Vice in an apartment. Ideas?

[Samuel D]

I currently live in a rented flat (apartment). Don’t have a heap of space. Don’t have a garage. Can’t wreck the place.

Do have an outdoor balcony … when it’s not raining. Do have a decently sized storage room where my tools live.

I have access to a workshop if I plan everything to death, pack all the weird tools I might need, and drive a long way.

But more often I just want to do some little job at home. The thing I miss most is a workbench with a vice.

Now, I’m usually working on something light. I’m not welding or anything. It’s mostly clean, careful work, like rebuilding an internal gear hub for a bicycle. See page 70 onward of this PDF for what this looks like. I’m not whaling on anything with a sledge.

So far I’m thinking of something like a Black & Decker Workmate with a small vice bolted to it. Or maybe a piece of IKEA furniture for the base?

Or just a flat board sitting on the floor? I Googled and found this floor arrangement that looks pretty decent to me and is apparently common in India.

What do you say?

So, I’m taking suggestions for two things:

1. A suitable vice for this kind of light work. I’d like a good one that can eventually be bolted to a bench as the smaller of two vices when I move to a house. Maybe an option for soft jaws? I don’t know what’s important or how to shop for vices. Available in Europe.
2. A way to mount this vice on something portable for use in an apartment. Gotta be small for storage. Bonus if cheap.

 

[Pasha]

Wilton Super-Junior Clamp-On Vise. You can also buy the traditional bolt down base for it. They're nice little vises, I have one myself.

 

[johnre]

I don't think your apartment lease would allow for any kind of vice activities within the unit; that would attract police attention, yes?

Oh, wait. Vise?

I would get as large a permanent bench with solid legs as can fit the space you have, and clamp or screw down a Panavise, like this one that I use for such smaller work. If you just get the wide base that's illustrated, it has the advantage that you really don't have to fasten it down; you can take it with you to work anywhere:



Since you mentioned getting a house later - don't get throwaway quality; whatever you get can be used later as an accessory or light duty vise, with the heavier work going to something more substantial. This is a pretty good one; the Wilton listed by @Pasha is likewise pretty good quality.

 

[Hannahranga]

Got a vehicle with a hitch? Won't be the most convenient but if you need something more heavier duty than you can mount inside you can get vise's that fit into a 2" hitch receiver

 

[Samuel D]

Got a vehicle with a hitch?

Not currently.

Won't be the most convenient but if you need something more heavier duty than you can mount inside you can get vise's that fit into a 2" hitch receiver

Dang, that’s clever. See, people have thought about this problem.

 

[johnre]

That PanaVise is intriguing. Never seen anything like that.

Like the Wilton, it's not heavy duty, but it is good for the kind of work you described. And there are many different attachments for it.

It's made in the USA, since you asked about the Wilton.

Vice” versus “vise”: I’m pretending to speak the King’s English, sir!

Oops - UK English - I should have seen that one coming when you said "available in Europe". My assumptions about you have proven to be pretty dicey, mate!

 

[Pasha]

The clamp on that Wilton would limit how close it could get to the floor. Looks great, though. Where’s it made?

When not in use you can just store it in a closet or cabinet. It's make in the Czech Republic.

 

[f121]

Workmate (then you almost don’t need a vice), then get a vice and bolt it to a block of wood and clamp it to the workmate.

Another option would be having a desk with a decorative vice on it, might work depending on what you plan to use the vice for:

 

[OccupantRJ]

Workmate is made for just what you need. A small vise bolted to a block of wood as f121 says is the universal setup. I have bought them cheap at yard sales and given them to friends with limited work areas. They are usually set up with moveable clamping jaws and drop in clamping dogs for irregular shaped objects also. The bench can be further stabilized by placing a foot on the lower crossbar while sawing and such.

 

[snorvet]

Make yourself a vise from Benchcrafted hi vise hardware. It can mount almost anywhere.

 

[niget2002]

I have a clamp on vise I used for years in an apartment before I bought my bigger one. I would just clamp it to the edge of a folding table that doubled as my portable work bench.

 

[RTM]

Someone liked this idea, tho the Powr arm might be overkill. Think the plate is >1/4”, approx 10x10 inches, so good n heavy. It’s since been repainted, but a piece of cloth under it, and it’s house trained. A simple tilting DP vise or vice, bought used would suffice for many tasks, upgrade to other things shown here.



