bogmonster Posted December 3, 2012 Share Posted December 3, 2012 Picked up a leg vice yesterday for 20 British pounds off eBay. Good working order with 6 inch jaws. Bar is slightly bent and the mounting plate is slightly damaged but all in all a good buy. Anyway, need a simple way to mount it and don't want to spend too much. Also needs to be portable (just around workshop and drive so heavy is ok - can use a sack truck. I like the idea of a steel plate on the ground with a single column but the steel plate is likely to be expensive around here as I think I need 24" square by 1" thick. Another option is a tripod type design. RSJ is cheap enough and strong enough. Either way I will need to weld it up and I don't weld yet. I have just bought an arc welder and waiting for a welding shield to arrive. I can cut up the RSJ with an angle grinder. I am thinking that welding this up is an achievable first welding project, what do you think? BM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted December 3, 2012 Share Posted December 3, 2012 I've used an oil drum, (55 US gallons) with a bung low on the side. Filled with water it's nice and stable, emptied it quite light and can be moved easily. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bogmonster Posted December 3, 2012 Author Share Posted December 3, 2012 I did think about this. Was surprised the sides of the drum would not flex too much. I can strengthen it all up with wooden braces bolted through the sides. Might see if I can find picture... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted December 3, 2012 Share Posted December 3, 2012 Why would it flex, any force is directed through the leg. For my travel vise I lag bolted a piece of 2" x 12" board that I cut to fit the interior curve of the barrel and then bolted the vise to the wood piece as if it was a workbench. I did have a piece of plate with a hole in it to accept the acorn on the bottom of the vise leg so the vice did not sink in soft soil (I would stake the plate in place when working on ground rather than pavement.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bogmonster Posted December 4, 2012 Author Share Posted December 4, 2012 Another option might be to use an old gas cylinder. Either a tall cylinder where the top can be cut off to the right height (taking suitable precautions of course), or a shorter cylinder with a steel disc either welded or perhaps just U bolted to the top handle. LPG 19KG cylinders in the UK would be about the right size for this. The cylinder valve can be removed and the cylinder filled with sand, water or cement. Using this option there is no need to weld or cut into the cylinder. I am thinking sand for my needs. I think the cylinder full of sand would be about 70kg + another 20kg for the vice. Probably heavy enough not to move about too much in use but small and light enough for moving with a sack truck. OK, maybe it will not look great but I think it will work well. Anybody tried this? BM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted December 4, 2012 Share Posted December 4, 2012 What's the aspect ratio? A barrel is fairly wide compared to it's height compared to the gas cylinders we use in the USA. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bogmonster Posted December 4, 2012 Author Share Posted December 4, 2012 The cylinder is similar to US cylinders used for grills, maybe a bit bigger. The one I am thinking of is 12.5 inches diameter by about 31.5 inches high I think. The volume will be smaller than the cylinder defined by these dimensions due to domed ends, handles, feet etc. So I think the volume is about 3000 cubic inches or 1.74 cubic feet. Concrete is about 150lb or 68kg per cubic foot. So thats 261lb or 119kg. On top of that there is another 44lb or 20kg for the cyclinder itself. Although the cylinder is not that wide for it's height I would think the weight will be enough to keep the thing steady. With the vice as well it will all be about 160kg so I am not convinced that the cylinder needs to be totally filled with concrete. If it was filled 2/3 high the total weight will be down to about 120KG and I hope not too top heavy or unstable. Need to think about this some more. There is a wider cylinder I could use at about 15 inches diameter. I don't have one of those though and they are not so easy to get hold of. I also have some smaller drums that could be stacked and filled with concrete. Don't think this will work well as they would not be a single unit. BM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted December 4, 2012 Share Posted December 4, 2012 The lever arm on a postvise can be rather large. About 200 kilos was what I had in the drum and the fastening point was much closer to the weight point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bogmonster Posted December 4, 2012 Author Share Posted December 4, 2012 OK, just actually looked at the vice and the cylinder and I can now see how stupid my idea was :( I was thinking about this at work and it is easy to forget the dimensions of the vice... I might just go with your drum idea as that will clearly work far better. Sorry, can be a bit slow on the uptake sometimes. I have just sourced some drums so I can pick one up tomorrow. BM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fe-Wood Posted December 4, 2012 Share Posted December 4, 2012 How about the one pictured here http://www.iforgeiron.com/topic/30456-need-advice-on-vice-stand-id-like-to-build/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HWooldridge Posted December 4, 2012 Share Posted December 4, 2012 I've used an oil drum, (55 US gallons) with a bung low on the side. Filled with water it's nice and stable, emptied it quite light and can be moved easily. +1...a drum was my standard method of vise setup at demo's because it was easy to transport empty and worked well when full of water. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted December 4, 2012 Share Posted December 4, 2012 not to mention that having a big drum of water to hand helps to calm the troubled souls of site owners when you go to set up a forge! (It's like always having a fire extinguisher prominently displayed---they think "he must be safe; see he's got a fire extinguisher! This lets you get way with juggling hot steel while telling bad jokes in a most alarming way indeed!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted December 5, 2012 Share Posted December 5, 2012 I made a folding tripod for my portable vise but need to stiffen it up for use, it's a little shaky as is. I considered a steel plate but recommend a round one so you can tip it up and roll it for ease of movement. I've used a drum of water as well and it works very well. An alternative I haven't seen mentioned is an old tire filed with concrete with fittings for the anvil post and leg. It's heavy with a low CG and being the floor contact is rubber doesn't slide easily AND you can tip it up and roll the whole unit. I haven't mounted a post vise this way but have mounted other floor tools this way. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bogmonster Posted January 7, 2013 Author Share Posted January 7, 2013 In the end I opted for a steel rim with tire filled with concrete, steel tube through middle and steel plate on top - thanks for the idea Frosty. I still need to weld on tool rails and a clamp to hold the leg firmly and paint but the whole contraption works quite well. The wheel is off a old Landrover Discovery which has a 4.5 inch centre hole allowing a sturdy post to be welded straight in. All in it weighs the far side of 200kg and is quite stable. To move comfortably I need to use a lever clamped into the vice so I can get it on its side to roll it. The lever tends to twist a bit in the jaws so I will make something that will be more secure. There is a small amount of give as the steel wheel flexes so I may weld in some diagonal braces for more stability but not really sure it is necessary. There is very little give in the tire and with most of the force going through the leg this is looking to be very satisfactory indeed. BW, Chris. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matto Posted January 11, 2013 Share Posted January 11, 2013 here is my shop vise stand it is a 30 gallon oil barrel filled with concrete. it has 2 60# vises on it and a receiver hitch welded in between the two vises for all kinds of stuff like benders, a flat table, small swadge block etc.... it is pinned to the floor rather than bolted so i can move it if i need to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eric sprado Posted January 23, 2013 Share Posted January 23, 2013 Matto: I mounted a receiver hitch under my welding/layout table sort of like you have yours on vise barrel. Lots of my small shop equipment is now mounted on a plate with 2" square tubing under it and slides into the hitch really fast. HF Bender, 8" grinder, #2 Whitney Punch (handiest little thing I EVER bought) and others. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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