I’m building a new workbench and I want to use a solid core door. I have found one at Home Depot. It is birch but the core is a dense particle board of some kind. I want to attach a front vise. My question is: Will the screws or lag bolts or whatever, that I use to attach the vise to the top hold ok or will they loosen unacceptably over the next few months or years. I am a weekend hobbyist and don’t get into my shop every day but more now that I am retired. Assuming the bolts won’t hold I have thought of a possible solution. I am sure I will need a spacer of some kind between the vise mounting plate and the top. I could make that of a hardwood of some kind and glue and screw that to the bottom of the top and then screw the vise to the hardwood. What do you think? I guess my basic question is about the screw holding capability of this particle board core.
Frank
Edited 6/23/2007 7:45 pm ET by fgnoel
Replies
Have you considered making a wooden plate to go under the top just where the vise is mounted? Then you can either screw into this wooden block or use large washers to distribute the stress at the mounting points.
Greg
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Exo 35:30-35
I have considered that. Since posting I have done a search (probably should have done it first) and it seems that others have had success lag bolting vises on a solid core door (particle board core) . I think a combination of a hardwood plate between the vise and the top and lag bolts going into the top would probably work. But would like anyone's opinion.
Frank
Remember that doors are likely 1 5/8" or 1 3/4" thick and that vices are optimized for top thicknesses around 2 1/4". That gives you space for a solid wood spacer. But, if you are concerned about lag bolts, you can use through bolts, although, of course, you have to be sure the heads are rescessed into the top, rather than being screwed from the bottom up to just shy of the top surface.
As far as working loose, the particle board is probably harder than any hardwood - formed under a press off many,many pounds. Stiffness, and screw holding ability, well that may be a different story. More thickness and through bolts as mentioned would solve that potential problem.
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