.



I also have a Workmate or four, and have a 4” Craftsman vise or vice on a hunk of 4x6 for height, and a 2x2 runner to clamp in the jaws of the Workmutt. For outside or travel projects.

Edit: here is the vise on a block, with a runner clamped into the Workmate.

 

[1982fxr]

Look up harbor freight woodworking bench. Is there an equivalent over there?

 

[budget76]

Someone liked this idea, tho the Powr arm might be overkill. Think the plate is >1/4”, approx 10x10 inches, so good n heavy. It’s since been repainted, but a piece of cloth under it, and it’s house trained. A simple tilting DP vise or vice, bought used would suffice for many tasks, upgrade to other things shown here.



.



I also have a Workmate or four, and have a 4” Craftsman vise or vice on a hunk of 4x6 for height, and a 2x2=runner to clamp in the jaws of the Workmutt. For outside or travel projects

i posted a picture years back of something similar I did.

alter depending on the size of your vise, but basically do what is shown above with a normal bench vise. mount it to a piece of wood securely, and use some quick clamps to clamp it down to a table corner of your choice. if it even needs to be that secure, it may not depending on how heavy it is and what you're working on


mine had 3x 7/8" dowels going down into holes in the worktop to hold it more secure. but it's a 3.5" Parker that weighs 30+lbs and I planned on using it for real duties

 

[noid]

I just put a 4" forged Capri Tools CP10515 at the corner of my ikea toped sit-stand. Its bolted down directly to the table.

Best decision honestly, I have a full sized 6 inch Ridgid F-60 in the garage, but use this way more often since its right at my finger tips.

3D printed some soft jaws from PETG that fit over the steel jaws if I need to clamp something more delicate.

 

[mikey03]

I saw a pic on the home gym subreddit some guy had a squat rack in his living room and had fabbed up some way to attach a vise to the squat rack uprights but I didn’t save the pic. Im getting my cousins squat rack when he moves out of state next month so now you got me thinking how to do this

 

[F-22]

The clamp on that Wilton would limit how close it could get to the floor. Looks great, though. Where’s it made? These days I’m trying to buy stuff made in liberal democracies – don’t care much where exactly.

It's made in the Czech Republic, as already mentioned. To make it a little bit more interesting - it is made by York, the original manufacturer of the bullet vise. Wilton infringed on their patent when they made them in the USA, but it was just when the world war 2 started so there was no consequence. Wilton got bigger than York ever was. It is ironic they make the small models for Wilton now.

 

[Aaron_W]

With the Workmate you don't even have to bolt it directly to the Workmate. You could make a mount for the vise and then clamp it into the Workmate leaving it available for other uses. A worksurface sized to your work with the vise attached and a rib on the underside to clamp into the workmate.

For small projects anyway, sounds more like third hand kind of work, rather than clamping and whaling away at the work.

After dismissing Workmates as kind of a novelty item for most of my life, I bought a WM425 last summer, and was quite pleasantly surprised at the utility it has provided me.

 

[ez-duzit]

With the Workmate you don't even have to bolt it directly to the Workmate. You could make a mount for the vise and then clamp it into the Workmate leaving it available for other uses. A worksurface sized to your work with the vise attached and a rib on the underside to clamp into the workmate.

For small projects anyway, sounds more like third hand kind of work, rather than clamping and whaling away at the work.

After dismissing Workmates as kind of a novelty item for most of my life, I bought a WM425 last summer, and was quite pleasantly surprised at the utility it has provided me.

This is a workable approach for an apartment. I keep one on my boat while I have a project going on.

Also there are very nice small woodworking benches available that are attractive. Attached is a photo of my old shop showing a small Bubinga bench I bought from Garrett-Wade decades ago. Paid $375 IIRC. It has 2 vises and built-in storage. I keep heavy items stored in it, and also (2) 60-lb lead pigs to help stabilize it.

 

[Samuel D]

It's made in the Czech Republic, as already mentioned. To make it a little bit more interesting - it is made by York, the original manufacturer of the bullet vise. Wilton infringed on their patent when they made them in the USA, but it was just when the world war 2 started so there was no consequence. Wilton got bigger than York ever was. It is ironic they make the small models for Wilton now.

