Are bench vises made for hammering??

[Greasemonkey78]

About five years ago I broke a vise at work and my bosses wife thought I should pay for it, because they are not made to hammer on. Well another vise was broken last week and today at lunch the debate came up again. I believe that you should be able to clamp something in a vise and beat the crap out of it, but she dissagrees. The point of this is does anybody agree with her because I think that is the one of the dumest things I have ever heard?

 

[Team Willys]

Are you stoopid or somethin? A vice aint no anvil. That there beatin on an adjustable cabinet clamp thingy with a big ole hammer aint no good ideer. If you gots you some beatin to do, find ya an ole anvil or piecer of railroad track. That there metal is some stout stuff fer sure!

 

[Greasemonkey78]

Seems like you were there today during the discussion

 

[dave92cherokee]

I think it comes to a point of personal intelligence, some vices are made to hold delicate parts while some others are made to put alot of force on the part. You wouldn't try hammering and bending a piece of 1/4" steel in a small hobbyist vice would you? While most small vices I would strongly disagree with hammering anything that's being held with it the bigger ones used in big machine shops can handle SOME hammering. I still wouldn't use a mini sledge or anything bigger than a claw hammer. If it requires that much work find an anvil and do it properly.

 

[Greasemonkey78]

Both of these vises were large and even had the flat section on the back for hammering on. I believe they both had ten inch jaws. They are also bolted to steel tables.

 

[DaYeep]

Many people do in fact hammer on parts in a vise, myself included. However, vises are not intended to be hammered on at the jaws and you CAN break the jaws of a vice by abusing them this way, if you are not careful. A good rule of thumb first of all, if you are going to hammer on a vise, use a hammer that is smaller than the vise to minimize the possibility of breaking it. Many vises have a flat spot on the back, top surface, where they mount that is intended as a hammering surface. I managed a production CNC machine shop many years ago and had this happened at our shop, you wouldn't have had to replace it, but we'd most definately have discussed proper use of a vise. So, sorry to say Greasemonkey78, I agree that the jaws likely broke from abuse (assuming of course that these were good vises). Regardless, sounds like you have a vice for vises! (light hearted punn intended)

 

[Team Willys]

I personally use my big vise for all types of beating, from small jobs such as u-joint installation, to big jobs such as bending 1/4" plate with a 10 LB sledge hammer. However, my vise is pretty damn heavy duty... the thing weighs about 70 LBS by itself, and it has a fixed mount (as in it doesn't rotate). So... while I agree that small vices shouldn't be beat on, big vices are ok. I wouldn't suggest the 10 LB sledge abuse that mine sees, but a 32 OZ or 2 lb sledge would be just fine. The real argument here is that often times you need the vice to hold something that has a part pressed in. For example, a bearing race in a hub... you can't really use a press for the job easily, and an anvil can't hold it for you. So it really just depends on the situation I guess.

 

[Greasemonkey78]

I personally only broke one of them, and had no problem with paying for it that was not really my point. The vises were not being abused I was removing a bushing from a controll arm and the other was the boss bending a piece if 3/16 steel that was only like 3 inches across.

 

[Team Willys]

If the vices are cheap and poorly made, then they can break easily even if you aren't abusing them.

 

[jeepgeek2002]

and i quote: "Swing away Merril, swing away"

 

[5-90]

You could screw up a Chinese vise with a rubber hammer.

However, I've got a decent bench vise that I've beaten Hell out of with anything from an 8-oz ball peen to a 4# drilling hammer, heated with a torch, I've made a few sets of replacement jaws for it (most out of mild steel, a couple out of aluminum,) used as a press, and Gawd knows what else - get a good vise, and it will last you a while.

Just don't buy cheap. Chinese steel may have been a Buick, but once you melt it down and recast it you need to re-heat-treat it. The Chinese still can't heat-treat worth a damn, and they've been screwing up our scrap steel for twenty years...

 

[shaggybob]

Hammer on this!

 

[thechief86]

^^want!

 

[Team Willys]

That is EXACTLY like my vice. Now you guys know why it doesn't mind a 10 Lb sledge whacking a piece of plate that clamped into it!