Demo vise - anyone do this?

[Joel OF]

I did my first demo the other day for which I made a fairly typical portable vise stand for a spare 4" blacksmith's leg vise I have.

 

Whilst thinking of ways to make the vise stand I considered not using the leg vise at all, (for sake of space and weight), and instead buying an engineer's vise, bolting a mild steel plate to the bottom, welding a hardy shank to the mild steel plate and just dropping it into the hardy hole.

 

I dismissed that idea because I thought the leg vise would look more authentic but now for various reasons I'm thinking I might just go with the engineers vise idea. Anyone else do this? I could remove my leg vise from the stand I made and do this with the leg vise instead, but an little engineer's vise would be quicker and easier to remove if I need to use the hardy hole for something else.

[Jeff Coe]

Am considering doing that because of space and portability. Also I dont have a post vise yet so it would be cheaper way to go right now.

I think its a good idea.

[Chinobi]

I had the image that Calala posted in this thread

 

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stuck in my head, search the site for 'hardy(or ie) hole vise(or vice)', all are 4 or more characters so it shouldnt complain, directed google led me to that one.

It's going to look pretty strange but so long as you don't have a lot of slop in the shank it should be effective. Might include some overhangs on either side of the mounting plate that are snug to the sides of the anvil to keep the shear force felt by the shank in check if you do any significant bending or twisting

 

edit: link ate the rest of the text, had to clean it up. (twice...)

[Frosty]

You can put a bench vise on a stand for demos. Putting it on a shank for a receiver tube (hardy hole) will work just fine. We used a hex drill auger couplers on the drill to  mount the geologist's pipe vise so I made one for a bench vise.

 

Okay, you don't have a post vise . . . yet. A bench vise is okay IF you don't beat on it much at all. So, how about this. Put a hardy receiver in the stand so you can mount the bench vise but position it so you can drop the post vise in when you get it. The only other adaptation you'll need on the stand is a hole in the base so the post can socket in.

 

A plate and shank under the mounting plate of the post vise, one under the bench vise. Both just drop in so you can swap them out at demos, a bench vise has advantages hard to realize in a post vise and visa versa. However, there's this nice base standing there with a vise mounted you aren't going to need for a bit but you could sure use to have a bending fork, scroll jig, etc. handy without having to put it in the anvil's hardy hole.

 

Not only is the stand a good solid stand for the post vise AND bench vise but any bottom tool you need while leaving the hardy hole on the anvil free to use.

 

Hmmmm?

 

 

Frosty The Lucky.

[Joel OF]

Indeed Frosty, I had considered the same thing though it's the weight of the vise stand that's half my problem. Ditching it for demos & having a portable leg vise in the workshop has it's perks too.
Not having constant access to the hardy hole isn't the end of the world as I can put my hot cut/jigs/bending forks into the vise.
Yep Chinobi, that's what I meant, but with an engineer's vise.

[Direwolf]

Hi Joel,

I have a portable wilton vise on a table made of pipe which I bring to demos, it works well. I bought it at an auction for $10.00 and mostly use it as a portable vise in the shop for welding, it is rugged and handy to move in and out of the building if I am working on a piece of large equipment outside. I also built a portable post vise stand that turned out to be too heavy to easily move! I used a dozer sprocket, then a roller from a dozer then a 5th wheel table from a semi attached a 75 lb Indian Chief vise. While it works well and is stable it weighs 300+ lbs and is difficult to load/unload so I just bring the wilton bench vise to demos which works well and is more managable. I added a steel rod to the table of the post vise setup which works great for bending also, I'll add a few pics. I think your idea should work good luck!

[caintuckrifle]

With the size of vise you can put on most anvils and given that it will be made of cast iron I don't think breaking the anvil heel will be an issue. I would off-set the hardy shank a few inches to position the vise more over the center of the anvil. the shank would still hold it but the vise would be over more meat for pounding.

[Black Frog]

I didn't have a normal post vise for quite a while.

For a portable setup I used a normal vise mounted on a tripod stand and used that for a long time.
I picked up the vise/stand for $15 at a garage sale years ago.  Very sturdy, never tippy, and worked well. 

Forge, blower, anvil, stump, vise/stand, coal, and tooling fit nicely in the back of my little Ford Ranger.

