Mounting a Vice

Strange as it sounds, mounting the vice is perhaps the most important aspect of vice-use to get right. If the vice is mounted incorrectly, it will be hard to use and may even be dangerous.

Height

A vice must be mounted so that when you are standing next to it, the top surface of its jaws is level with your bent elbow. If the bench top is too low, the vice can be raised with a hardwood block.

If the vice is too high, you can stand on a rubber or timber board. Having the vice at the correct height will allow much more accurate filing and hacksaw cutting – your fore-arm will be able to move back and forth horizontally.

Rigidity

A vice must be very securely mounted. This has implications both for the way in which it is attached to the bench, and how secure the bench itself is.

Some books recommend the use of coach screws to attach a vice to a bench – but don’t! Instead, use heavy-duty bolts, nuts and washers to securely bolt the vice to the bench. Large vices use four bolts, while smaller vices may use only two.

It’s no use attaching the vice securely to a bench if the bench can then ‘walk’! The heavier the bench, the better. If you’re working with a bench that is not bolted down and is lighter than desirable, at least make sure that it has a lower shelf on which weighty objects can be placed. A bench that is not bolted to the floor needs to have a mass of at least 150kg if it isn’t to be easily moved around by objects being manipulated in a 150mm vice. If used to mount a vice, this bench should be bolted to the concrete floor. Note the 'feet' that can be used for this purpose.

Location

As we’ve indicated above, vices are normally mounted on heavy benches. But where on the bench? This is a deceptively tricky question. As shown in this diagram, the parting line of the vice is best positioned so that it very slightly overhangs the edge of the bench. In that way, long items can be vertically mounted in the jaws of the vice – and that’s even more important when mounting a vice with offset jaws.