Vise-a-Roni and Clamp-a-Tini

Yea, I know, confusing title, that is why I liked it. Well I am not sure what to call this thing I built for the gahraj. Its a vise stand that is multipurpose as it also is a C-Clamp, Vise Grip and Quick Grip stand / holder, but... it is very very small. Oh, and I added a light for that dazzle factor.

For those of you with short attention spans, here is the finished project.



Ok, now you can hit the back button and move on to more interesting threads, or...

Keep reading along.

So we have an attached two car garage packed full of tools, supplies, half finished projects, all lawn tools, potting supplies and pots. We got a 20ft long 60's convertible on the other side and the missus DD or "her" 70 MGB in the summer on the vise-a-roni side.





The vise doesn't get a lot of use usually, probably because it is such a PITA to use. Generally I like to work just outside the open doors in the driveway under the shade of the main floor deck. (Bi-level house). I do find I use it more in the winter as I don't like being cold anymore and I will move the DD outside and work semi-warm on one side of the closed gahraj.

I have the vise mounted on one of those Harbor Freight grinder stands and have ended up keeping it on this hinky rolling pot stand. I can then roll it outside and make dirt or sparks out there. Most often I will clamp a bolt or other small thing I want to take a hack saw to. Sawing with the right hand and holding the vise from toppling over with the left. I have put up with this system for an embarrassingly looong time.



The other reason for the portability factor is the gas line for the house enters right in this corner. Don't want to make sparks on that.





The long shot. It also shows how dark it is in that corner with the door closed.

The thing that sparked the idea for the vise-a-roni attach the whole tying it to the wall was a few winter's ago I had two big bags of bird seed resting on the base of the vise roller stand and using the vise was much more steady. Those of you with a semi truck rim for your vise stand are saying "duhh" right about now.

I also have long disliked how heavy and awkward my toolbox drawer was where I stored my 8 or 10 heavy C-Clamps.

Heavy clamps + light weight vise stand =



Looking at the photo you can see that the house mud sill is higher up than the initial setup. Using Unistrut for a strong and infinite mount position on the sill will be a good solution for bolting the vise to the house. Add a smallish table top should do the trick.







A piece of 6 x 6 post brings it up to attaching height and also adds substance and protection should I be sledge hammering anything on the anvil part of the vise as I sometimes do.



I realize that I want to roll the whole thing outside still for the occasional sparks and grind session. I will fashion a clamping setup to one of the deck posts for stability. I attached some stationary casters to the base as seen in another GJ thread.

So I made the width match roughly with the grinder stand. The castors would start allowing the stand to roll with just a reasonable amount of lifting on the front.



I reasoned that I would use some type of jack assembly in the front and after perusing many GJ threads with workbenches using a variety of systems I decided to go with the trailer jack from Harbor Freight. Overkill with the load rating, but it has a big tire that should help it roll from the garage to the driveway. The cost was $18 with coupons.



I tried many versions of attaching this to my stand but the large wheel would mean that the jack could not be left in place as it would always be in the way and we would be constantly be tripping over it.





I used some 100 yr old pine I salvaged from a kitchen remodel job for the front vertical and horizontal floor support. I lag bolted it together for strength realizing that most of the rigidity would be coming from bolting the whole thing to the wall.



I then concentrated on making the side wall surface that all the clamps would be hanging from.

Next up was to get some much needed light on the subject. I found this remodel can light along with a high wattage LED spotlight and just screwed the housing to the drywall. It is totally exposed, but due to the garage door and track being in the way you cannot see how ugly it looks unless you duck your head under the track. I used a plug to supply the power and placed a surface mount box up high along the garage door with a simple switch I had here at the gahraj. BIG DIFFERENCE when using the vise now. Even helps when the door is open.



The heavy duty L brackets come from the Unistrut bin at Menards. Cheap and heavy duty. Used 1/2-13 bolts to fasten to the two corners of the new vise table top.









I used a variety of heavy duty hooks for the C-Clamp and Vise Grip side of the storage.

For the Quick Grip clamp side of the Vise-a-Roni I went the french cleat style so many of fellow GJ'ers have used to great success. I stole the idea of making a section so multi clamps can be simply grabbed at once and taken to the job. This is exactly what I do when using clamps. I will be happy to not have to individually remove and replace then from the frame of my shelving unit over by the drill press. I did have to add a lower brace to support the weight of the clamps.













So, that is what a Vice-a-roni Clamp-a-Tini looks like. So far i'm lovin it! The vise is finally rock solid and I can see when I am working in that corner. The super small size works great and I will be filling up the empty spot in my tool box with all variety of hole saws I have accumulated recently.

I thought somebody found some pasta in tool shapes.


Nice organization, the clamp hanger thingy is a particularly good idea. I may steal that one.


I don't understand the thread title... and now I want pasta.

Hey Aaron, just getting a little slap happy since something worked out so well. Tool shaped pasta hmm.... you might have something there!

Thanks to Zanyad for “liking” my 7 yr. Old post today, about my vise stand. I have really liked everything about the stand and functionality it has worked out exactly like I intended.

All the hole saws I moved to my upright tool box? I quickly out grew that single drawer, plus I realized I had many different types of drill bit sets. Wouldn’t it be great if I had ALL the drill bits over by the drill press plus make a flat counter space that filled the corner the drill press was tucked into. Here is the thread for the Drill Bits Cabinet I made to fit under my drill press out of a $40 Habitat for Humanity all wood cabinet.

Nice project

Any way possible you cake take it outside in daylight and get some glamour shots. I am trying to view on my phone and can’t quite make out some of your work.

Not sure why my photos weren’t full size, but I saved them again to my iPad and will make them big.

The metal stand was mounted on a rectangular 2x4 wood base

The back plywood is as wide as the base legs. A nice 2 x 6 was used as a front piece/support. A 2 x 6 was used as a spacer for the back plywood. The left and right plywood sides were attached to these wood pieces straddling the metal pole

I can’t get that photo to load, it’s the 18th one down showing those boards.

Next I made a left and right plywood panel that all the clamps and French cleats mount to.



Next shows the right side with the hangers mounted and the c-clamps and vise grips hanging there.



Now the right side with the French cleat quick grip holder/mounts.



Lastly, a good shot of the vise mounted and the angle brackets attaching to the unistrut which is fastened to the house with lag screws making it very solid.