extending the vice 1" forward would eliminate that problem and as long as the 3/8 plate is securely bolted to the bench top, the vice would be rigid enough

cheers mooncoon
 
My bench top is 3/4"ply over 2x6's. Works well for me. The most important thing is the height of the bench. I made mine 42" and the top of the vise is 52" high. There is nothing harder on your back than a bench that's too low.
 
No one every had regrets about making a bench TOO HEAVY. Don't skimp if you plan on doing heavy work on it at any time.

On mounting the vise be sure it's located as directly over a good sturdy leg as you can instead of out on the top. And even if the other legs are only one piece of 2x4 make the leg under the vise out of at LEAST two. Three would be better. And even better would be three laminations of 2x6. If you can't fit nuts and washers on the lower side because of the leg being in the way than use lag screws. The key thing is that you want the vise well supported by the sturdy oversize leg so that any hammer work is connected directly through the leg to the floor. Mounting the vise out on the top away from the leg means you may as well mount it to a trampoline.
 
BCRider said:
No one every had regrets about making a bench TOO HEAVY. Don't skimp if you plan on doing heavy work on it at any time.

On mounting the vise be sure it's located as directly over a good sturdy leg as you can instead of out on the top. And even if the other legs are only one piece of 2x4 make the leg under the vise out of at LEAST two. Three would be better. And even better would be three laminations of 2x6. If you can't fit nuts and washers on the lower side because of the leg being in the way than use lag screws. The key thing is that you want the vise well supported by the sturdy oversize leg so that any hammer work is connected directly through the leg to the floor. Mounting the vise out on the top away from the leg means you may as well mount it to a trampoline.
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Nothing wrong with gluing and screwing together some pretty rough lumber to make up some mass, and then surfacing it with something nicer too.

Another suggestion, is to plan around some bracketry to anchor the bench in place if you are not making it into the 'immovable object'. How you go about it is going to depend a LOT on your situation.

I framed my benches up with 2x4s, used 4x4s for the legs, and 3/4 MDF for the tops and lower shelves. Plywood for some others. Lucked into some paper faced form plywood that worked very well.

I left enough room under mine to fit a pallet dolly, so I can move these latest ones. The last two sets of garage workbenches were requested by the purchasers of our houses, so they stayed behind and I built new, on pretty much the same plan, other than raising the lower deck so they could be moved easily if required.

If you want a really stiff and flat bench top, look at how doors are made. Putting a layer of ply down, ripping a 2x4 into strips to form a lattice or honeycomb spacer with, then adding a thinner ply layer to the underside, will make a far stiffer, but movable bench top, should you wish.

Again, going to depend on your capabilities, and your need.

Worth digging around places like the garagejournal site and other web locations, to see what has been done and how.

Putting the vise on a corner gives the ability to approach he work from two sides without having to adjust the vise or the work position in it.

If you dig around, there are ergonomics studies that tell you pretty much where the height should work out based on various landmarks of your own body. FWIW, I like having at least one vise up a fair bit higher, for when I am doing detail filing and such. An adjustable height stool is pretty nice too!


Cheers
Trev
 
Thank you for all that great info!

You guys have giving me a lot to go over can't ask for better then that.

I'm restrained by space a bit as this bench is going in a bedroom for now and Ill be moving it in the future.
 
If it's going into a spare bedroom then it sounds like you're after more of just a work table than a real bench. And that the vise will be more of a well needed third hand than it is an anvil. If so you can then get away with a much lighter construction than what I'd consider proper for a "real" work bench.

But then MY thinking is shaped by the fact that my big machinist's hammer and my vise are regular team mates for beating on and bending things.

