Fitting this vise to this workbench

[Dewald Swanepoel]

I'm hoping you folk might be able to suggest what I might do differently here or whether I'm on the right track. I got a vise for a steal (Exhibit A) but it's not exactly suitable for my workbench (Exhibit B ). Now I'd like to see if I can make it work.

 

The problem is that my workbench has a top of 18mm plywood. I built the whole thing on the cheap and figured that I can replace the top with some face laminated business when I have more time and money. While it's fairly sturdy and serving me well, it doesn't have a vise though and that needs to change but without a face laminated top, it's proving challenging.

 

So my idea was to attach two blocks of hardwood (probably African Mahogany as that's what I currently have some of) as lips to the vise and attach it to the workbench as illustrated (Exhibits C thru F). The workbench top only has a 100mm overhang while the vise base is 120mm wide. This means I can't just screw the vise, AfMahog and worktop all together. I'll probably have to mount the AfMahog to the vise and then mount the vise and AfMahog as a unit to the workbench. Actually, as can be seen in Exhibit F, the three rear mounting holes on the vise base I can chase straight through the AfMahog and top and screw it all together with three carriage bolts. Then Maybe use two lag bolts to screw the base into the AfMahog from the bottom and two lag bolts to screw the AfMahog to the top from above.

This approach would require drilling three holes in the apron for the vise's three rods which I'm not too worried about. Another option would be to cut a rectangular hole in the apron which is big enough for the vise base to fit through so the whole thing can recede further back and sit flush with the edge of the top. This way I could put carriage bolts or something staight through the worktop, the AfMahog and the vise to keep everything very sturdy but I'm not sure I want to compromise the apron like that.

Any opinions? Would welcome your advice.

[duckkisser]

i had to do the same I just drilled the 3 holes and it worked fine. I don't know that I would want to cut the board since it would weaken the strength of the top and might twist or buckle the top slightly.

[wdwerker]

I have a similar vise. I cut the apron and then reinforced it with a wider section of 8/4 stock that hangs down lower. The extension of the table should be more of a "T" shape and hang down further with holes for the screw and rods of the vise.

[Dave H]

I added a deeper bread board edge(apron ?) and drilled the three holes 

[Brendon_t]

I have a similar vise. I cut the apron and then reinforced it with a wider section of 8/4 stock that hangs down lower. The extension of the table should be more of a "T" shape and hang down further with holes for the screw and rods of the vise.

Same here. It actually works quite well.

[Dewald Swanepoel]

Thanks for the pointers and the pictures. It helps a lot.

 

The extension of the table should be more of a "T" shape and hang down further with holes for the screw and rods of the vise.

How about if I just add another lip like the one on the front section and glue/screw it to the block that mounts under the table overhang and on to the base of the vise?