Burying a post vice leg

[Shainarue]

So, I get that the acorn of the post vice needs to make contact with the ground (or something else that connects to the ground) to send the impact on out. If a vice stand is taller than I prefer for working height, is there a reason I couldn't just have the post leg/acorn that far into the ground (maybe with pipe ring around it) rather than building a stand high enough for the acorn to rest on the ground and then me standing on a riser? 

 

 

[ThomasPowers]

Sure.  I have also seen the opposite where they cast a concrete pyramid to hold the acorn above the floor level.   Your post vise you can do whatever you want with it! 

[Shainarue]

In all the posts on here and elsewhere, I had just never seen it and figured there must be a reason, lol. 

[Glenn]

Make the below floor level support very strong as you will be hammering on the vise and that impact will be transferred to the base.

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

Our main shop vise had the acorn cut off so I mounted it on an oak stump buried to the depth that gave us a good working height then poured quickcrete formed up to catch the post.

On our outside vise a RR tie cut to length to bury and pour Quickcrete with a steel bracket bolted to the tie to hold the acorn of the leg.

[Frosty]

Sure you can inset the acorn into the ground, no problem. You're on dirt, right? If you cut a piece of steel plate say 4" dia, square, etc. not important, drill a hole for the acorn and 4-5 holes around it large enough to take a 22d spike. You can set the plate in the ground so the vise is at a comfortable height for you, spike it in place angle them away from center a little, then bury the plate and pack it like it owes you money. Then clean out the hole so the vise drops in place. It won't go anywhere. Honest. 

Frosty The Lucky.

[anvil]

Or, weld a piece of heavy angle iron to the metal post at the bottom, at the right height you need with a hole drilled in it the size of the tenon. No need for a clamp. Then if you need to remove the post vice, just unbolt it at the top and move it. I often do this so I can lay my post vice across my layout table, hang the jaws over the edge, clamp a rivet header in the jaws, then I can lay a railing section across the top and head rivets in awkward places.

 In your drawing, the top of the welded on angle iron would be at the bottom of the acorn. I'm guessing you still have a tenon at the bottom of your acorn. If not, I would weld one on as a vice repair. then the shoulder of the tenon/acorn rests on the top of the angle iron plate and the tenon keeps the bottom secure without having to use a clamp like you show in your drawing. It doesn't make any difference if the angle iron/acorn are buried.  The benefit of this is that your pipe post and the heavy angle iron are one piece.

 

[ThomasPowers]

For my travel vise I have a "hand tamper tool" head I found at the scrapyard.  The acorn fits in the handle hole and I made some foot long tent stakes from RR spikes that hold it against lateral forces.  One of my in shop vises rests on/in a large buldozer blade edge; over a foot wide and 4 1.5" sq holes.  (Same size as 3 of my anvils!)

[Shainarue]

I think the drawing might have muddied the waters - or else I'm not understanding all the additional comments. Sounds like most are interpreting as though the vice is short and I wanted it raised. It's the opposite. The vice is taller than I wanted so I wanted to sink the leg into the ground a bit to make it shorter. The steel plate exists as a counterweight to the pole. In a non-buried mount, the acorn would rest on the steel plate. In the buried mount, I would drill a hole into the steel plate so the leg could pass through into the ground. Username 'anvil' referred to my curves at the bottom as clamps. These are not clamps. That was my non-artistic attempt at depicting a pipe which would attach to the underside of the steel plate and closed at the bottom of the pipe - only if needed. Sounds like just burying into the dirt is fine though as long as I make sure the dirt is hard packed first. I might go ahead and weld a pipe to the underside of the plate anyway - just in case the impact from hammering over time pushes the packed dirt down enough that the leg is no longer touching. A welded on pipe would ensure That it was at least always making contact with the bottom of the pipe. 

[Frosty]

Your drawing was clear enough but I'm not very tall so . . .

Counter weight to the pole?  What are you mounting it to? 

Frosty The Lucky.

[Shainarue]

The vice is mounted to an above-ground pole. The pole is attached to a steel plate to add weight. The pole is the correct height for a shorter vice. If I wanted to swap out and put a taller vice on it, I just wanted to make sure it was okay that part of the leg ended up in the ground. And if so - did it need to be supported further with additional steel or is just the ground okay.

I think it's been answered though, lol

 

[Frosty]

Okay, the plate is the pole's base, yes? I'm with you on lowering your vise to a comfortable working height. Didn't I offer a practical suggestion for lowering the leg, making it rock solid and easy to remove / return? 

Frosty The Lucky.

[Shainarue]

Yeah, your answer made sense. Just in my case I wouldn't cut a piece of steel plate because there's already one there. So I'd just drill a hole for the acorn. Don't need to stake anything either because the existing base is 100lb on its own. 

[TWISTEDWILLOW]

Shanias talking bout building stands like I do outta steel but instead of the acorn setting on the plate like mine having it pass through to lower the vise height, 

it’s a good idea Shania! I think it will work good for you on that Peter Wright farm vise! I hadn’t thought of that before!

[anvil]

communications is sometimes hard to deal with especially on line. The important thing is that your vice is secure. As long as the  acorn wont move left/right, fore/aft and there is something under it to absorb the force, best attached to the post, you will be alright and burying it to get proper height makes no difference.  

Have fun

[ThomasPowers]

100 pounds is nothing.  I've moved power hammers all by myself using prybars and rollers...(Need to go out to the shop and get the propane/gasoline generator out of the bed of the truck---my wife bought it at the scrapyard!)

[TWISTEDWILLOW]

I don’t have any trouble with my stands moving on me, an they weigh 100 pound or less minus the vises, 

but then again I’m not normally working anything bigger then 1” stock or stock longer then 3-4’ 

I can move them as need be to rearrange the smithy,

that setup works great for me but may not work for everyone,

now when I’m needing something I can clamp down heavy stock or really long stock an need to put some torque on it,

I use the 200 pound 8” vise bolted to my 1000 pound table and have no issues,