Woodworking Vise Upgrade to Modular Workbenches
For anyone new, a few years ago I made a couple of modular 2X4 foot workbenches out of pallet wood that are designed to be bolted together. The idea came from a YouTube video and I just modified it a bit to use pallet wood. Here is what the modular benches look like...
You can see the holes I drilled out in the top 2X4 frame, which are the same on the other workbench. Those holes are on all sides and are exactly 1 foot apart. That allows me to bolt the benches together side by side, end to end, or any number of other configurations.
I have been posting some upgrades to that basic build over the past weeks or so, and today I am posting another useful upgrade to my modular workbenches.
Last November, I bought a 7" Woodworking Vise from Menards that I wanted to use on my modular workbenches. At the time, my modular workbenches were down in my basement in winter storage, because I needed the space for our cars over the winter. But Menards was offering a $20.00 rebate, plus their 11% off on the item, so I bought it with the hopes of someday installing it on a workbench. Here is the vise I got...
At first, I considered just installing it "normally" on the workbench. But then I thought to myself, why would I want to make a permanent install on a modular workbench that is made to adapt to any needs of my current project. I could see that a permanently installed vise on a workbench would limit my future options of use for the modular workbench.
After racking my brain for a few weeks, I came up with a solution to make the vise install modular, not permanent, using the same holes that I have previously drilled into the 2X4 top frame.
I'll let the pictures tell most of the story. First, here is the vise completely installed and ready to use...
Next, you can see that I was able to make it a modular install, first by using that 2-foot-long, 2-inch-thick board which was bolted into the workbench using the holes previously drilled into the frame. Then I mounted the vise to the 2-inch-thick board, and finally I added a couple of 2X6 boards to the inside of the jaws of the vise. The idea of using wood boards on the vise is so that you don't mar any wood you clamp down on. Remember, this is a woodworking vise...
Of course, most of the strength comes in that middle section where the metal vise is located, but the extended 2-foot-long wood pieces allow me to clamp down a much longer piece of wood to work on. Very nice!
Another big advantage to going out the full 2-foot-long is that I can slip in long boards vertically to work on while the vise holds them tight. Here is a picture of a 4-foot-long 2X6 inserted vertically into that vise. I cannot do that with my "normal" bench vises, so this gives me more options especially for use as a third hand. I love it!
I am very happy with this upgrade. I got a great deal on the purchase of the vise with the rebates, and all the wood I used was salvaged from other projects.
In order to make the install removable, I had to purchase some new bolts, washers, and nuts but that was only about $2.50. I thought that was a small price to pay for the benefit of making the install modular. I can install this vise in the middle, at the end, or on the side of the workbench. Wherever I want to put it.
I even had a nice little bonus for the chickens. The three pieces of wood I used for the vise install were rough cut to size. Then I used my hand-held power planner to plane everything down flush on top. That gave me a lot of nice, fluffy, pine shavings on the floor. I swept them up and put them into the nest boxes out in the chicken coop. If I was a chicken, I think those fresh pine shavings would be very nice in my nest box!
Well, I am very happy with my pallet wood modular benches and the recent upgrades I have been posting. I don't have any more upgrades to the benches planned at this time, but if something comes up, I'll post it. If anyone has some suggestions that they have done to upgrade their workbench, I would love to hear about it. Thanks.
