Need help fastening vise to MFT top

[rocky100370]

Greetings all. Trying to mount my vise (standard regular one) to a workbench that has a MFT top. Id like to use dogs so Im able to remove easily if necessary. Any ideas would be appreciated.

 

[Steve1]

Would help if you show us which vise you want to mount.

This is not my MFT bench, but I wanted to have my machine vise removable.  So I mounted 3 steel plates to the bench structure, under the benchtop, and tapped 3 holes in them.  The steel plates are retained by big flat-head wood screws and are mortised into bench structure.  On the left side of the bench is a big wood vise, and I made sure the rear (fixed) jaws on both vises were co-planar.  Comes in handy sometimes for long work-pieces.
So I have 3 screws to remove the vise.    Actually, I have never needed to remove it.

 

 

[Bob D.]

Mount your vise to a piece of 3/8" or 1/2" plate with holes to match your dog hole pattern on your benchtop. Use four dogs with thread tapped in the center, 5/16" or M8 or whatever you have, then use either bolts with washers or knobs with washers on the underside to pull the dog down from below and clamp the mounting plate and with it the vise to the worktop.

If the holes in your mounting plate are sized properly the vise should not shift around when you use it.

I wouldn't go less than 3/8" (8mm) plate unless you expected use is all light work. But you don't tell us what size vise you plan to put up there.

 

[Packard]

Mount the vise on 1-1/2” x 18” x 18” plywood.  (Glue two pieces of 3/4” ply to get the thickness. 

Then use a couple of Festool clamps to hold it down on the table top.  Or use two the dog holes and a couple of clamps.

Note:  You don’t mention if this is a heavy duty metal working vise or a lighter duty one.  For light duty, 3/4” thick is probably fine.

 

[waho6o9]

Birdhunter has a nice attachment for a vise. 
View attachment 1

 

[Cheese]

I made some long 20 mm dogs from aluminum stock because the maple top is 1 1/2" thick.

[attachimg=1]

Attached some 3/4" ply to the bottom of the vise using 3/8-16 fasteners.

[attachimg=2]

The vise can now be moved to either end of the bench or removed completely for bulky projects.

[attachimg=3]

Using the same sub-base technique, I can also place this Roper Whitney punch press anywhere on a MFT style bench using TSO Power-Loc dogs.

[attachimg=4]

 

[ChuckM]

If it's for light-duty use, the simplest mounting way is to bolt the vise to a plywood base with four dowels glued to it that match the holes on the bench. You can drop the whole set-up on the bench when the vise is needed. You can also do the same with other bench tools such as a grinder or sander.

 

[Bob D.]

[member=44099]Cheese[/member] is showing just what I was describing using the dogs.

 

[woodferret]

If you want to get fancy and not have to reach under for securing knobs, you can plate it and use TSO power locs.

 

[Cheese]

If you want to get fancy and not have to reach under for securing knobs, you can plate it and use TSO power locs.

The only caveat is that there are limited lengths of power locs available. So I needed 1 1/2" + 3/4" =2 1/4" power locs. That length is not available unless a groundswell of folks petitioned TSO for future release.  [smile]

 

[TSO_Products]

- TSO is listening for any requirements calling for longer reach Power-Loc connect dogs.
Let us know your particular reach requirements.

Hans

 

[mattgam]

[member=61691]TSO_Products[/member] I use a 40mm MFT top made from a butcher block and the power lags are too short to be used with it.

 

[rocky100370]

Thank you all for your suggestions. Woodferret has the solution Im looking for. Just ordered 4 of the power locks.

 

[Vondawg]

[member=74041]rocky100370[/member] …For more attachment ideas check out Ron Paulk that’s the way he attaches everything to his bench set up

 

[sancho57]

I just mounted the vice to some MDF made the MDF look like a L to butt up to the edge of the MFT so i can clamp it to the front or use the dog holes or both.

store it on a shelf i set under the MFT (just a piece of ply set on the 2 cross members)

 

[afish]

If you want to get fancy and not have to reach under for securing knobs, you can plate it and use TSO power locs.

The only caveat is that there are limited lengths of power locs available. So I needed 1 1/2" + 3/4" =2 1/4" power locs. That length is not available unless a groundswell of folks petitioned TSO for future release.  [smile]

You could enlarge the dog holes on the bottom to .75