Vise Swivel Base
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Justin Kelzer, Randall, Minn.: “After I bought a used Morgan vise, I made a swivel base for it that bolts onto my work bench. The swivel base allows me to rotate the vise up to 180 degrees in any direction, but most of the time I just position the vise perpendicular to the work bench. When I’m done using the vise I rotate it 90 degrees so it’s out of the way.
“The vise came with three mounting holes at the bottom. I cut a round base plate from 5/8-in. thick steel, and a triangular swivel plate from 7/8-in. thick steel. I drilled our holes in the base plate - three near the plate edges and one in the center that serves as a pivot. I cut the heads off three 3/4-in. bolts, inserted them in the outside holes, and welded them in from the top side of the base plate. Then I drilled 4 holes in the swivel plate and tapped left and right holes for 5/8-in. bolts. The back hole has a bolt welded in from the bottom to hold the vise down to the swivel plate.
“I also welded a 1-in. bolt from the top side into the center of the pivot plate. The 1-in. bolt has just a washer and lock nut on it, which allows the swivel plate to rotate on the base plate. The 5/8 and 3/4-in. bolts have washers, lock washers, and nuts.
“I use a pair of 3/8-in. horizontal slide rods with nuts welded onto both ends to tighten the vise down. The entire setup looks slick and works great.”
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Vise Swivel Base FARM SHOP Miscellaneous Justin Kelzer Randall Minn : “After I bought a used Morgan vise I made a swivel base for it that bolts onto my work bench The swivel base allows me to rotate the vise up to 180 degrees in any direction but most of the time I just position the vise perpendicular to the work bench When I’m done using the vise I rotate it 90 degrees so it’s out of the way “The vise came with three mounting holes at the bottom I cut a round base plate from 5/8-in thick steel and a triangular swivel plate from 7/8-in thick steel I drilled our holes in the base plate - three near the plate edges and one in the center that serves as a pivot I cut the heads off three 3/4-in bolts inserted them in the outside holes and welded them in from the top side of the base plate Then I drilled 4 holes in the swivel plate and tapped left and right holes for 5/8-in bolts The back hole has a bolt welded in from the bottom to hold the vise down to the swivel plate “I also welded a 1-in bolt from the top side into the center of the pivot plate The 1-in bolt has just a washer and lock nut on it which allows the swivel plate to rotate on the base plate The 5/8 and 3/4-in bolts have washers lock washers and nuts “I use a pair of 3/8-in horizontal slide rods with nuts welded onto both ends to tighten the vise down The entire setup looks slick and works great ”
