Help find good small vise for Milwaukee packout worktop

[mikey03]

I live with my mom and she made me get rid of an old workbench I had in the garage with my vise. Rather than go to my uncles house anytime i need a vise for small basic stuff I’m looking at the packout worktop and bolting a small vise onto that. It’s not going to be perfect but I think it will work okay for small stuff.

Idk much about vises or sizes but I think I wouldn’t really need to hold anything bigger than about 2 inches in it. Though if I’m using some wood or rubber to prevent damage then the jaws got to be wider to fit that too. I went on eBay and saw 3” wide jaws and 4” wide honestly idk what I need or what would make sense that could be useful on top of a packout lid since i can’t be doing anything too heavy duty on that anyway.

maybe for light gunsmithing or cutting some short piece of metal pipe for a project or soldering something to hold the wires with small clips just whatever small jobs could be useful.

 

[justintendo]

Where are you located? If you are clise to rust belt old us vises are plentiful and often have smooth jaws.

 

[dbeck18787]

Where are you located? If you are clise to rust belt old us vises are plentiful and often have smooth jaws.

I'm curious, why are old US vises more plentiful near the rust belt rather than the rest of the US?

 

[Shiftless]

Yeah, post your location. Lots of us have extra vises that we might sell, trade, or give away to a younger guy just getting started.

Rust belt areas might have more old vises available because those areas were home to more guys who worked with their hands and appreciated having a vise at home to help hold on to things that needed to be worked on. And the shops where they used to work had vises that were replaced once in a while and the old ones migrated to home workshops. Some of us older fellows are getting too worn out to use vises at home (or getting dead ) and the old vises get listed on FB marketplace etc.

 

[dbeck18787]

Yeah, post your location. Lots of us have extra vises that we might sell, trade, or give away to a younger guy just getting started.

I'm just getting started into the vise collection/rattle can restorations and thought that the comment meant there was more US made vises in the rust belt than the rest of the US. Just wondered why

 

[Steve_P]

I'm just getting started into the vise collection/rattle can restorations and thought that the comment meant there was more US made vises in the rust belt than the rest of the US. Just wondered why

More factories, machine shops, etc, over the last 100 years vs someplace like rural TN where they made socks. In addition, people that work blue collar jobs tend to fix their own stuff and had home workshops- unlike most white-collar folks.

 

[Steve_P]

OP, any cheap vise would be fine for you for this application; there are a ton of cheap options on Amazon like the Yost LV-4. Yes, it's a cheap vise, and I wouldn't call it "good", but for what you're going to be using it for, you don't need anything fancy. If you want something nicer, so that you can use it on a workbench in the future, then the Yost ADI-4 is miles ahead of the LV4, it only weighs 22 lbs (but don't let that fool you), and is on sale with a coupon now.

Amazon.com

Lisle makes various soft jaw covers.

 

[justintendo]

I'm just getting started into the vise collection/rattle can restorations and thought that the comment meant there was more US made vises in the rust belt than the rest of the US. Just wondered why

They were mostly made here, erie, ohio, chicago etc. I live in western pa, where its a no brainer to use an older clean vise. 150-200 bucks will get you a hell of a lifetime vise

 

[deezil]

If you need something cheap, I have had pretty good luck with the all ductile iron vises from the Forward brand. They are sold on Amazon.
I had a 4" at first then the 6" both were very compact for the jaw size but being Ductile Iron they were strong as all get out and had serious clamping power. I gave the 4" to my Sister and the 6" to a kid at work when I bought my ADI8 Yost. I'm pretty sure the 4" version would be perfect for what you want to do and it''l be light enough *** to not trash that top in short order. I stole this pic from Amazon but that is what it looks like below. I'd save a bigger USA made vise for a nice workbench when you can get one. A small littlsetown 400 would work well also.

 

[KnurledNut]

The whole idea of a vise mounted to a Packout seems awkward to me. It looks like a small vise would struggle to clear the edge for vertical work without some modification or custom mount. I guess for light duty it would be okay, but I get the feeling it would get frustrating to use and possibly damage your boxes with time.

 

[rust in the eye]

The whole idea of a vise mounted to a Packout seems awkward to me. It looks like a small vise would struggle to clear the edge for vertical work without some modification or custom mount. I guess for light duty it would be okay, but I get the feeling it would get frustrating to use and possibly damage your boxes with time. @mikey03 Tell your mom you need your workbench back.

The scenario depicted in this ad is beyond comical.

 

[KnurledNut]

The scenario depicted in this ad is beyond comical.

Absolutely. Who needs two pipe wrenches when you have a Packout vise?

 

[rust in the eye]

Absolutely. Who needs two pipe wrenches when you have a Packout vise?

If the notion of leverage from a big pipe wrench like that against that wee little vice is ignored one could easily imagine the whole shebang tipping over, if he weren't loosening that new coupler.
Beyond absurd, you'd think Milwaukee would know their audience and have someone vet these things. I hope the model didn't break a fingernail.

 

[KnurledNut]

If the notion of leverage from a big pipe wrench like that against that wee little vice is ignored one could easily imagine the whole shebang tipping over, if he weren't loosening that new coupler.
Beyond absurd, you'd think Milwaukee would know their audience and have someone vet these things. I hope the model didn't break a fingernail.

Understood. Anyone with iron pipe experience is following your every thought. Ridiculous illustration and that's why I posted it.
Getting back to the thread topic, something like that could prove beneficial for light duty use. Not a terrible idea, but not something I would pursue. But then again, I dislike Packouts all together.

 

[Hakeem]

This little number is like $20 at HF and honestly isn’t too bad:





It’s tiny but pretty useful for clamping smaller stuff. The jaws rotate so you have smooth jaws and also serrated jaws with little cutouts for fasteners and other small round objects. I wouldn’t beat on it with a hammer but it’s done a fine job of holding smaller workpieces.

2-1/2 in. Table Swivel Vise

Amazing deals on this 2-1/2In Table Swivel Vise at Harbor Freight. Quality tools & low prices.

www.harborfreight.com

 

[jayemm]

If the notion of leverage from a big pipe wrench like that against that wee little vice is ignored one could easily imagine the whole shebang tipping over, if he weren't loosening that new coupler.
Beyond absurd, you'd think Milwaukee would know their audience and have someone vet these things. I hope the model didn't break a fingernail.

Right, and dry pipe threads will seal well too.

 

[GeoBruin]

Right, and dry pipe threads will seal well too.

He appears to be loostening the fitting in the image.

 

[nicks78camaro]

To avoid tipping how about a folding mobile work table and mount a vise to that? Something like one of these three designs?

 

[jayemm]

He appears to be loostening the fitting in the image.

Only on GJ. Only on GJ. Sigh.