Vise On A Stand

[Robert LaLonde]

Now I have to admit I'm a little bit influenced by the beast that was made in the video by Make it Exteme, but it got me thinking about putting my two main vises on a stand or stands. I've got an old Columbian Vise (bench mounted press as we are fond of calling them LOL) mounted to a heavy steel work bench, and a Harbor Freight double swivel vise mounted to my heavy butcherblock work bench. I don't use them often, but when I do they are invaluable. There are two problems. When I am not using them they are in the way and take up valuable bench space. Not just the space where they sit, but the space behind them as well. Then there is the other problem. When the bench is in use (always) there isn't always room to take advantage of the vise easily. Particularly the double swivel HF vise.

I recently made a heavy stand (pedsetal mounted to truck wheel filled with concrete) for my bench grinders, and I was thinking, "how hard would it be to make something like that for a vise?" I know it would either have to be a lot heavier, or it would need to be bolted to the floor. I've got a 6" fiber reinforced slab in my shop (I had it built to park trucks and RVs) so I am sure the floor can take almost anything I can dish out. When I anchored the Hurco mill in place I broke through around 5-5.5inches so I know the contractor didn't skimp on me to badly when they poured the floor. The problem is bolting a stand like that in place is a huge commitment. Like getting married. The alternative is making a heavy stand like the grinder stand, except I know for a fact that the 200lb (apx) grinder stand is way to light for a vise. Even a thousand pounds probably isn't enough when you start levering on something in a vise. ... and if I make a stand that heavy it then becomes almost as much of a marriage as bolting it to the floor. To be fair, neither work bench weighs half a ton, but I can only barely lift one end of the steel one and only by lifting with my legs. I do have a front loader with a 700lb bucket rating that has successfully lifted (a few inches) upto a ton, but its weeps when you do that. Its not something I want to do if there is another option.

I've managed to get by with very few things bolted to the floor of the shop. The walls of the office of course, but the only other thing inside bolted down is the big mill (2+ tons). The smaller mills are all on leveling feet. The big lathe (1 ton) is resting on the floor with shims to level the bed. My manual tire changer did get bolted down, but outside.

So... I wonder if this is a flight of fancy or if there is a way to do this without permanently giving up floor space. I can relatively easily move the grinder stand by tipping it and rolling it, but I suspect that would not be an option with a much heavier stand.

 

[RJSakowski]

You have fairly well described the pluses and minuses. Personally, I would anchor to the floor. Holes are easily patched if you decide on a change. One disadvantage is you are locked in position and Murphy's law says the probability of having to move the vise for a particular job is near 100%.
On the other hand, having a several hundred lb. anchor wouldn't be very easily moved either.

One possibility would be to mount the vise to a large piece of plate or a wood deck so you could stand on it while applying your force for what ever. The deck could even be equipped with locking or drop down casters to facilitating moving. It all depends upon how big a lever you want to use. As Archimedes said, “Give me a place to stand and with a lever I will move the whole world.”

I have several blacksmith's leg vises that are mounted to the front of a bench and have a leg going down to and anchor socket in the floor. They are intended to be used for heavy duty bending and twisting and serve that purpose well.

 

[Asm109]

Buy a length of 2 inch trailer hitch receiver tube and bolt it to the front or side of the work bench.
Weld a length of 2 inch tubing to a plate with threaded holes to bolt the vise to.
Drop the vise into the tube when you want to use it. Pull it and set aside when you don't.

 

[Robert LaLonde]

I have several blacksmith's leg vises that are mounted to the front of a bench and have a leg going down to and anchor socket in the floor. They are intended to be used for heavy duty bending and twisting and serve that purpose well.

Yep, having a post to mount a post vise to is one reason I have not picked these up when I have seen them. That and around here people think they are worth their weight in platinum.

 

[brino]

I used to bolt things to the floor. I created my own standard pattern of four holes on a 10" square pattern(I think?). I had a bunch of stands made out of 2" steel tube welded or brazed to old truck brake discs. One end had the matching hole pattern for bolting to the floor the other end had bolt holes for whatever I needed to mount; vise, bender, other bender, etc.

However, earlier this year I was given a heavy steel bench. I decided that would replace my old wobbly welding bench that I made for temporary use over 20 years ago. The new-to-me bench is bolted to the wall and the floor. I welded on two trailer-hitch type 2" receivers. Then I cut off the previous floor stands and now they drop into the receivers. I can have nothing there when I need open bench, or a vise, or a bender, etc.

