Workbench design - MFT + woodworking vise

[Toddbg]

Has anyone made a work bench with a MFT style top and incorporated normal woodworking vises?
I'm interested in making one and am wanting to add a knee vise and something like the twin turbo vise from Andy klein.

Appreciate any links, photos, advice. Trying to decide how to construct the top and include those things

 

[TSO_Products]

good topic to pursue for anyone considering actively doing hybrid woodworking. At TSO we are expanding a line of workholding Dogs: "Power-Loc" which can be locked entirely from above the worktop.

The typical top for a conventional workbench will be quite a bit thicker than the tpical 3/4" MFT style top. So you want to be thinking about how to be able to secure dogs - or not provide for that capabiility and simply use the Dogs as a STOP.

email me directly if you interested in discussing:
      info@tsoproducts.com 
      attention: Hans

 

[waho6o9]

Here's one from the public domain, not mine.
View attachment 1

Looks sturdy enough to use hand planes on it, I like it. 

 

[woodferret]

The one above is from /u/Birdhunterhttps://www.festoolownersgroup.com/...ts/vise-options-for-mft3/msg540169/#msg540169

 

[dashboardpws]

We offer an attachment for our bench called the Door and Panel Support that, along with track clamps used in both of the bench's tracks creates an effective vise-like setup to hold and back up workpieces of many sizes.

 

[waho6o9]

Thanks woodferret!

Good job Birdhunter

 

[mattgam]

This is an area I've been doing far too much experimentation on (aka spending a ton of money on experiments):

• Woodpeckers Viceless workholding
• Zyliss Vise
• Wedge Vise
• Rockler Quick Release Vice (next project)

So of these:
The Woodpeckers viseless workholding works great for edge planing but is spendy for what it does.

The Zyliss vise I spotted on a demo video in use on Jeff's workbench.  That led to some sleuthing an I discovered this beast of 80's engineering.  It's shockingly useful for most workholding except for edge planing.  If you get this be aware that there are 1 versions, one has a quick release and the other does not.  I discovered this after buying one without...anyone want a Zyliss vise...I now have 2 of these.

I wanted an easier way to do edge planning which is where I saw a wedge vise for sale on the CIHI Facebook group. Link is to the Stanley version but mine is by a small US maker. I mounted mine on a jig with bench dogs on the bottom which allows me to mount it to my MFT-like bench in next to no time and it holds boards with an iron grip.  I ordered a set of the TSO powerlocks to try out with my jig.  I love this thing and have no idea why it died out in use.  I many have bought a second smaller one just for use on very thin stock.

For no other reason than I'm an engineer and like to design stuff. I just ordered a 12" rockler quick release vise and am going to set it up for fast mounting to the 8020 15 series extrusion that I use on my bench.  I've got a design in mind for being able to add and remove it quickly. 

My bench is very much for hybrid use having bought a lot of Rob's Dashboard Accessories(all are great give Rob your money).  I lack space so I needed a hybrid bench to support my power and hand tool hobbies. 

 

[festal]

This is an area I've been doing far too much experimentation on (aka spending a ton of money on experiments):

• Woodpeckers Viceless workholding
• Zyliss Vise
• Wedge Vise
• Rockler Quick Release Vice (next project)

So of these:
The Woodpeckers viseless workholding works great for edge planing but is spendy for what it does.

The Zyliss vise I spotted on a demo video in use on Jeff's workbench.  That led to some sleuthing an I discovered this beast of 80's engineering.  It's shockingly useful for most workholding except for edge planing.  If you get this be aware that there are 1 versions, one has a quick release and the other does not.  I discovered this after buying one without...anyone want a Zyliss vise...I now have 2 of these.

I wanted an easier way to do edge planning which is where I saw a wedge vise for sale on the CIHI Facebook group. Link is to the Stanley version but mine is by a small US maker. I mounted mine on a jig with bench dogs on the bottom which allows me to mount it to my MFT-like bench in next to no time and it holds boards with an iron grip.  I ordered a set of the TSO powerlocks to try out with my jig.  I love this thing and have no idea why it died out in use.  I many have bought a second smaller one just for use on very thin stock.

For no other reason than I'm an engineer and like to design stuff. I just ordered a 12" rockler quick release vise and am going to set it up for fast mounting to the 8020 15 series extrusion that I use on my bench.  I've got a design in mind for being able to add and remove it quickly. 

My bench is very much for hybrid use having bought a lot of Rob's Dashboard Accessories(all are great give Rob your money).  I lack space so I needed a hybrid bench to support my power and hand tool hobbies.

Can you post pictures of your bench?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[mattgam]

[member=71889]festal[/member] the bench is presently in a PODs awaiting pickup as we are in the middle of a move.  I'll post better pictures once I have it with me again.  I have some "in progress" pics of various parts of it from when I was building it which I'll attach but they aren't great.

I'll do a long post on this all once my move is done and I can take some better pics, but as background I have very limited space and am a hobbiest woodworker.  All my extrusion was bought from tnutz and is 15 series.  The extrusion is overkill but I like the look of metal and wood and use it for all my shop projects. The fact that it can have a car parked on it is just a benefit! I refer to the bench as "the worlds most overengineered workbench".  As it turns out I like designing shop furniture, so its been most of what I've built the past year. 

The main worktop is a 60"x27"x1.5" butcher block I got from woodcraft for $110 on a black friday deal and I sealed it with dewaxed shellac and then a few coasts of osmo polyx.  I used the UJK Parf Guide System Mark II system to punch the holes in the top with standard 96mm on center spacing and 1 row 48mm spaced to use for mounting fences closer to the edge.  While I don't think 1.5" deep holes are recommended for the parf guide it did work fine.  I did chamfer all the holes with a router after drilling. The top was wrapped in extrusion for a total size of 63"x30" and is designed for quick attachment.  It's heavy but sane to carry the top around.  I've included pics of the raw top and the top mounted to the extrusion carcass.  Amusingly at this point I was able to use the bench for several months and decide how I wanted to build it out. 

