Large vise - fixed location or rolling?

[Quijote]

I have a Starrett 626 (big, ~200lbs) that has been sitting in a corner of my garage too long and I want to recondition it and have available to use. My garage/shop is not large and probably too nice, so I do messy work outside. Because the vise is so large, I prefer that it be on wheels and not taking up space on a work bench. Also, it's so large that at work bench-height it may be too high. Hard to imagine using it often since I do have a normal vise on a work bench, so if I need it, it will be for a big job and I'd probably want to use it outside.

I also have a grinder on a stand (bought it used that way) and a belt sander (new). Ideally all these would be wheeled so don't make a mess in the garage.

Ideas:

1) Put all three items including vise on a cart I would make with HD casters. (The grinder, since it has a stand, could be on its own, I guess).

2) Make a dedicated, wheeled stand just for the large vise, since it will be seldom used and would allow the other items to be more easily moved without that boat anchor always being on that cart.

Thoughts?

 

[blazemaster83]

I would not want any vise on a rolling stand, especially not a big one. I have a similar sized parker vise at 187 lbs. I built a stand from some heavy pipe, 1" plate and a large truck brake drum, I would guess it weighs about 350. I don't have it on wheels, but I keep an old appliance dolley near it, and can move it to where I need. I keep it right inside the door, so when I want to do some dirty work outside I don't have to move it very far. Seems to work great but will still move around when I go to reef on something(I have a smaller vise on a big steel table for that).

If you do need wheels, make them able to flip up or leveling feet screw down so it's not always sitting on the wheels. That will get old fast.

 

[Quijote]

I would not want any vise on a rolling stand, especially not a big one. I have a similar sized parker vise at 187 lbs. I built a stand from some heavy pipe, 1" plate and a large truck brake drum, I would guess it weighs about 350. I don't have it on wheels, but I keep an old appliance dolley near it, and can move it to where I need. I keep it right inside the door, so when I want to do some dirty work outside I don't have to move it very far. Seems to work great but will still move around when I go to reef on something(I have a smaller vise on a big steel table for that).

If you do need wheels, make them able to flip up or leveling feet screw down so it's not always sitting on the wheels. That will get old fast.

Good call on the dolly. My plan was to have the wheels be retractable but I don't want to complicate the project for something I will hardly use.

 

[larry_g]

The above is one that I have. I also move it with a hand truck when necessary. I have another smaller vise in a stand also and I built them so the JAW heights are the same and also close in height to my bench vises. Having the jaw heights close in height allows me to hold long stuff in two places or fixture a couple of pieces for welding.

lg
no neat sig line

 

[Mr. Wonderful]

I did it similar to Larry. I filled the drum with concrete so it's pushing 500lbs. I thought i would want to be able to move it around more but I've been pretty happy with it in one spot. I can move if I need to.

 

[blazemaster83]

^ That looks pretty much identical to what I have and I thought about filling it with concrete but haven't gotten around to it.