Thread: Couple of questions ....

Hi I'm no expert but if you go to amazon.com and search Bill Hylton, he has heaps of books with regards to woodworking and specifically, routers. I heard it was the best one. If you're not sure, there are reviews on amazon as well as the option to "look inside" the book. Hope that helps.

Originally Posted by sylvan

Hi I'm no expert but if you go to amazon.com and search Bill Hylton, he has heaps of books with regards to woodworking and specifically, routers. I heard it was the best one. If you're not sure, there are reviews on amazon as well as the option to "look inside" the book. Hope that helps.

Cool, I'll check it out. Thanks.

I can not give you a definitive answer as to whether you can put a vice on your workbench.
If you have a hollow door topped by 6mm MDF you may have trouble securing the vice if you wish to keep the bench top flat. The other question is what sort/size vice is it?

With my own workbench I have a fairly small 6" vice. The bench top was 18mm chip board. To keep the top of the vice level with bench top I needed to pack it out with a 18mm off cut. Originally this was screwed to the underside of the bench top. Result - it fell off not long after installation. Fix was to bolt it to the top using recessed coach bolts, the holes were then filled over and sanded flat. The vice was secured and has given many years of service. Last weekend I replaced the bench top with 18mm ply (only got charged for 12mm for some reason - but lower price is only the start) and again counter sunk the holes and filled in to have a smooth level bench top.

Originally Posted by Handyjack

I can not give you a definitive answer as to whether you can put a vice on your workbench.
If you have a hollow door topped by 6mm MDF you may have trouble securing the vice if you wish to keep the bench top flat. The other question is what sort/size vice is it?

With my own workbench I have a fairly small 6" vice. The bench top was 18mm chip board. To keep the top of the vice level with bench top I needed to pack it out with a 18mm off cut. Originally this was screwed to the underside of the bench top. Result - it fell off not long after installation. Fix was to bolt it to the top using recessed coach bolts, the holes were then filled over and sanded flat. The vice was secured and has given many years of service. Last weekend I replaced the bench top with 18mm ply (only got charged for 12mm for some reason - but lower price is only the start) and again counter sunk the holes and filled in to have a smooth level bench top.

I haven't bought the vice yet. There's one at my local hardware store which is a basic 150mm vice. I may get it unpack & see how it's secured (i have an idea but that will confirm). Then devise a way to safely & securely bolt it onto my bench. What timber did you use for the vice jaws ?

Cheers.

I think you will have problems bolting a vice to a hollow door. Sounds a bit light for a bench top anyhow. Try and find a solid core door and replace the top. Places like doors plus should have marked ones they get rid of cheap. Other places are demolition yards.
As for books check out the local library and see what they have. I wont mention any specific books just read everything on woodwork you can find.
Regards
John

Originally Posted by orraloon

I think you will have problems bolting a vice to a hollow door. Sounds a bit light for a bench top anyhow. Try and find a solid core door and replace the top. Places like doors plus should have marked ones they get rid of cheap. Other places are demolition yards.
As for books check out the local library and see what they have. I wont mention any specific books just read everything on woodwork you can find.
Regards
John

It was a strange front door. It was muchos heavy but when I cut it to size for my bench the inside was a mixture of timber bracing & polystyrene (spelling ?) and wasn't completely solid. Is that normal for a 10 year old door ?

I'll check out the library again. It didn't have a great selection of books but maybe i can order some in from other libraries.

Originally Posted by Ozziespur

What timber did you use for the vice jaws ?

About 3mm ply. At the time I did not have much as I was starting out and it was the thinnest material I had. Needed to drill three holes for the screw and guides of the vice and attached them to the jaws using short screws. The screw are only to make sure they stay attached to the jaws when opening.

Originally Posted by Handyjack

About 3mm ply. At the time I did not have much as I was starting out and it was the thinnest material I had. Needed to drill three holes for the screw and guides of the vice and attached them to the jaws using short screws. The screw are only to make sure they stay attached to the jaws when opening.

Cool, I might pick up the vice & see if I can secure it to the bench. If all else fails I will go & buy a 2nd hand solid door.

You can always build a timber frame for the vice to affix to. Would probably need to inset it into the door "hollow" but that's do-able.

Whether it's worth the effort is a different matter.

Well that depends on how much I can pick up a solid timber door for I suppose. I also need to borrow a mate's ute so I guess I'll do all i can to afix it to my bench now & failing that look at replacing the benchtop.

Please find images of my bench top and vice. One image is taken from underneath the bench to show method of attachment, sorry if the perspective is all over the shop.

Originally Posted by Handyjack

Please find images of my bench top and vice. One image is taken from underneath the bench to show method of attachment, sorry if the perspective is all over the shop.

Nice ! That gives me a good idea of how it's fixed. Thanks.