wd&mlteach Posted September 4, 2009 Share Posted September 4, 2009 I know they have been done before but I thought I would post pics of what ended up being my solution to being "a portable post/leg vise". I started out at the scrap yard lugging pieces around. I soon became aware of something that I already knew corners poke, gouge, and are always bent at a scrap yard. Therefore, I went with rounds. I found three that looked like they wanted to come home with me and I could easily lift into my the back of my truck. The sizes I found were 28" dia x 1/4", 18 1/2" dia x 1 1/2", and 9" x 3 1/4". I cleaned them all up and tack welded the 1/4" and the 1 1/2" together. I then used two pieces of C-Channel to form a vertical I beam. Height was based off of interference and clearance of the post vise. I then cold forged two U brackets out of 1/4" x 1 1/4" x 6", welded some plates on the I-beam, and welded a piece of 1 1/2" dia pipe on the base for the leg/post. Then I mounted the vise and drilled the brackets for mounting. The last step was to mount the wheels on. I utilized a set of solid steel wheels that I had lying around the shop and welded them to a piece of C-Channel. Then I welded the C-channel to the 1 1/2" base. Overall the design works good and is stable. There area only two problems that need to be resolved with the design. The first is that there is a little bit of flex in the 1/4 plate when you and really putting some twisting power on it. The second is that the wheels need to be wider in order to support the weight of the stand while pulling it through my lawn. Right now the wheels sink in until the reach the main channel and create lots of drag. Basically it is all I can do to move the thing, but once it is moved it works great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Einhorn Posted September 4, 2009 Share Posted September 4, 2009 It looks nice. I have seen post vises centered on their round bases. That way they could be rolled using their bases rather than using wheels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wd&mlteach Posted September 4, 2009 Author Share Posted September 4, 2009 Man rolling around one of those sounds pretty tough. I can roll a gas cylinder pretty good but it is round and balanced. A post vise I would think would be pretty awkward to try to roll any distance, but I am sure it can be done. In fact it may be easier than moving mine, heck when I am done I can plant corn in the furrows. I will change that as soon as I can. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianbrazealblacksmith Posted September 4, 2009 Share Posted September 4, 2009 wd&mlteach, if you drill three holes in your base and spike it in the ground, you can solve your twisting problem, or use anchors when your'e on concrete. I mount my vices on a tripod stand with feet and mounting holes just like my anvil stands. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don A Posted September 4, 2009 Share Posted September 4, 2009 Nice. I like the way you have done away with the "factory" mounting bracket. I'm gonna steal that idea. Do you not use a spring in your vice? Don Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wd&mlteach Posted September 4, 2009 Author Share Posted September 4, 2009 Thanks Don, glad to inspire post a picture when you get it done. I would love to see it. I have not done enough research to know exactly why the old bracket was designed like it was. My guess is that the manufacturing process for these vises was intensely laborious but really not held to close tolerances. Sure they all look the same but when dealing with metals and fitting, tolerances are the most important. The traditional design to me looked as though it would make up for variations in thickness and width of the main support. I knew my vise is the only one I was going to mount so the mount I made was custom fit for the variations of my vise. The main support is more trapezoid shape rather than rectangular. I though about welding for a bit but out of respect for the post vise surviving this long, I could not do it. As far as the spring goes I do not need it at all. I got the vise off of eBay for $40 from a guy in Maryland. It came with his new house and barn. He decided to keep the house and barn. It was frozen solid when I got it and after about two weeks of hammering and every rust penetrant I could think of, I roasted it free on my forge. After everything was apart I cleaned all of the surfaces real nice and polished the main bolt, covered everything with grease, and put it back together. It swings nice and after crushing my fingers on several occasions while building the mount I realized something. Why not just mount it so that gravity pulls the jaws open? So that is all I did and it seems to work great. It may not be totally traditional, but works for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
irnsrgn Posted September 4, 2009 Share Posted September 4, 2009 Loose the little bitty wheels and get a couple of lawn mower wheels and mount on a couple of pieces of angle iron like below, with about a 1/2 inch of free space under them when setting on hard surface. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