One other thought........what about some kinda mount to your front-end loader......then it can go anywhere!
Inside, outside, back 40, whereever you need it.
I used to have a 90deg. mount that'd go into my truck hitch......I miss my truck

-brino

 

[francist]

Here's what I made a few years ago. The impetus behind this was to have the smaller of my two leg vises outside near the forge, so I wanted it to be flexible in how I positioned it and also have the possibility of moving it back inside if I wanted. Then a buddy gave me the little Champion universal that I had to put somewhere, so I thought I'd combine the two onto one stand.

I lucked into two 30" diameter pieces of 1/4" steel plate down at the shipyard that had been burned out of a larger bulkhead. Got them for a good deal, and tacked the both of them together around the edge to use as the base. The column is just your standard schedule 40 black pipe.

The leg vise is the only thing that is rigidly fixed in position -- its bolted to the column at the top and the tip of the leg fits into small socket welded to the base plates. It is quite solid, although this is only a four inch jaw so it's not massive in itself.



The Champion (I think it's called a Universal Vise or All in One, something like that) is more flexible in it's positioning. The vise is bolted to a plate with a 2" pipe stem on it, and the stem is held pinched in the two sides of the knee bracket the same as the column is. The end result is that by slackening the four pinch bolts on the knee a bit you can slide the whole knee up or down, rotate the knee around the column 320 degrees, and also rotate the vise 360 degrees independantly of the knee. I usually just keep the bolts snug so I can still pivot if I want but it's not so loose that it flops around. There is a two-part pipe clamp (unfortunately not very visible in the photo) that clamps around the column and takes the weight of the knee but still allows it to rotate freely. It's actually an old style clamp that they used to use for hanging street signs to posts back in the day, works good. The 2" channel pieces make a nice self-aligning clamp system -- I used a couple bolts to attach them to the side plates as I didn't trust my welds for that part!


I guess you can kind of see the column clamp in this shot. I was mainly trying to show off my hideous welds. I'm not a great welder on the best of days, and this certainly appears to have not been one of my best days. My machine is a little 110 volt SP-135 which I'm pretty sure isn't really supposed to be welding this big of material anyway, but it worked. Just looks awful.


Here's this funky little Champion vise again. Was designed for the repairman/farmer and could accommodate a hand cranked grinder attachment among other semi-not-useful things. I actually don't use it that often.


Anyway, that's what I built. It is moderately heavy when all is said and done, but can still be moved around with a bit of effort. It does not wobble (yay!), partly due to the slight concavity induced by the burning process so I was able to put "dome side up" when I sandwiched the plates together. And it never has made it outside like was intended -- just adds two more vise stations to the collection in the shop. If I come across another interesting vise somewhere maybe it will grow another arm, who knows.

-frank

 

[KBeitz]

I think what you have is a sheep shearing vise. The extra hole held a gear box to turn
a flexible shaft to a set of shears.

 

[francist]

No, I don't believe so, at least not according to the documentation I've seen. Of course things often get adapted by people...

-frank

 

[KBeitz]

Information Required - The Stewart Handy Worker (sheep shearing handpiece). The Stewart Handy Worker was made by the Chicago Flexible Shaft Co. Stewart & Clark the founders of CFS Co went into partnership with Wm Cooper & Nephews around 1899/1900 and formed the Cooper-Stewart Sheep Shearing Machine Co to sell Stewart Shearing machines. The Cooper Sheep Shearing Machine Co was set up in Sydney in 1902 by the Wm Cooper & Nephews to sell Stewart Shearing machines under the Cooper brand name. The company name changed to Cooper Engineering in 1909 The brand names used were Stewart in the USA, Cooper in Australia and Cooper-Stewart in the rest of the world. Just to put a spanner in the works a few products prior to 1920 were sold in Australia under the Stewart brand name. Ed Bartlett Joined CFS Co in 1924 and was sent to South Africa for 2 years, He returned to the USA in 1926 and became the Sheep Shearing Expert for the company until he retired in 1948. The “EB” shearing hand piece that came out in 1927 and was produced for the next 30 or so years was named after him. It would be nice if someone could tell me if the South African company went under the name Cooper-Stewart or CFS Co . Founded by John K. Stewart and Thomas J. Clark in 1893 and incorporated in 1897, the Chicago Flexible Shaft Company began by making horse clipping machines. By the beginning of the 1900s, the company was also making sheep shearing machines, and wagon and buggy heaters. By 1917, they had also added furnaces, gasoline engines, electric irons, and the Stewart Handy Worker 6-in-1 tool to their products.

 

[francist]

That's certainly interesting and I can see the Australian market being ripe for something like that. My vise is Champion though, made in Lancaster Pa. and not the Stewart one you cite. Note the slight differences in the handwheel orientation as well. Or am I missing something here?

-frank