Vice advice for a beginner please!

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One thing to keep in mind about these vices is that they are very heavy, awkwardly shaped - and like as not covered in slippery machine oil. All of which can make bolting them to the underside of a workbench quite a challenge, especially if you're working solo.
I'm sure everyone has their own way of dealing with that but FWIW, here's how I fitted mine recently to my manky old workbench (this vice being an ex-school Eclipse 51 1/2 that I bought from eBay).
View attachment 104491
In case it's not clear from the photo what's going on, the nice piece of 22mm birch ply is the front jaw lining, which protrudes about 5mm above the top of the metal jaws but sits flush with the bench top. The yellowing scrap of pine is clamped very firmly in the vice jaws (sitting flush with top of the jaw liner). I then bolted an off-cut of scaffold board at right angles to that VERY securely with long coach screws. This piece then just sits on the bench, holding the vice effortlessly in just the right position, while I muck about underneath with packing and holes etc to bolt it into place.
Cannot emphasise enough how important it is to make sure everything is held securely, that the jaws can't slip, and that the bit of wood resting on the bench is strong & long enough to prevent the vice falling off while you're fitting it - but for me this was a much easier method than trying to support the vice from underneath while sorting out the mounting hardware.

All the best,
Stuart

REALLY useful - thanks Stuart!
 
My main vice is a faithfull 9" record copy with quick release.

Works brilliantly.

Cheers James
 
Hello, I am also fitting a record 7” quick release vice as per your image below and would like to know what size fixing you used to mount the vice to your bench? As it is quite heavy.

Thanks
One thing to keep in mind about these vices is that they are very heavy, awkwardly shaped - and like as not covered in slippery machine oil. All of which can make bolting them to the underside of a workbench quite a challenge, especially if you're working solo.
I'm sure everyone has their own way of dealing with that but FWIW, here's how I fitted mine recently to my manky old workbench (this vice being an ex-school Eclipse 51 1/2 that I bought from eBay).
View attachment 104491
In case it's not clear from the photo what's going on, the nice piece of 22mm birch ply is the front jaw lining, which protrudes about 5mm above the top of the metal jaws but sits flush with the bench top. The yellowing scrap of pine is clamped very firmly in the vice jaws (sitting flush with top of the jaw liner). I then bolted an off-cut of scaffold board at right angles to that VERY securely with long coach screws. This piece then just sits on the bench, holding the vice effortlessly in just the right position, while I muck about underneath with packing and holes etc to bolt it into place.
Cannot emphasise enough how important it is to make sure everything is held securely, that the jaws can't slip, and that the bit of wood resting on the bench is strong & long enough to prevent the vice falling off while you're fitting it - but for me this was a much easier method than trying to support the vice from underneath while sorting out the mounting hardware.

All the best,
Stuart
 
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