Adding Tail Vise to Workbench
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I recently rebuilt my workbench in favor of Paul’s design but have found my smaller 7″ front vise will not be near enough to the bench top surface to be useful. I’m going to replace it with the 10″ eclipse vise to fix this issue but this leaves me with a 7″ vise that I’d like to keep. This brings me to the second problem: the screw mechanism is ~11″ long and cannot be placed on the end as the tenons for the legs are ~9.5″ from the end.
The obvious solution is to cut a hole through the tenon, but I worry this will greatly weaken the bench overall. Can anyone offer advise on how to proceed in the hopes of keeping the 7″ vise?
You could make a variation on a bench bull and incorporate it in to that. Would give you the option of a higher vise in case you were doing more detailed work on a smaller piece and are bending over quite a lot.
Google ‘mini workbench’ or ‘bench bull with vise’ and you will see what I mean. It’s a smaller workbench that can be put on your main one, or taken to another work area. You may well be able to work out a way to mount that to the end of your main bench.Colin, Czech Rep.
You could make a variation on a bench bull and incorporate it in to that. Would give you the option of a higher vise in case you were doing more detailed work on a smaller piece and are bending over quite a lot.
Google ‘mini workbench’ or ‘bench bull with vise’ and you will see what I mean. It’s a smaller workbench that can be put on your main one, or taken to another work area. You may well be able to work out a way to mount that to the end of your main bench.That’s an interesting suggestion I had not considered. Thank you very much for the idea.
You can also add 1 1/2” to that end of the bench, either by just Bolting it on or remaking it with a splined breadboard end, or even with a tapered sliding dovetail.
You can also add 1 1/2” to that end of the bench, either by just Bolting it on or remaking it with a splined breadboard end, or even with a tapered sliding dovetail.
This is something I considered and am toying with. The benchtop is 3 1/8″ thick and the vise face is only 2 3/8″ tall so I would need to recess the underside for the vise and mechanism after adding the extension to make up the space. Certainly a doable solution and one that would be quite attractive when complete.
If you go for the bolt on solution, I recommend bench bolts, which are 1/2” with 1” capture nuts and are rock solid.
One of these takes all the linear force on my traditional tail vise.
Two size drills is all it takes to mount them. Just google the term and several sources pop up.
They were originally marketed for leg stringer in knockdown bench situations. I would recommend a larger washer (grade 8 will not deform) if you are fastening softwoods. If you countersink them in a 1” or 1 1/4” hole, they aren’t obtrusive.About $20 for four.
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