Bench vise

[Memmeddu]

Hi everyone
As some of you , I spend some of my time looking to eBay and other E-Commerce seeking for tools to replace or improve ect
Anyway I'm pretty sure that my Ideal bench vise doesn't exist
Or at least not under 400 euros .
I actually have a 60 euros (I got it for free) Maurer "unbreakable" cast steel 100mm bench vise
It's a good vise but it's kinda small , it's ugly,it doesn't have screws to adjust the way ,it doesn't have pipe jaws .

I've found 4 bench vises on internet which could be enough good for me but all them have something which doesn't match what I want .
So the FZA Mondial and the Ariex Ruby both in 125mm (150mm are too much expensive)both have fixed jaws ,one has not pipe jaws , and the FZA have removable pipe jaws , adjustable ways
Those are cheap Italian made good quality vises

A Brixo Hercules 150mm , it has removable pipe jaws , bolted jaws, adjustable ways .
It has practically everything I need .
But it's very poor quality and it doesn't have an acceptable travel length which is surely less than the jaws width .
Another thing the jaws are horrible at least 15mm thick maybe even 18mm ,so I should bring them to my local machinist to reduce the thickness , and cut the seats on the vise to gain space and have something aesthetical acceptable

An HIT (something like Maurer but Italian) forged steel 150mm with something like 200mm travel length
Bolted jaws
Adjustable ways
HRC 56 jaws
That one would be great and it doesn't cost too much (still around 180 euros )
But it has a major issue , pipe jaws can't be removed because are welded , and could be a problem

So essentially a vise for me doesn't exist
I will probably end up buying the 150mm version of my actual vise

Does someone here have my same difficult to find his/her perfect bench vise?

 

[tom2207]

who says you can only have one ,,,,

 

[Memmeddu]

who says you can only have one ,,,,

In fact I have two vises right now
Here in the picture you can see the bench vise on the left and an Ariex 3" pipe vise on the right
And many other things on the bench between them

 

[Arc Tourist]

Have you seen this type of pipe vice ?

It uses a chain which can accommodate small and large pipes, different shape tubing, and some odd shaped items.
It takes up little space and can be bolted to a bench, or to a piece of angle iron and clamped into a bench vise when needed.
.

 

[Memmeddu]

Have you seen this type of pipe vice ?

It uses a chain which can accommodate small and large pipes, different shape tubing, and some odd shaped items.
It takes up little space and can be bolted to a bench, or to a piece of angle iron and clamped into a bench vise when needed.
.View attachment 229894

Yes I know this type of vise , it's even better than mine because has a very wide range , and I think that it probably doesn't scratch too much the surface either

 

[mike os]

Swindens? Might fit your requirements

 

[dobbslc]

Swindens = lots of £££ or €€€!
Very good vice if you can find one though.
.

 

[Memmeddu]

I need a middle range vise , nothing too expensive but surely not cast iron

 

[Arc Tourist]

I need a middle range vise , nothing too expensive but surely not cast iron

Have you considered welding one up out of steel to suit your needs ?
There are videos on YouTube.

 

[Memmeddu]

Have you considered welding one up out of steel to suit your needs ?
There are videos on YouTube.

It's something I've considered time ago but I have problems to control distortion and a vise out of square is is useless

 

[winchman]

In the UK, Record are excellent but expensive
Paramo, Parkinson, Woden and Fortis are all excellent but not as sought after, My own Fortis vice is almost 100 years old and still perfect, the castings are not as refined as Record but its excellent mine was £10 from a Car boot sale!
Ajax are a Fortis vice with a different brand on it.
You can often see these lesser known vices for under £50 on Ebay etc, I would see how much a courier would be as you may get a much better quality vice for less money by buying it in the UK.
I am certain some one on here would have one to sell you.
I also like York Vices made in the Chec republic, I have seen them sell on Ebay for more money than new?
http://www.york.cz/en/workshop-bench-vices-york-text

 

[Arc Tourist]

Other quality vise names to look out for are, Columbian, Wilton, Athol (Starrett), and Yost.

 

[Arc Tourist]

Have you considered welding one up out of steel to suit your needs ?
There are videos on YouTube.

It's something I've considered time ago but I have problems to control distortion and a vise out of square is is useless

Not sure, but thought this might be of interest to you? Have a look at this homemade Steel Vice which I saw in a video today.
It looks well designed and heavy duty. You can see it at 1:24 and also 4:14 minutes into the video. www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAViA-jroio

 

[winchman]

Talk to McDavid he is very helpful and knows a lot about international shipping, he might be able to advise of costs of having a vice collected from the UK, it might be cheaper than you think?

 

[Ed.]

It's something I've considered time ago but I have problems to control distortion and a vise out of square is is useless

I made two very large offset vices out of scrap a few years ago for very little money, hardest thing to find is a large solid thread/bolt and the hardened jaws (unless you make those as well), so if you have a decent welder, and scrap lying around you should have a go at making one, they are a bit time consuming to do but fairly simple to make and being fabricated they won't crack when hit with a B.F.G. I did put up the builds here a few years ago, they are 200mm wide and can open up to about 27-32cm.

Had a quick look around here but for some reason my thread build has disappeared off this forum, but managed to track it down on another forum I posted it on, hope putting a link to another forum doesn't violate any rules here, if it does, the Mods can remove it and I will try to put it back up on this forum if anyone is interested.

https://www.shopfloortalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=25034

 

[Seadog]

That's a nice job. I must admit that the colour scheme took me by surprise, but my vision's slowing returning

 

[Memmeddu]

That's a nice job. I must admit that the colour scheme took me by surprise, but my vision's slowing returning

I agree a very big heavy duty vice
350A to weld 10mm makes me laugh because there are people who ask if they can weld those thicknesses using the little Lidl flux core welder

 

[Ed.]

Both the yellow and red colour faded quite quickly, so not as bad as when first painted, I just used what I had.

I am fortunate that my welder has the power to weld any thickness of steel so that wasn't an issue for me, however there is no reason that a vice can't be made with thinner metal, bevelling, multipass welds using a much smaller welder.

I had a heap of thick metal to play with so that is why it ended up the size it did.