Hi guys,

Thanks so much for the replies and advice. It's good to know that peoples door workbenches have lasted, I was a bit worried about durability.

Thanks in particular for the advice about putting the jaws of the vise below my benchtop...hadn't thought of that!

Haven't had a chance to install the vise yet as I was out of town over the new year break. Hopefully get it in some time this week. I will try and take some photos of the progress.

With the engineers vise I will likely set it up on another bench (still to be made) or whenever I need it I can just clamp it on the end of my lathe which has a nice sturdy metal frame.

Crowie - I'm not sure why the thumbnail links aren't working for you. I will post text links next to the thumbnails in future. Is anyone else having troubles with the thumbnail links?

Kind regards,
Cam

No probs

The other thing I forgot to mention is that I'd recess the bolt heads on the top frame - you may find that every bit of stray clothing will catch on them as they are

And I'm having no difficulty with the thumbnails, might be at Crowie's end?

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regards
Nick (I really don't need a Stubby!)
veni, vidi, tornavi

Hi all, just installed the bench vise. Here are some progress shots.

I glued a backing block to the stretcher to allow enough thickness for fixing all 4 bolts, then used the circular saw to make a series of closely spaced cuts which I cleaned up with a chisel:


Not looking so great (I then leveled and tidied up with chisels and block plane after this photo):


Checking the fit:


Sits just below the bench-top:



With the plywood jaw covers fitted:


Seems to work pretty well for a cheapie.

Next on the list for the bench will be to put in some lockable drawers/bins that will hook over and maybe chain to the bottom stretchers. The drawers will ideally have plywood lids with padlocks so I can lockup my smaller power tools and not have to worry about them getting covered in sawdust.

Also, thanks for the tip Sawdust Maker, the bolts are dome head so I haven't had any snags yet. But i will be sure the recess them if i start to notice it

Regards,
Cam

Cam - not such a huge job after all, eh?

I notice you have attached your wooden jaws below the bench top, & wonder if you mis-understood the advice given above. It's a bit ambiguous, but I assumed the poster was aadvising you to keep the metal parts below top height? I think you'll find it inconvenient the way you have it now - it will make some operations awkward (for e.g. when you are trying to hold a small piece)and you are more likely to cut the top of the bench when sawing or bump into the edge when planing, in some circumstances. I prefer the wooden jaws to be at least level with the bench top. It's actually better to have them raised above bench height by 20mm or so, and I used to fit mine like that, but that can be a nuisance, at times, so I compromise & fit them level these days...

Cheers,

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IW

Hi IanW,

I have noticed that it would better to have the wooden jaws about level with the bench-top. It should be pretty easy to cut up and fix in some bigger wooden jaws so I will add it to the list of things to do.

At the moment I'm adding a shelf which will screw into the end of the bench and hold my pencils, squares, etc. I will put up a few pics when it's done.

Cam,
Consider using thicker ply for the jaw timbers, I have 25mm and they still flex.
Crowie

I'd agree with that - I use about 30mm thick wooden inserts. Ply is a bit stiffer, so you would probably find 25mm ok.

Cheers,

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IW

Cheers guys, I will keep an eye out for some thicker ply at the moment it is 2 pieces of 6mm plywood glued together and bolted to each jaw.

Also, here is the caddy/shelf I mentioned. Keeping with the theme it is cheap, ugly, and made from recycled materials. Sides are more of that pallet and the base is some old leftover click-together floorboard. I know it looks like it's barely holding itself up, but I put a bit of weight on it and it seems a bit more solid than it looks. It should hold the 10ish kg I will likely be loading it up with. I will rescrew and glue up the corners to get them nice and tight and then clean it up with a plain and beltsander so I don't get a splinter every time I pick up my pencil.

Good one Cam!!

More cheap and effective than cheap and ugly.

Thanks artme!

Good idea on the addition. Just ensure that it is strong as you might find quite a bit of stuff in there.

Hi Christos,

It sure seems to be strong enough and it's got a couple of M12 bolts holding it to the bench. The problem is that it collects a lot of dust and shavings. I might need to put a hinged lid and few holes in the base with removable 'bungs'. I am looking at getting a shop vac, so if I could connect it to the shelf it might be a good way to collect the dust from the benchtop when I've finished for the day. Just take the stuff out of the shelf, remove a 'bung' to the vac outlet, brush the dust in with the vac on, replace the bung then drop all the stuff back in.

Regards,
Cam

Cam, yes, a bench well is a mixed blessing alright. It's handy, but it does become a dumping ground for all the things you don't want to deal with right now as well as the sawdust, shavings & small offcuts. I think the pluses outweigh the minuses for me, but I can see why some people decide not to have one. In any case, the well is an integral part of the design on my bench beause it provids a way that the solid part of the top can expand & contract within an otherwrise restricted frame.

The traditional way to get around the cleaning probplem is to fit a piece of softwood in one end (or both ends) to form a ramp that allows the rubbish to be swept out easily. Like this:

Attached Images

bench well end.jpg (74.4 KB, 9 views)

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IW

Great idea, thanks for that IanW. I will definitely be adding one of those!

Nice big bag of chisels standing back against the wall.

A ShopVac is really good. I use mine with the "fine" bags for ash from my pellet stove
and dust from shaping abalone shell (and the bandsaw.)
Be careful: any and all small tools and important bits sucked up by a ShopVac are kept somewhere other than the bag that you think that they are in. Could be a parallel universe.

I'd rather buy big plastic tool boxes, no two the same, for tools and important hardware.
Four for art stuff, 3 for wood carving, two for Dremels, 3 for commercial and theatrical pyrotechnics and two for hand tools. There are several others but I have forgotten what's in them.