Need Advise of Travel Vise Pedestal Base

[Uncle Jesse]

Uncle Jesse, I have also thought about a wooden holder for the vise stem, and had an idea, but have not reached a decision yet. How did you set up the clamp so it would hold, did you use a Tee nut or something similar to hold the treads of the clamping screw? Gandolf

Without disassembly to check the vertical 2"x2" is attached to the 1/2"x2" with wood glue and drywall screws and then attached to the bench with drywall screws. I drilled a hole for the stem and then the clamping screw and tapped the clamp screw hole with a 1/4" tap. Dried oak taps really well, no one ever taught me better than do it. You can drill a hole in pine or softer wood, fill it with epoxy, redrill and then tap, works very well.

It you find a crew installed iron water mains, they will probably give you oak 4X4's. Around here they typically bury them, they are rough sawed and sometime have splits but you can get some very workable wood out of them.

[Greg H]

Gandolf – this is a lot simpler than most imagine. If the base is large enough, it doesn't have to be heavy, it just has to have a footprint that is outside your angle of pull when you are tightening the thread on the hook.
I made one from a maple cutting board that cost about $5 at the hardware store. It measures 6" x 9" x3/4" and fits in my tying bag (a cosmetic bag from the drugstore).
You just need to drill two holes (a drill press really helps with this) and have one bolt and nut. I used the kind of bolt and nut used in assembling modular furniture because it looks nicer and has a hex driver 'slot' in the head.
Drill a hole for the vise stem 1" from the end of the board. Drill the hole for the bolt into the end of the board so that it intersects the stem hole. From the bottom of the board drill a smaller hole (just big enough to accommodate the nut) about 1/2 way into the board.
Insert the nut in the smaller hole so that it can be engaged by the bolt (the bolt bores through the nut). I epoxied the nut in place. Now the bolt will 'drill' into the board until it presses against the stem of the vise, trapping it in the vise hole.
I added a second hole in the end of the board to hold the hex wrench, put rubber non-slip feet on the bottom. On top I glued a magnetic card to hold hooks. For the same purpose some people drill another hole into the bottom to insert a rare earth magnet (strong enough to hold hooks to the topside) so the top of the board remains unaltered.

Vise & Base.jpg

BTW. I keep the clamp in the bag to in case that is the best option. As well I chose the Griffin (you could get a 2A if you like stationary vises) for travel because the stem comes in two pieces - compact for travel and also for adjusting to different (coffee) table heights. Good luck, Greg

[dave potts]

That's a neat setup Greg. I agree it's the size of the base more than it's weight that counts. All about leverage.

[hap]

Had numerous entertaining discussions with a "some time ago" poster here that lives locally (I forget his FAOL handle) and we argued about just how small one could go and still have a functional base... We were down to very small, light and roughly triangular... It makes one think about the direction he is pulling in... and if that is kept in mind the rest is easy...

Remember, tying in-hand is far from impossible, even with full-dress Atlantics...

[Ray Kunz]

Hi Gandolf, I have confronted this problem in several ways. A popular solution would be to get a Cabelas kit. The cheaper one of the two they offer. I'v been using one for a couple years now to take to classes and the only weakness is that the cam lever itself is not hardened and peens over. It continues to be serviceable however. If it really fails, the lever itsesf can be replaced with a Thompson part. The pin that provides the pivot for the lever is a threaded piece.
Anyway, getting back on track, Remove the small metal base from inside the kit box and epoxy it into a larger box that you build.
The only requirement will be that your new box will have to have a depth of eaxctly 2 inches. Now the weight of your entire box will be your platform. Basically you'd just be making the Cabella's kit vise fit into a new, larger box.
Good luck.

[Jack Hise]

The base is setting on several spools of thread/wire/etc