Particularly the Seattle/Redmond area...  Anything I should do/see in my downtime??? I'm guessing After July 4th at this pint... but can't pin an exact date yet.   I'll likely be out there a week at least, and I have a little flexibility on my flights.

you could anchor a semi drum flange to your floor the weld the stand to the drum.

That's the option for inside, but if I'm cutting or grinding, I'm wanting to do it outside, as (saw)dust collection only does so much......   Guess I'll keep an eye on Marketplace...  Maybe someone will post something to anchor it to outside....

Quote from: goodfellow on Today at 01:27:39 PM

I've tried that, and the only drums that are stable enough for heavy work are the HD truck drums --mid-sized or semi trucks. I also bolted the drums into the floor to be able to apply lateral torque on the vise. Worked well enough for many years. The good thing was that you had plenty of room around the vise stand, vs. a vise mounted in a workbench.

The problem I would have with not having the stand secured is many items I put into a vice involve stuck fasteners. Which often involve cheater bars I mean engineered torque multiplication devices, hammers, heat wrench, and bad words. Not having the vice mounted rock solid would only result in more bad words. Even with a semi brake drum I would think this would be a problem.

This is where I'm stuck...  I'd love a big bench outside, or something to mount it to out there...  but replacing the driveway is wayyyy out of the budget.   That's why i was leaning to the rim/tire or big rim options...  I could possibly add sandbags when I had to.   Even trying to find a hunk of Plate steel to set in area in font of the garage would be nice, but I can't seem to find "road plate" or much above 3/16" thick steel without them wanting a damn premium for it!

Brake drum works well for bench grinders and such.... Never had a vice on one. I would guess as long as you don't have anything heavier than the drum in the vice you would be fine.

I've tried that, and the only drums that are stable enough for heavy work are the HD truck drums --mid-sized or semi trucks. I also bolted the drums into the floor to be able to apply lateral torque on the vise. Worked well enough for many years. The good thing was that you had plenty of room around the vise stand, vs. a vise mounted in a workbench.

Your shop area have a concrete floor? Fab a stand with a plate on the bottom and anchor it into the floor. There are some concrete anchors that are removable if that's a concern.