Interesting. In that case, perhaps I should get the original. I found this place selling small Yorks. They look pretty good in the photos.

 

[BuffettFan]

I mounted mine to a double thick plywood base that I can C-clamp to a bench when needed.
Not a perfect setup, but for lighter use, it's not bad.
It serves my needs, anyway.

 

[mrvm]

Clamp this baby vise on the counter top or kitchen table

 

[KnurledNut]

Could always make a mini workshop station:

 

[KnurledNut]

Ridgid's Tristand's fold up and store well, are portable, handle a lot of weight and resist tipping over. I have one and I usually use pipe vises with it, but I have mounted a standard bench vise on occasion as well. They are pricey new but can typically be found used on the cheap.

 

[dscheidt]

I mounted mine to a double thick plywood base that I can C-clamp to a bench when needed.
Not a perfect setup, but for lighter use, it's not bad.
It serves my needs, anyway.

I had a vise mounted like that for a long time when I lived in apartments. Worked better than I would have thought, but there are obvious limits on how much you can yank and pound on it. I did lots of bike work with it, and for most of the time, it was never clamped to the surface, just the board.

 

[charbar]

Buy a butcher block and bolt it to that. Make or buy folding legs (think of legs like what would be on a card table) and when not needed you can fold it up and toss the whole thing in a closet out of the way. Extra bench space that way too.


Or if that's too big bolt it to a smaller chunk of wood with countersunk carriage head bolts from the bottom. Put some 'grippy' stuff on the bottom so it wont slide around, or if you are really getting after something you could still C clamp it to the edge of a table or your kitchen counter.

 

[F-22]

Interesting. In that case, perhaps I should get the original. I found this place selling small Yorks. They look pretty good in the photos.

They're certainly nice little vises, with a cool story behind them. The round tube guide usually makes them decently precise (easier to make consistent tolerances between a tube and a cylinder, than with squares...).

 

[jayemm]

Yost offers a copy of the small Wilton SBV-100 (4" wide jaw and ~2-1/4" max opening) that I believe is made in Taiwan. I have the Wilton SBV-100 and as mentioned above it's made in the Czech Republic by York. The Wiltons (there's several small models both swivelbase and clamp -on) are typically more expensive.

Yost Model RIA-4 Yost 4 Inch Compact Bench Vise with 360 Degree Swivel

The Yost RIA-4 4" compact bench vise with 360-degree swivel base mounts to a workbench to provide light-duty clamping action. The 360-degree swivel base adjusts the direction of the jaws for proper placement. Hand-tightening the two lock knobs on the base secures its position. The hardened steel...

yostvises.com

 

[fishwatcher]

Yost offers a copy of the small Wilton SBV-100 (4" wide jaw and ~2-1/4" max opening) that I believe is made in Taiwan. I have the Wilton SBV-100 and as mentioned above it's made in the Czech Republic by York. The Wiltons (there's several small models both swivelbase and clamp -on) are typically more expensive.

Yost Model RIA-4 Yost 4 Inch Compact Bench Vise with 360 Degree Swivel

The Yost RIA-4 4" compact bench vise with 360-degree swivel base mounts to a workbench to provide light-duty clamping action. The 360-degree swivel base adjusts the direction of the jaws for proper placement. Hand-tightening the two lock knobs on the base secures its position. The hardened steel...

yostvises.com

I didn’t know Yost made a copy of the York and Wilton Super Junior vises. The Black Friday sale on the ADI and RIA models look like great deals!

 

[nadogail]

I have a "Found On Road Dead" wheel with a mounted tire. I also was able to grab a short length of 3" steel pipe and after welding appropriate tabs on the pipe bolted it to the wheel, a few more tabs made a place to bolt the Vise in place.

Tool collection and"fixing things" are among my Vices.

 

[yhprum]

If you really want inspiration google hammacher schlemmer apartment workbench, or gentleman’s workbench. Seriously you could probably find a sturdy older piece of furniture like a dresser or a table and attach your vise to that for pretty low cost.

 

[Samuel D]

I got looking into Heuer steel vices, which have as one benefit a wider-opening jaw that might be useful for pressing bearings onto shafts or something. But the price starts to get out of hand for what I need here. So I think I’ll risk one of the small Yorks.

