I'm missing the floor plate that the vise sockets into, I've never seen one at any of the auctions I've been to, so have no Idea of external dimensions needed. Could anyone supply same from theirs? Off the cuff, I'd say that 6" square was probably too small and a foot square maybe a little large. Would a round one be better than a square one(no corners to catch on, maybe)? Other than that, the thing seems to be in fairly good shape except for the crud on it. Might be because of the crud on it that it's in good shape.
A piece of railroad tie sunk into the ground works. Some guys weld a bracket out from a bench leg and then weld a ring to that which the post fits into.
My 2 post vises (and 5 other stands I dealt with) are mounted on stands whose base is a 215 pound New Holland hay baler flywheel (particulars on demand). One of the holes in the flywheel is just right for the post vise leg.
Stan Not to worry,you havent seen a floor socket because there are none.You can make one if you like but normally you drill,chew,gnarl or eat a hole in your floor to fit the vise Paddy P the wannabe
Which answers another question, what type stand or bench are guys using out there for mounting? I've not seen a lot of post vises in good condition, most are more like rusty masses of scrap by the time they get to auction. This one has a pair of folding wedges on the back mount so the vise could be removed if need be. Not sure if that's a common feature or not. I was planning on mounting it onto a heavy bench but I'm open to suggestions there, too. A bench might limit the working area.
i've got several post vices, all have different type of mounts. one is mounted to a cast iron table via a piece 3/4 plate, one is mounted to a wooden post using a short piece of angle iron, one fits into a hole of a big truck break drum , another mounts to a flange welded to a piece of 6 " pipe use whatever works for you!, invent! have fun, mark
I have 2 vises. The first one is mounted to a plate (about 24" square) of 1/4" steel which is welded on top of a 3" dia. pipe which is welded to a large steel disc. I think the disc may be an old barbell weight. I have seen another vise that was attached to a manhole cover. This adds weight, gives you a place to stand, (to give you more stability) and allows you to barrel-roll the vise around the shop. It also makes it a bit more portable if you demonstrate. The second vise I have is not mounted yet, but I plan to use a short piece of pipe with a floor flange under the front leg. All you need to do here is transfer the hammering forces to ground. Some of the guys that mount them top and bottom to wooden benches end up destroying the bench if they work on larger projects.
Another consideration is the size of the area that the top mounting plate is attached to. If you plan on bending or twisting larger pieces, it may be helpful to you to keep the top mounting area as small as possible so that twisted bars or twisting wrenches can rotate without hitting the benchtop. You may see some old-time shops where the post-vise is mounted at the very corner of a bench for this purpose. The vise jaws are parallel to the bench, but the twisting wrench is perpendicular to both.
However you mount your post vise, consider this: A well known blacksmith, Peter Sevin, demonstrated at our spring conference a couple of weeks ago. He wanted to bend some heavy material, but the post vise mounting system allowed the vise to rotate. To this he said: "I like to have at least one place in the shop that has an immovable object!"
I have used post vises at many sites that wiggle around, rotate, are top heavy and/or have no place to lay tools. You have to make a decision between portability and stability. If you will use most "portable" post vises on a dirt floor, the floor will NEVER be level enough to keep it from rocking when hot rasp, for instance. As I said before, my vises mount on 215 pound baler flywheels. The things come apart into 3 pieces; the vise, the vertical tube stand, which has a 3/8" thick, 18" square table with 1 1/2" high sides on 3 sides, welded to the top of the pipe and a curcular mounting flange welded to the bottom, and finally, the flywheel. I can handle the whole thing myself (age 68) with a 2 X 6 to use to roll the flywheel into the van. A Friend recently bought a Harbor Frieght "skyhook" for about $50 that mounts on the tail of his pickup truck box. He used that to hoist his "portable" stuff aboard.
If I need to really "wrench on a part in this post vise, I have made a bar that hooks into the stand that allows me to pull the work and the bar together, like tightening a bolt with 2 wrenches. This works out very well when I put my HF "mini- hossfeld" bender in the vise to use it.
Finally, no one said that you can have only one post vise. If there is room, have a portable one that you can move around, close to the anvil and a permanent one on a bench.
Here's a picture link for my first baler flywheel mount, without a table:
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You said that the mount you have holds 2 wedges. You can just see the Y shaped casting that the wedges attach to. This should come with the vise, but if not, it isn't too hard to make.
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