Mounting vise to metal cabinet?

[erty67]

https://goo.io/KKQVMl

Anyone ever mount a vise (or something similar) to a metal cabinet like this? I have a 5" craftsman vise that I picked up a while back and it's been on the shelf ever since. I picked this cabinet up today (for $40) and thought it'd make a great new home for my old vise. Trouble is the top seems to be made of metal and is not a thick as I expected. I was originally going to build a bench with 3/4" plywood on top. It seems really sturdy though. I just don't know how good it'll handle the vise loaded. I don't plan on working on anything extremely heavy. This is more of a "hobby station" than anything. Any thoughts?

 

[ken w.]

You could put some large flat washers on the bottom side to spread the load out.I don't see much of a problem unless your pounding U-joints apart.

 

[erty67]

You could put some large flat washers on the bottom side to spread the load out.I don't see much of a problem unless your pounding U-joints apart.

yea, I was thinking about that or there is room for me to put plywood under the vise area to help spread the load. I'm mostly looking just to have it when I need an extra set of hands. I can't say I won't be doing any hammering, but I wouldn't overkill. I mostly want it to hold metal when I need to drill it, cut it, etc.

 

[Zeke]

I have vises for holding things and ones for heavy work. It's all in what you normally do. If you put a piece of pipe in the vise on the cabinet will you be able to use a hacksaw w/o the cabinet wobbling? That's when I go to the big dog. But I use my little Shop King all the time. It still looks like this after a year and a half.

 

[Higgins]

How about removing the inside shelf, and install a piece of 3/4" plywood inside the top of the cabinet. That will stiffen the metal cabinet top. Then just bolt the vice to the top!

AL

 

[Boomer343]

Get a piece of 3/4 ply the width of the wall studs where you want to mount the vice and cut it to the depth of the cabinet. Get a 2 x 4 the width of the wall studs.

Mount the vise to the plywood. Mount the 2 x 4 to the plywood. Screw the 2 x 4 to the wall studs.

Cabinet then only has to support the vise and take downward pressure. No rock and roll when sawing etc.