Hello,
I have a utility bench in my shop that is similar in construction to the one featured in ShopNotes #75 (the most recent issue) w/ the plank top and the slightly recessed 2x4 side members. I built it before I had any interest in woodworking (actually, it was Workbench 2.0; 1.0 was pretty scary!). Now I'm looking to possibly upgrade it w/ a basic woodworking style vise on the left end, but I'm not sure how to go about mounting the vise w/ the 2x4 side stretchers at the top. Most of the illustrations I've seen of mounting vises seem to assume the vise is hanging from the bottom of a solid slab top, and if it is going thru a side skirt, it is one that is not structural and forms one face of the vise. In this case, I'm going to need to have a separate face, I think, and I'm a little leary of hacking away too much of that stretcher...
Does anyone out there have a bench w/ this kind of construction, and possibly have some photo's of how they mounted a front vise to it? Suggestions as to a particular one that might be particularly suited to the application? I'm not necessarily looking to go nuts w/ $$$ on the vice, but I'm looking for something a little nicer than the el-crappo one at HD. The Wilton at Lowes actually appears pretty solidly built.
Comments, suggestions?
TIA,
Monte
P.S. Here is a link to a picture on the magazines website so you have some idea what kind of arrangement I'm talking about: