Obliged to post; Mounting of bench vises.

[Toolmaker51]

Re-worded those terms, nary a direct hit.
I'd guess plenty of our population in throes of setting up shops. New subscribers every day.
In googling same topic, not counting woodworkers who mount under table rigs,
seemed just plumbers & gunsmiths recognize this as basic. Images page showed dozens wrongly placed.
Applies to swivel and rigid base vises, and don't forget those cool rotating imports.
Yes, a congratulatory 'cool and import' in same sentence.

Same ol' click and pop format I prefer.
Enjoy.

Again, open invitation here or Questions section of forum, what-cha need?

[Wmrra13]

Thanks for this. I see vises mounted incorrectly all the time and it drives me crazy! Even in the shop where I work we have a beautiful old Reed with 6" jaws that someone mounted incorrectly many years ago. Apparently it never bothered anyone too much. I work in the office so what do I know...

[Workshopshed]

Mine's mounted a bit further back than your suggestion and there are times that it could do with being further forward but I was limited by a strengthening bar of the bench.

As per your suggestion I used chunky metal bars.

[piper184]

My vice is mounted with the stationary jaw a little forward of the bench edge. Pretty sturdy wood bench with bolts all the way through the top. I have not had a reason to make a base plate as it has stood up for nearly 20 years without any loosening. However, I did have to bolt the bench to the wall as sometimes I get a little "rough" with things. Finding open space on the bench is a larger problem than a loose vice.

I also have an el-cheap-o 4" vice that usually gets c-clamped to my outdoor welding table. Easy to get it out of the weather that way. I could bolt it to the top, but the table is not very heavy duty so it is not used for "rough" work.

[Moby Duck]

I mounted one correctly as above but then fitted several drawers underneath the bench, immediately below the vice. What a disaster that was. If top drawer is out it fouls the vice handle and if one drawer is even slightly open, most of the filings etc seem to end up in the drawer. I used heavy 'coach screws' to bolt it to the bench and it hasn't been a problem. If it ever did loosen it could be easily tightened from the top side without having to get to the nuts under the bench.

[Gary A. Wills]

First I want support , then I check the swivel of the vise and if it's mount with 3 or 4 bolts. I mount them with the anvil over the post to the floor. I mount with the biggest washers or flat stock drilled to match where possible.
I have one of those old round swivel turnable vices on one of my benches. It's been used heavily and keeps taking all I give it. Now on another bench my vice is mounted with the upper jaw flush with the bench. My welding table has a couple mounted so they can be swiveled back wards to match for heavy items to weld up.
So you see really I guess it's up to the type of work it's going to do.

[Paul Alciatore]

Good tips on vise mounting. I would add a couple more. First, most bench vises can swivel. I always make sure that the fixed jaw is just a bit over both the front and the side of the bench. Yes, I always mount them on a corner: I am right handed and the right corner seems best to me.

Second, my present, 5" Wilton has a 360 degree swivel but the previous 4" one did not. It rotated around 200 degrees and it could easily be mounted so that the fixed jaw could not be brought parallel to both the front and side edges. When I mounted that one I always checked out the swivel range so it was optimized. This way long stock can be held off both of the bench edges.

BTW, that 360 degree swivel was a surprise to me when the Wilton arrived. It is a great feature and I highly recommend it. You can almost always position the work at the best angle.

[gunnerb47]

I had to keep one mobile on my rolling tool box. First I cut a 1/4" plates to fit the exact shape of top of side box I was mounting to then through bolted them and the vise together. Vise is mounted in one outside corner of the box. The other three corners are bolted together. 30 + years of complete abuse and still going strong. Now its the son job to use and abuse.
With that said I did the one on the wood bench completely wrong and broke the bench top on first abusive use to straighten out a piece of lawn equipment. Now it mostly sits there just looking pretty.

[Altair]

Thanks Workshopshed! We've added your Bench Vise Mount to our Workholding category,
as well as to your builder page: Workshopshed's Homemade Tools. Your receipt:

Bench Vise Mount by Workshopshed

tags: vise, mount

[Workshopshed]

Looks like I'm going to have to remake these as I left them at the old workshop