It's still well worth doing a nice job on this work table. Even if you get or build a more solid "proper" workbench later on and move the vise to it this work table can sit alongside and be a great secondary work area. Two things needed in any workshop are storage and work surfaces. And it's a constant battle finding that balance... :)

Going back to the idea of this as a work table more than a big solid bench you may want to consider making it a sort of "desk" arrangement. If you were to find a couple of kitchen style drawer units and top that with a really cheap premade section of kitchen counter it might be a decent looking work area with storage from the drawer units. If you want it to be a little more durable and stable add a piece of plywood across the rear of the cabinets to lock them from tilting side to side from the force of efforts at the vise. And if you'll be doing some medium heavy work a layer of 3/4 ply under the laminate top would steady things up neatly. And such a setup could be all screwed together so when required it can be easily broken down for moving.

In fact another option is to just find a good sturdy office desk somewhere and modify it with longer legs.
 
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WobblyHead said:
Well a little vise in the bedroom never hurt anybody.
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I dunno about that. SWMBO gets pretty uppity about metal or wood tracked through the house. I might not survive the fallout from metal chips in the bedding!

But a little vice is nice, with the heat turned up and the curtains pulled!
 
Yeppers to the used office desk. Done that.

Also had two or three different Watchmakers or Jewelers benches. Lots of drawers, and they were early adopters of sitting in a regular height chair in front of a high topped desk. Leg room underneath. A higher stool or standing chair for when you are not dealing up close with small parts is cool too.

In reference to the original post, they expect you to choose what suits you best, and buy suitable hardware for the job. Since there is no 'one' way to mount a vise, they don't tell yo to do it their way. So, no hardware or instructions.

Some folks think a work bench is a dainty thing, barely able to support their elbows while they do needlepoint, others figure it isn't a workbench until it can handle having a bulldozer engine being dropped upon it. They are both correct, for their own needs, eh?

Cheers
Trev
 
...Some folks think a work bench is a dainty thing, barely able to support their elbows while they do needlepoint, others figure it isn't a workbench until it can handle having a bulldozer engine being dropped upon it. They are both correct, for their own needs, eh?
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Eggzactly.... :)
 
I struggled with this one. I have limited bench space so I ended up doing portable bench vise. My vise is mounted on a 3/4 particle board and is used anytime I need it and put away when not in use. This gives me needed space most of the time. Here's the vid where I got the idea from.

 
SteelCap said:
I struggled with this one. I have limited bench space so I ended up doing portable bench vise. My vise is mounted on a 3/4 particle board and is used anytime I need it and put away when not in use. This gives me needed space most of the time. Here's the vid where I got the idea from.

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I might actually do this right now I have a board lying here. Thanks for sharing!
 
A "system" table like that can be a great idea if you're not doing any really heavy pounding or bending. For holding stuff for medium hammering, serious filing and light bending a plate like that clamped in place can work like a treat.

In my gun and reloading area I went with a line of holes spaced 5.5" back and 6" between. Set in from below are 5/16" top hat nuts. My reloading presses and my "light job" gun tinkering vise are on plywood sub plates that have holes that mate up with that line of holes with T nuts. It's a really handy system because I can easily move stuff around but the 3/4" ply plates with the presses and vise on them clamp to the top pretty well.

Now this isn't the sort of setup I'd stick some 1/4 x 1 flat bar into and start wailing away on with a 24oz ball peen hammer. But for holding barrels or slides with some heavy leather padding it works like a treat for knocking out even the most stubborn sights and pins. And because it's using bolts into holes back from the edge I don't have those darn clamps in the way all the time.

I wish I had a picture for you but I was one of the Photobucket folks and I haven't reposted anything to some other hosting site yet. I just removed everything and cancelled my account there.
 
I have two record vices on my workbench which has a 1 1/2" glued fir top... they are both just held in place by large C clamps mounted at opposite ends in the corner. Only two of the three mounting hole's of the vices are clamped but the C clamps are large, the bench is solid and the vices are large and solid as well...... I have yet to find a task that needed a more secure set up but I'm sure it's possible.

Reading through this thread I was going to suggest just mounting it to some laminated sheets of plywood and then clamping it to what ever table you have but someone beat me to it...... :)
 
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