Vise Stand

As I was cleaning out my shed I came across a space saving spare tire from my old pickup, that I had replaced with a full sized spare. Seeing that this tire has such a thin profile I thought it would make a good pedestal for my vise.

I made it with two different sized pipe so the height is adjustable.

Old space saving spare tire (auto wreckers usually have tons of these)

1. 22 in length of 3 ½ in OD schedule 40 pipe.
2. 16 to 20 in length of 3 in OD pipe
3. 2 pieces of 8 in square ¼ in thick steel plate
4. 2 pieces of 12x12 x ¾ in plywood for the top and vice base.
5. LockNuts, bolts and washers to fit lug holes in spare. (I used ½ x 1in)
6. 4 carriage bolts, nuts and washers to attach plywood to top.
7. A 6 inch long ⅜ in bolt for height locking

The tire I have has six lug hole's and a 4in diameter centre hole.

I worked out that a 8 in square steel plate would be large enough for the base plate (I roughed out mine circular because I found a scrap that had a half circle already cut).

I used a transfer punch to mark out the lug holes and drilled them out ½ in.

I used 3 ½ in skid 40 galvanized pipe, the type used in chain-link fencing and 3 in plain steel pipe to fit inside the 3 ½ in.

I cut the galvanized pipe to 22in and welded it to the base plate.

I cut the plain steel pipe to 16in, cleaned the surface rust off and welded it to the other plate.

Clean and prep for priming.

The galvanized pipe YOU NEED TO USE A PRIMER FOR GALVANIZED METAL or the topcoat will not adhere.

I used a rust restorer on the steel pipe which turns the surface rust to black paintable primer (I prefer Tremclad Rust Reformer).

I left pimer to dry over night then gave them two coats of paint, giving each coat a day to dry.

I made a handle out of a old 6 in ⅜ bolt by bending it 90˚.

I drilled and tapped a hole 6 inches from the top of the galvanized pipe for the bolt to use as a height adjustment lock.

I mounted the base plate to the tire using ½ inch bolts with lock nuts.

Slid the other pipe into the base.

Used carriage bolts to attach a piece of plywood to the top plate and a second piece of plywood to the vise. I just used a couple of screws to join the plywood together.

A sturdy stand that easily moved around by tilting and rolling.