York offer “Standard” and “Lux” models:

Workshop bench vices - YORK | York, spol. s r.o.

www.york.cz

The Lux has hand levers for the swivel operation. I don’t care about those in themselves – I can just as easily grab a spanner – but a related benefit is that they haven’t covered the hand levers in paint, whereas they seem to have painted all over the nuts and screws of the Standard model (also not the end of the world, obviously).

Any strong opinions about the other Lux benefit: “main screw and levers zinc-chromated”?

 

[jayemm]

I got looking into Heuer steel vices, which have as one benefit a wider-opening jaw that might be useful for pressing bearings onto shafts or something. But the price starts to get out of hand for what I need here. So I think I’ll risk one of the small Yorks.

York offer “Standard” and “Lux” models:

Workshop bench vices - YORK | York, spol. s r.o.

www.york.cz

The Lux has hand levers for the swivel operation. I don’t care about those in themselves – I can just as easily grab a spanner – but a related benefit is that they haven’t covered the hand levers in paint, whereas they seem to have painted all over the nuts and screws of the Standard model (also not the end of the world, obviously).

Any strong opinions about the other Lux benefit: “main screw and levers zinc-chromated”?

If your concern is jaw opening, the Yost ADI-4 (4" jaw width) opens to 5".

Yost Model ADI-4 4 Inch Austempered Ductile Iron Bench Vise

This vise is a professional-grade workbench vise made from austempered ductile iron. It has an interlocking swivel base for mobility with two lockdowns for a tight grip and adjustable guide rails for smooth operation. The Austempered Ductile Iron (ADI) series of professional grade bench vises is...

yostvises.com

 

[Samuel D]

I didn’t see anywhere to get Yost vices in Europe when I checked last night. At least not at a reasonable price (there’s always eBay with international shipping).

 

[ez-duzit]

Pretty sure you could find much better quality in the used market.

 

[Samuel D]

Pretty sure you could find much better quality in the used market.

Better quality in what way?

I don’t doubt I could find something used for cheaper, but there is a degree of risk for someone who doesn’t know much about vices. Also, this is for use in an apartment. I don’t want something that looks like it was dragged up from the Titanic.

New, I could get the basic Heuer 100 mm for about €150, which isn’t massively more than the 100 mm Yorks I suppose. But it lacks replaceable jaws. Hmm. I was also considering an 80 mm York, which is considerably cheaper, but not sure it would be big enough to be generally useful. Never used a vice that small.

 

[ez-duzit]

Better quality in what way?
...

Why? Many reasons, but perhaps the 2 most important are:

a) Virtually everyone has budget limits, to some degree and, within those limits, you will always be able to get much more bang for your buck buying used.

b) Virtually all of the good stuff is either no longer made or has been replaced by lesser quality.

 

[Samuel D]

Went with the 80 mm York Standard model. The history appeals to me.

They’re not quite as pretty as the ‘bullet’ Wiltons of old, but they’ve still got something special going on.

Couldn’t find a shop within reasonable driving distance so ordered from a Czech store I found on the web.

Not entirely convinced the 80 mm model will be sufficient for everything I want to do even in an apartment context, but it will be ideal for some jobs and leave room for a bigger vice in my future, when I have a permanent bench.

I’ll get this in my hands before I decide on a mounting arrangement. Kinda hard for me to visualise the size and possible strength – and therefore what sort of mount will be needed – without having it in my paws.

 

[danielbuck]

clamping or bolting the vise to a folding saw horse may work well if you're doing lightweight work and aren't pulling on the vise very hard.

 

[drivesitfar]

the workmate isn't a bad idea that might solve some of your needs. since I own more than a few vises and vices I recall buying a Zyless vise as my go to vise for maybe the first 10 years of home ownership. I would clip it to a small workbench, sawhorse, stair tread, rack or whatever to use it in several different situations and positions. they used to sell new at local home shows for about $200, but I bet you can find one on Craigslist for under $100 or maybe on Ebay if that is something you'd like to use. build a small bench or even a stout card table could be another option instead of a workmate.

the only thing I didn't like was the awkwardness of tightening sometimes, but I got used to it.