[Coldman]

A shop I am working out of recently has a 150mm (6") Dawn offset cast engineers vice weighting 55kg (122 lbs), not mounted.

vice.jpg (49.47 KiB) Viewed 1915 times

I offered to fab up a movable vice stand, maybe with a truck wheel for a base. They told me to go ahead.
So not having done one or used truck rims before, I thought I would seek the advice of my forum cobbers (mates).
Materials?
Rim size?
Suggestions?

Thanks guys.

[weldin mike 27]

Truck brake drums are the go as the rims themselves are hollow. However the drums are cast iron so you will be better to make your post with a steel flange on the end and bolt it on.

[Coldman]

Thanks Mike,
is back filling with concrete to weight up the base the done thing?

[Franz©]

Footprint is equally as important as weight in vise bases, and rubber tires help a lot when you need the vise to stay at least near where you put it.
I like truck tires mounted on rims.
There are 2 ways to go, depending on the quality of the tire you pull out of available inventory for future projects (scrap).
If the tire holds air pressure, it will also hold water. deflate the tire pull a vacuum on it if possible not over a couple inches and refill the tire with water from a garden hose. Put the valve core in and add about 15 pounds of air. That puppy weighs a few hundred pounds.
If you can't find a quality tire mounted on a rim, grab the best you can find and block the wheel up a couple inches on 2x4s.
Use a 3" or larger hole saw dipped in brake fluid to minimize sticking and cut a couple holes in the sidewall facing up. Fill the tire with concrete tapping the tread as you go to eliminate air pockets and let it set up.

I also like to set such vises on a column that telescopes so height can be adjusted after making the first one and learning it would be a lot handier if height adjusted. You can even go exotic and add a jack screw like a drill press. Might as well build a Rolls as a Holden.

[weldin mike 27]

All that said, don't disregard a good tripod. We've got one at work that's old as the hills and is made from 30mm or slightly bigger (but not huge) thick wall rhs. Simple 3 legs steel plate and bracing put around the bottom about 5" up. It's great for general heavy use

[Coldman]

Thanks for your advice Franz, got me really thinking about it. I presented the options to my customer who said that the vice will mostly be used for holding copper tubing while silver soldering, they wanted it as cheap and quick as possible and to use drops and cut lengths off the rack.
So the brake drum it is, unadjustable, 1/2" plate top and bottom and 100x6mm square tube (4"x1/4") is what I got and 12mm (1/2") bolts.

Bottom weld is beveled and gapped full penetration weld. Top weld is fillet. All mig 0.9mm (0.035) wire.
Leg is offset to get close to the mass centre of the vice.
Drum was $20 from the local truck wrecker.

Not bad, if there was going to be heavy work, a better base option would be useful, but hey it's better than what they had.

vice3.jpg (58.99 KiB) Viewed 1785 times

[weldin mike 27]

Outstanding

[tungstendipper]

Outstanding

Is that a pun? Good one Mike!!!

[weldin mike 27]

No puns here. That's one of my biggest vices.

[JayWal]

No puns here. That's one of my biggest vices.

Man. Will someone please clamp down on these puns?!

[Franz©]

No puns here. That's one of my biggest vices.

Man. Will someone please clamp down on these puns?!

They certainly are getting punishing.

[Bradk]

Coldman,
Beautiful job on the vice stand and mounting of it as well.

Brad