ear3
Member
I'm considering whether to redo my workbench (currently MFT style with evenly spaced holes across a 30x72 piece of MDF, with hardwood edging for t-slots, mounted on 4x4 legs bolted to the concrete floor of my shop) to make it more compatible with hand tool work. I want to keep it mainly for power tool use, so lots of holes for clamping and bracing, but I would like to add a tail vise, and possibly a vise in the front or even a leg vise.
I'm not thinking full on Roubo here -- rather, something that remains fairly thin, like 1" to 1 1/4" of hardwood so I can still use things like clamping elements and screw clamps through the holes. I understand that for the tail vise I would have to thicken up part of the apron to make it work. The model sold by benchcrafted seems ideally suited for what I want, since the wheel stays fixed in place rather than moving out from the bench when you turn it -- I have limited space:
http://benchcrafted.com/TailVise.html
So I'm wondering if anyone has put the benchcrafted tail vise on a thinner bench, or if not, what other options there might be for tail vises (or leg vices for that matter given these constraints).
I'm not thinking full on Roubo here -- rather, something that remains fairly thin, like 1" to 1 1/4" of hardwood so I can still use things like clamping elements and screw clamps through the holes. I understand that for the tail vise I would have to thicken up part of the apron to make it work. The model sold by benchcrafted seems ideally suited for what I want, since the wheel stays fixed in place rather than moving out from the bench when you turn it -- I have limited space:
http://benchcrafted.com/TailVise.html
So I'm wondering if anyone has put the benchcrafted tail vise on a thinner bench, or if not, what other options there might be for tail vises (or leg vices for that matter given these constraints).