longhunter Posted September 4, 2009 Share Posted September 4, 2009 Nice stand and the wheel setup Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wd&mlteach Posted September 4, 2009 Author Share Posted September 4, 2009 Consider the small wheels gone as soon as I get the stand back to the shop. When I was building the stand I found a set of cast wheels for $5 at a flea market, they are real nice. At the time I opted for the smaller ones because they were the faster route, they already had mounts and rolled. I thought they might give me trouble and well I was right. In fact when I drug the stand out last night it hewed off a 3/4" x 4" chunk of my concrete floor by just dropping out of my shed , nice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Cal Posted September 5, 2009 Share Posted September 5, 2009 Good ideas, I have a 4 1/2 vise i am looking to makea base for in the near future. Right now I have a smaller one mounted to a 3/4 plate with tripod legs. It is portable but stable enough for mainly holding pieces for grinding. I think a work area at the mount for holding punches/ grinders/ wrenches would come in handi. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keykeeper Posted September 5, 2009 Share Posted September 5, 2009 A Visitor: You do know that is a wagon tongue mount vise, right? They were designed to be mounted on the tongue for ease of use and storage. Nice, very nice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Einhorn Posted September 5, 2009 Share Posted September 5, 2009 (edited) You do know that is a wagon tongue mount vise, right? They were designed to be mounted on the tongue for ease of use and storage. Nice, very nice. They were also mounted on Civil War military traveling forge wagons: TongueVise < BlacksmithInfo < TWiki "A Visitor's" vise looks like its mounting bracket might fit correctly in the square slots in the iron lunette on the stock of a Civil War military traveling forge. If "A Visitor" does not want the vise, I would be happy to trade him a 4 inch leg vise complete with leg and original bracket so he can mount it on his bench. I really don't need another vise, but I would be really really curious as to whether that bracket will slide into my reproduction lunette. Edited September 5, 2009 by UnicornForge Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Cal Posted September 6, 2009 Share Posted September 6, 2009 Thanks for the comments, not interested in a trade. This vise ( unmarked) has a threaded portion instead of a leg. I have it mounted around the height of my anvil for a third hand. I will post detail pictures- would be interested in learning more about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted September 6, 2009 Share Posted September 6, 2009 Nice vise stand. I don't think you'll lik cast iron wheels though, they'll hang on every piece of grit they hit. Do you remember skating on the old clay wheels? Hard wheels chalk when they hit something sticking up where ones with some give roll over. Frosty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Cal Posted September 6, 2009 Share Posted September 6, 2009 Not to take this thread on a side track- I'm also interested in any vise mounts as I have a 4 1/2" Columbian I need to make one for. Here are some detail pictures of the short vise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wd&mlteach Posted September 6, 2009 Author Share Posted September 6, 2009 A Visitor, that sure is a nice looking stand and vise, do you ever have problems with it wanting to tip while working with it? Frosty, I do remember those type of wheels. In fact I recall there was a sort of chattering whine sound that was emitted right before the bottom half of you stopped and the top half kept moving forward. The wheels I have now are solid steel and about 2 inches in diameter and so far there has not been a problem with small items stopping the wheels, the real problem has been the battle with the lawn. I never really weighed the thing but to my best guess it is close to 250 or 300 pounds. Far too much weight to be supported by 1 1/2" wheels. The cast wheels I will put on are much wider and should help with the ruts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Cal Posted September 6, 2009 Share Posted September 6, 2009 WD, Mainly used to hold things for grinding- drifting. I got tired of the smoke alarms going off in the garage everytime I want to grind or sand something. I need portabilty now- no outdoor permanent shop yet . Collecting parts for a full size post vise stand- base will be limited to the width of a door. Think I will use a rectangular shaped piece of 1/2 inch plate for the base- be able to stand on it when working. Also the suggestion of holes in the base for stakes from this thread will help. I'll probably just use a hand truck to move it instead of attached wheels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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