Eventually I was inspired to totally rip off [member=67145]Dusty.Tools[/member] router table design and I built the lower part of the bench as a router table with a removable woodpecker fence and a phenolic top.  I then added drawers in every bit of unused space.  When not in use the fence stores on a shelf in the rear of the bench.  Everything is on casters as I need to roll things around to use them.

Since I also wanted to use handtools and I knew a heavy bench was key to stability, I went a bit extreme and used 1.5"/40mm thick MDF for all the carcass panels.  I used rubio monocoat intense black precolor to dye all the panels jet black (looks soooooo good) and then flooded them all with totalboat halcyon varnish to seal them up.  To mount the panels I broke out my domino and used 8mmx50mm dominos cut down to about 40mm.  The 8mm dominos perfectly fit in the 15 series extrusion slots and let me just slid them in with no fuss. I've stood on the carcass (I weigh close to 300 pounds) and it didn't flex.  For handtool use the various jigs and retaining mechanisms have allowed me to do scrub planing, edge jointing, and all manner of dadoing with a totally stable surface to work on.  A roubo would be awesome but I just can't afford the space.

I've also built several sysport's that each have 4 drawers with 2 systainers per drawer.  The cabinets are also 30" deep and when the work top is disconnected from the main workbench for router table use I can use 2 of my sysports to mount the top and have it as a work bench at the exact same working height as the main bench. 

The pic of the mitee grip shows how I mounted it to the bench on a simple jig which is 3 Tracktubes Trackdogs and one 1/4-20 T-bolt and knob.  I just slip the T-bolt into the extrusion, slide it to where I want it then press it into 3 of the dog holes in the bench and tighten the knob.  The Wedge vise does not budge when locked like this.

 

[festal]

Thank you.  Didn't know about domino and extrusions, good info.  What is that mitee-grip? never seen it before?  I used mitee bite products but this is not the same.

 

[mattgam]

[member=71889]festal[/member] its called a wedge vice.  you basically slide a board in it and the movable part locks the edge of a board in it with an iron grip.  a tap with a mallet gets it out.  Fantastic if you don't have an end vise for jointing boards and rabbeting.  As for the brand, it hasn't existed since the 70's as far as I could find.  It is a shame since the things are fantastic and simple work holding.  I picked my up for $20 on the CIHI antique tool auction facebook group. 

 

[ear3]

I made a hybrid bench that is more towards the traditional workbench end of the spectrum, which incorporates a leg vise and wagon vise from benchcrafted (the wagon vise i cannot recommend strongly enough).  But I do most of my tracksawing on the bench (except for sheet goods and items greater in length than the bench), along with all of my dominoing and sanding.  The hole pattern allows me to use benchdog mounted automax clamps + fences for workholding when dominoing, and the wagon vise takes care of workholding while sanding.  Extra low profile diy wooden dogs (which project less than 1/4" above the bench) even permit sanding of superthin material, and so the in-line clamping elements don't get much use anymore.  For a couple of years I worked with a hole-patterned 3/4" MDF top,  but found it not sufficient when I started incorporating more handtools.
 

 

[mattgam]

[member=37411]ear3[/member] I love what you did with your bench.  I've been trying to figure out how to make a wagon vise work in my setup and your post has me thinking I need to get more serious on making it work!

 

[mattgam]

[member=71889]festal[/member] There is an auction this weekend with one of the wedge vises and it had a good picture so I grabbed it to give you a better idea on how they work.

 

[festal]

[member=71889]festal[/member] There is an auction this weekend with one of the wedge vises and it had a good picture so I grabbed it to give you a better idea on how they work.

Thank you

 

[Packard]

It is 30+ years old and has never fully retired.  I use it regularly for doweling on cabinet cases.  Still very handy. 
Note:  This is not the exact model that I have.  They probably do not still make the one I use.

 

[Mini Me]

Here is a video of work holding with no vice on a conventional bench for hand work.

 

[gunnyr]

I built the Paulk Compact Workbench several years ago.  A friend on another forum mentioned that he was building Paulk's new Smart Bench and would be adding a vise to it based on Paulk's design using the [member=61691]TSO_Products[/member] Bench Connector Dogs. 

Paulk Smart Bench Woodworking Vise

Rather than using the vise Paulk recommended I used this vise from Amazon because I needed a deeper front jaw than the one Paulk recommended.  Of course I wasn't able to add the vise until exactly one day after I needed it!  The beauty of Paulks design is that the vise can easily be removed and repositioned.

[attachimg=1]

 

 

[Bob D.]

It is 30+ years old and has never fully retired.  I use it regularly for doweling on cabinet cases.  Still very handy. 
Note:  This is not the exact model that I have.  They probably do not still make the one I use.

I still have mine and use it from time to time. I used it today in fact. Mine is also an older model, I bought it in 1978, but it's still in very good shape. I was in the second year of my apprenticeship; didn't have a lot of money; and rented a small house from a friend. There was no room for a shop and no garage so the only place I had to work was outside or in the mechanical room with the boiler and the water heater. I think there was maybe 30 sq. feet of open space in that room. If I had a long board to cut I had to let the end hang out the door to the outside. Didn't work so well in Winter.  [sad]

The dog holes are 20mm surprisingly. Well maybe not since they originator was in England. But all my modern day 20mm clamps and dogs fit perfectly.