OK, Don't really have a bench in the shop, I generally use the table saw with a sheet of hardboard on it, when I need a large flat surface. I don't really want to mount the vise to the toolbox, so I'm planning a stand that I could move around as needed. I have 2 ideas:
A) A $5/10 junkyard special rim/tire filled with concrete (it'd be about 30" in dia and 9" tall)
B) try to find a Steel Budd wheel or Brake drum from a big truck and do the same. (this would be 17" to 24" in dia. and about 7-8" tall)
Thoughts???
Question 1, how portable/moveable do you want or need the stand to be ?
Question 2, does your shop have a concrete floor ?
If it was me, would stay mostly in one spot, and floor was concrete, I'd go with the rim, drill and place anchors in the concrete, and bolt it to the floor. This would make it easy to unbolt and move if necessary along with being lighter. It would also be more stable if clamping a heavy item or having to crank down hard on the vise.
I'm space limited... 12x24, I don't like mixing the metalwork and woodwork inside for obvious reasons.
The driveway is a mess being old asphalt and gravel. I can't convince myself to mount it outside.
Me too. My current shop is inside a 20' shipping container (long story), but I don't have woodworking machines. Don't blame you for not wanting it outside either.
So it sounds like you want it moveable. Either method you described should be doable, but you might consider a couple dolly wheels (did someone say Horrible Freight, LOL) to make it easier to move around.
I'd considered welding on some brackets to add fixed casters if I go the Budd wheel or brake drum option.... not gonna work too well on a tire, although I could try to put some studs thru the tire, before filling with concrete and bolt them on... Guess I need to call the Truck repair place and see if they have anything.
Likely not what you are thinking for a vise stand.
However, I have a chunk of the tree trunk from my tree house when I was 10years old. The trunk is perched on three hockey pucks so it doesn't wobble. I've got a 5" Wilton bolted to the top and the "anvil" my grandfather made from a hunk of railroad track.
Daryl
MN
Out at my uncle's farm we had a vise mounted on a 4" pipe which was sticking up out of a 30-gallon drum full of concrete. If you were doing heavy work the drum would still move, much to our dismay. The damn thing would move when you did not want it to but was a bear to move when you wanted it in a different spot. If you wanted to move it any real distance you had to use the skid loader, something that not everyone has. Long story short, I despised that vise and was glad to see it go when my uncle had his auction.
I don't have a lot of room in my garage either. I do have a small 5" vise mounted to the bench but there are times when I need something far heavier. I struck on the idea of having something that could easily be removed and put against the wall or stuck in the corner. I came up with the idea of a 3 1/2" square steel sleeve set vertically into the concrete floor. At the top is a flange that also has four threaded holes in it. This flange sits about 1/8" below the floor surface so that a blanking plate can sit in the recess, flush with the floor when it is not in use. There is also a rim around the edge of the flange that is meant to sit flush with the floor. This rim keeps the concrete from chipping on the edges. The bottom of the sleeve needs to be capped, as do the bottoms of the coupling nuts that provide the threads simply so that the concrete does not fill them from the bottom when it gets poured.
Any item that fits into the sleeve would use a 3" square steel tube as the post. About a foot from the bottom would be a flange that would also fit into the recess of the floor sleeve, and it also would have four holes so that the item could be bolted solidly to the floor and the magic is that the bolts would only need to be snugged up, they would not need to be torqued down. In many cases finger tight would probably suffice.
I was planning for two mounting sleeves in the floor to begin with, put in places where I know they would come in handy. More sleeves could be added later if need be. It would work great for things like vises, metal benders, welding tables, ring turners, forming rolls, and even a motorcycle tire changing machine.
This type of mounting has several main advantages:
1. The mounting is absolutely solid.
2. Tools can be switched out rather quickly
3. Space can be opened up quickly for storage of vehicles or other items.
4. A person can easily work around all sides of the tool.
5. Two vises lined up could be used to hold long stock for various jobs.
Granted, the tools are not quite as portable with this system as something mounted to a heavy base, but I think that is outweighed by the fact that the mounting is far more substantial and will simply not allow movement.
The disadvantages are:
1. Must cut holes in floor and dig out some of the soil or sand base.
2. Tool locations are limited to where the sleeves have been placed.
3. Have to mix up concrete to pour in holes.
4. Sleeve placement must be precise before pouring concrete so that floor ends up flat with flange rim being flush with floor.
5. Not conducive to floors that get wet from lots of water, though sleeves could be sucked out with a wet/dry shop vac.
Last winter I worked up an initial drawing of the sleeve, which would be a welded assembly. I did not yet do the isometric view, but I have included a screenshot of it to help clarify things. Hoping to get to that project by midsummer, getting the sleeves made and get them installed in the floor by September. Nothing is perfect, but I believe that this will be pretty close.
I've sometimes wished I had a vise on my truck. While not winter friendly. Perhaps thick walled box tube plugged into the receiver would work.
Daryl
MN
I thought About the Hitch thing, but I don't want to be welding/grinding near the vehicle....
I guess I shall concentrate on getting the other *crap* organized, IE the file cabinets all painted and mounted on Casters... then re-evaluate the indoor/outdoor situation. (or keep an eye out for a decent second vise to mount outside permanently)