Fitting a bench vice - 40mm workbench top.

[Dissolve]

Hello,

I'm about to fit my vice to a 40mm workbench top but I'm not sure of the bet way to secure the rear vice jaw to the bench..

Using this thread as a guide:
vices-fitting-a-record-bench-vice-t25365.html

I have made up my packing for the underneath from some MDF as in the picture, and I'm using oak for the jaws of the vice..
My vice has four fixing holes on the base place, and two threadless holes on each jaw for attaching wooden jaws to.

How do you go about attaching the lining to the rear jaw without any nuts/bolt heads getting in the way? And how do you go about securing the rear jaw to the bench?

Thanks

 

[Roughcut]

2 woodscrews straight through the holes in the rear jaw and into the bench top apron is how I did mine.

 

[Eric The Viking]

If you're packing with layers of MDF, consider burying bolt heads within the layers (Araldite in place) so that the threads stick out below, to align the vice on as you 'hang' it onto the bench.

I've only needed to take my Record #52 off a couple of times, but I'm really glad I did it that way, as it's really heavy. The protruding bolt heads make fitting it easy, as you've only got to catch one nut each end and the weight is taken. My bench is too heavy to tip over and back again - I'm not massive enough to counterbalance it! - so I have to fit the vice up underneath.

When it's dismantled for moving, the bolts do get in the way, as they protrude more than the rest of the stuff underneath the top, but you can protect them with nuts fairly easily. that aspect isn't ideal, but I think it's better than coachbolts through the entire thickness of the top - I hate metal on the top side.

E.

 

[AndyT]

Hello,


My vice has four fixing holes on the base place, and two threadless holes on each jaw for attaching wooden jaws to.

How do you go about attaching the lining to the rear jaw without any nuts/bolt heads getting in the way?

Thanks

Your threadless holes should be deeply countersunk on the outsides to suit some short, fat countersunk screws to go through the steel into the wooden lining. This is tidy but means you can't replace the rear liner without removing the vice from the bench. If they are not countersunk you will either need to countersink them yourself or use flat or raised head screws. (You may need to drill shallow holes behind the rear jaw to clear them.)

If in fact they are threaded (they are on my old Record vice) you can counterbore the linings and use roofing bolts to fix them from inside the vice opening. The holes in the lining won't matter.

 

[Eric The Viking]

I think the Record thread is M5 or M6.

I found this out to my chagrin: having hoarded some old imperial machine screws they wouldn't fit! Metric did, however. Pointless though, as simply screwing through into the wooden cheek works fine.