Ramblin' Dan's Workshop

I had purchased this PanaVise years ago. I think they have been around almost as long as I have, the 1950's I believe and that's been awhile. This is an amazing tool. I couldn't be without one very long. It isn't the highest perfection, super precision. micro adjustable vise out there. If it was, I probably couldn't afford to buy one. This is an example of exactly what (quality) is needed in a positionable vise and works wonderfully doing it. The price is exactly where it needs to be to keep the maker in business and make customers happy. Yes I am a happy user.

It needs to be portable in my applications. PanaVise makes some interesting bases for this and all their versions. I highly recommend perusing their website. I copped out to using a low cost baseboard but I have my eye on some of the factory made options.

In earlier pictures of me working with this vise you will see it screwed down to a rather crappy looking chunk of plywood that had ragged edges. After I built my sliding low level shop bench, I improved the mounting to what you see now.

The vise is mounted on a piece of vinyl coated shelf board. It makes a nice clean smooth surface for brushing off filings. This one is 10"x12" piece I had handy but size isn't critical.	I glued a piece of rubber on the bottom. The rubber is the tool box liner that keeps tools from sliding around in the tray and also makes it quieter. I used some spray on glue.
This is a standard nominal 2x4 actually 3 1/2 inches wide. The red mark was already on the wood	The length isn't critical. It could be longer. I think in this shot this is the 12" side of the vise's baseboard.
That is a 3/16 ply scrap that would make the total height closer to the bench tool tray height.	After testing it simply isn't critical that it be exactly the same height, The the collection tray also droops slightly when pulled out too far.
This is the critical tipping point. The back of the vise mount baseboard has to be inserted past this point on the tool tray. Otherwise the tool tray falls out. I can't figure why the bench is built this way. The tool tray needs a runner like this one above it. I may add one soon.	This is the way it is working for me. The vise board could be longer (deeper) or the vise mounted closer to the front rather than center. There are no rules :) It's what I had already built for my other bench.
I have plenty of clearance behind the vise and the edge of the bench. It's all adjustable and plenty stable. I am not going to be pounding on it with a hammer in this use on my wax bench.	If you need to use a vise, especially a PanaVise on this popular style bench, this is one low cost way to do it. I could install a high dollar GRS system but I don't need it now.

PanaVise has a clamp on mount and a lower profile base and a special low profile head. Lots of options. But everything I looked at and considered would have me working far above the top level of this bench. AS you can see in the last picture, the work level here is almost exactly the same as the bench pin. (That's good!) The important thing is there are no rules or critical dimensions. I haven't yet spent any hours working with this setup but it certainly looks like I will be.

I am having fun!