Not the hussy, the mag drill. A while back I mentioned that my Wilton bullet vise mounted to the welding table "failed". In truth, it was the result my attempt to beat a piece of steel into submission. I was a bit energetic when I whacked it. If you ever wondered what material the base is made of, I can confirm it's cast iron. Two pieces broke out of the base where the bar grabs onto it. When this happened I replaced the broken vise with a lighter Wilton Apprentice. It's nice for a cheap tool, has cleaner unmolested jaws and would win the beauty contest. It's just not very impressive. Although I managed to break the bullet vise, it seems more robust than the replacement. I missed the old vise.
It took a while to think up a way to put the old vise back into service. It just needed something under it with a big round hole, some clearance underneath and a means to bolt it down.. It seemed that a short piece of 8" channel with a big hole and some tabs welded onto it would do the trick. My cupboard was bare, so I asked my best bud (and fellow scrounger). He didn't have 8" channel, but he did have a bent plate that looked like an old base for some pumps or something. It is about 4" wider than I wanted but a piece of 1/4" steel plate could be harvested from it.
A base plate 8" square would work and it could be cut from the piece my bud donated. First step was to lay out an 8" square with a 6 (and bunch of 32nds)" diameter hole in the center. Almost brought the plasma cutter out, but got the hare-brained idea the DeWalt 20V jig saw might work. Darned if it didn't and without a lot of drama. It already had a used metal cutting blade in it that lasted for cutting the whole circle. The hole was large enough to allow some final dressing up with a worn down flap disc. A new flap disc + the angle grinder head wouldn't have fit into the hole.
Next thing was to cut two pieces of 1-1/2" x 1/4" angles 8" long and grind the galvanizing off where they would be welded to the plate. After welding them into place, the mag drill came out for punching 7 holes. One existing hole in the table was used. The holes in the angles were marked and drilled. The mag drill was sucked down to the table top so the cutter would pass through an existing hole in the table top. Then to drill the holes in the angles, the base was moved around and clamped so that the cutter went through the existing hole in the table as it exited the angles.
The base was fastened with a bolt through an existing hole in the table and a transfer punch was used to mark the remaining three. Then the base was removed and the mag drill was relocated a few times to make the new holes in the table. To wrap it up, the new base was fastened to the bottom of the vise with the old hardware and then bolted down to the table. The vise is now easier to rotate and still clamps firmly. HOWEVER, as fate would have it I came up short one 1/2" bolt. There were four that were originally used for the old vise. When I mounted the Apprentice vise, one of the holes in its base ended up in a spot where it didn't work to get a nut on the underside so I tapped a 3/8 hole for that corner. Strangely, with the tons of stuff I have squirreled away I couldn't find ONE LOUSY 1/2" BOLT TODAY!
EDIT - Found a bunch of 1/2"" bolts this morning
It took a while to think up a way to put the old vise back into service. It just needed something under it with a big round hole, some clearance underneath and a means to bolt it down.. It seemed that a short piece of 8" channel with a big hole and some tabs welded onto it would do the trick. My cupboard was bare, so I asked my best bud (and fellow scrounger). He didn't have 8" channel, but he did have a bent plate that looked like an old base for some pumps or something. It is about 4" wider than I wanted but a piece of 1/4" steel plate could be harvested from it.
A base plate 8" square would work and it could be cut from the piece my bud donated. First step was to lay out an 8" square with a 6 (and bunch of 32nds)" diameter hole in the center. Almost brought the plasma cutter out, but got the hare-brained idea the DeWalt 20V jig saw might work. Darned if it didn't and without a lot of drama. It already had a used metal cutting blade in it that lasted for cutting the whole circle. The hole was large enough to allow some final dressing up with a worn down flap disc. A new flap disc + the angle grinder head wouldn't have fit into the hole.
Next thing was to cut two pieces of 1-1/2" x 1/4" angles 8" long and grind the galvanizing off where they would be welded to the plate. After welding them into place, the mag drill came out for punching 7 holes. One existing hole in the table was used. The holes in the angles were marked and drilled. The mag drill was sucked down to the table top so the cutter would pass through an existing hole in the table top. Then to drill the holes in the angles, the base was moved around and clamped so that the cutter went through the existing hole in the table as it exited the angles.
The base was fastened with a bolt through an existing hole in the table and a transfer punch was used to mark the remaining three. Then the base was removed and the mag drill was relocated a few times to make the new holes in the table. To wrap it up, the new base was fastened to the bottom of the vise with the old hardware and then bolted down to the table. The vise is now easier to rotate and still clamps firmly. HOWEVER, as fate would have it I came up short one 1/2" bolt. There were four that were originally used for the old vise. When I mounted the Apprentice vise, one of the holes in its base ended up in a spot where it didn't work to get a nut on the underside so I tapped a 3/8 hole for that corner. Strangely, with the tons of stuff I have squirreled away I couldn't find ONE LOUSY 1/2" BOLT TODAY!
EDIT - Found a bunch of 1/2"" bolts this morning
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