 

[Frosty]

Indeed Frosty, I had considered the same thing though it's the weight of the vise stand that's half my problem. Ditching it for demos & having a portable leg vise in the workshop has it's perks too.
Not having constant access to the hardy hole isn't the end of the world as I can put my hot cut/jigs/bending forks into the vise.
Yep Chinobi, that's what I meant, but with an engineer's vise.

 

Weight vs. stability is the balancing act with portable tools. I made a folding tripod vise stand for my 4" post vise and it's not much good, too light and shaky. Next time I run across a piece of 1/4" plate 18"or24" square I'm going to torch it into a circle, then weld a sq. receiver to the center and drill or torch the receiver hole for the post. I'll put a little table plate on top of the post with the sq. receiver for the shank on the vises.

 

A stand like that gives me much more stability, if I really need to pull on something I can stand on the base and drag myself in a circle with it. Then when it's tie to break it all down I just pull the vise, tip it on it's side and roll it to the truck, pull it apart and load it a piece at a time.

 

Frosty The Lucky.

[rockstar.esq]

I set up my post vice on the side of my forge.  My forge is mostly wood and built with a box bellows in the middle alongside the firepot on the right.  There's a little shelf on the left and I put two lag bolts near the corner so the correspond with the yoke on my vice.  I cut the heads off the bolts leaving two smooth studs projecting up 2" or so.  I've got a block on the ground with a hole sized to accept the vice leg.  The vice drops into the block and over the studs.  I haven't needed to do anything which forces the vice upwards and the mount seems very stable for my purposes.  I especially like that it's very fast to mount or dismount the vice since my forge is outside and I want to keep my vice out of the elements.  I plan on replacing the block with a metal plate attached to the forge onto which I'd attach a socket to serve the same purpose.  As it stands, the block spreads the striking force to keep from cracking patio stones beneath the vice.

 

I brought all that up because it seems like you could rig something similar to take advantage of the anvil stump.  

[JNewman]

I copied an idea from Tom Latane.  I made a mount for a smaller post vise that drops into the hardy hole of my anvil.  If I need the post vise I can drop the mount into the hardy hole and then drive the wedge in to attach the mount to the vice.  You will still have the weight of the vice but won't need the separate stand.

[Joel OF]

I made this vise setup after, though I did it with a spare 4" leg vise I have. Thought I'd share some pics. It's a bank holiday tomorrow so the govenor shuts the workshop to give the neighbours some peace, so I've setup shop in my parents' garden!

 

The thing that holds the bottom of the leg vise in place folds up out of the way when the vise isn't in use so I don't trip over it. I had intended on making catch for it so it wouldn't fall back down easily but it doesn't need it afterall as I used nylok nuts so the hinge is kinda stiff and it stays up on it's own. Ignore that random hole in the bit of angle iron, I drilled it in the wrong place first time, doh!

[Candidquality]

Nice idea Joel. If you don't mind taking up some of your anvil top (most of which goes unused on most days  anyway).  The one issue that I would have is that the foot is designed to transfer load to the floor.  In your case this is not happening.  The mounting bracket is really only designed to a) restrain the spring and B) keep the top from twisting.  Perfectly fine for twisting as it will hold in place well, just not much hammering.  Personally I'd dado out a channel 2" wide x 1" deep in the bottom of your wood block. Then replace it with a block of solid steel stock with a hole for the peg on the foot. You could then attach the block to the base of your existing stand with a few (three near the vice, one opposite) long shoulder bolts.
Would add a decent amount of weight(under 20#), but would be little risk of popping dents into whatever floor you are on, and not pinch the screw eye or widen the mounting bracket. Really depends on how much downward force you use for what you make at demos.  If not much, then you've got a nice compact little setup.

[Joel OF]

Cheers Candid. Keeping everying lightweight was my main aim as I'm only going to use the vise for twisting, though the folding bracket lays flat down onto the ground and the bottom of the leg sits firmly into it, so I'm confident that if I did need to do a bit of hammering the leg is taking the main force, not the mounting bracket.
Seems a bit trivial but I think the setup looks quite cool - and seeing as this is a setup to use for demos - anything that helps people remember you is a good thing.