I am building a workbench. The bench top is the cheapest solid core door sold at the BORG. The core has got to be mdf, right?
I have a couple of bench vises to attach, and I was wondering if the my bench top (ie door) would hold a bench vise secured by 5/16″ lag bolts. I rarely use mdf except for making forms for routing, and I am asking this question on Knots because I have heard that mdf does not hold screws!
I probably need about 1/2″ to 3/4″ of spacing material anyway, so I was thinking of attaching a piece of wood to the bottom of the bench top, which add at least some wood to support the screws.
Another option would be to drill right through the bench top and bolt the vises in place, with recesses in the bench top of course, for the tops of the bolts.
Thanks in advance for any suggestions,
Replies
I doubt the core is MDF. That would make one very heavy door. Most solid cores I have cut open have cheap pine inside (sometimes with knot holes).
Try using a hole cutter to see what is inside (but not too big so you can't fill it back in)
Bob
My bench top is MDF and I used lag screws to fasten the vise--worked great. I made sure that I drilled a large enough hole to keep from splitting the MDF, and I used a lubricant to help the lag screw go easy and not break off. So far so good...
My benchtop is 3" thick--really overkill, but it is solid and doesn't even think about moving when I reach for a handplane. Tom
IMO, I would through-bolt your vise, it will hold so much better.
The core on the ones I have opened up were all particle board. Worse than MDF for holding screws.
You're right that, to get the vise at the right height you will need to shim it down from the bottom of the top.
I would come down from the top of the bench using flat head 5/16-18 bolts through some plywood and bolt the vise to the bench.
The last door based bench I made, I put a perimeter around the door out of finger jointed and primed "Colonial" base, (a friend had it left over from a job), that stuck up enough to bring it level with a piece of tempered hardboard, which is the wear surface. You might want to do something similar. It would hide the screws, and let you mount the back face of the vise behind the apron, similar to a traditional bench.
If you want to use dogs with the vise, I would extend the plywood all the way across the bottom, and consider inletting a piece into the top under the wear surface, and screwing it to the bottom piece, through the particle board, to give some strength to the holes.
Farkel, I used the same plan that you outlined. I glued a block of ash to the underside of the table, then lag screwed into the ash -- worked great.
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