Help me fix mistake — twin screw vise spacing runs screws into table legs

Question

So I am working on building a work bench, which is nearly finished, the last step is to install this veritas twin-screw vise as a end vise.

The workbench is from Paul Seller's youtube videos and looks like (but is not) the one below. I already installed a front vise, and wanted to install this twin screw as an end vise.

I don't have a drill press so for installing the jaw I lugged some hard maple over to a friends. The maximum screw distance center-to-center is 24", and my bench is 29.5" wide so I decided to just drill out the screw holes at 24".

Upon attempting to check the holes when I got home I realized that I completely forgot to account for the apron thickness (1 1/4") + leg thickness (2 1/2") on each side, for a total of 7.5" (for a leg-leg spacing of only 22".

So now the damn twin screws run into my table legs by about 1" on each side ... The maple was pretty expensive for me ($80 total for both jaws).

What can I do to help fix the situation? With the vise in the closed position the screws overlap the legs by about 4.5".

Things I have considered:

• Somehow adding 4.5" of extra wood onto the end of the table to make up this difference. Not so sure about this, the top of the table is laminated 2x4's so it would be very strange and a poor glue joint.
• Drilling through some of the legs. On one side this goes straight through a tenon. On the other it goes straight through a horizontal bolt attaching the apron. Plus to attach the bench top I screwed down into the legs so I would expect to run into those screws and tear up my bits.
• I guess I could make the front or rear jaw thicker (similar to first bullet). The jaws are already ~2" thick each though.

None of these seem like even halfway decent solutions.

Edit: After thinking about it for a while I think gluing/screwing a couple of pieces onto the end of the table to add the 4.5" inches seems like the most straightforward way. Since the rest of the table is made of 2x4's I can just get an 8 foot 2x6 and cut three 29.5" pieces to add to the end of my bench. And if I cut a square for the mounting hardware I can maintain the same maximum vise expansion.

Edit2: Maybe add another lamination on those two legs and then drill through the leg. That would completely enclose the screw hole with a 2x4 thickness on either side, and prevent me having to really hack too much.

Answer 1

Not sure there's an ideal solution here so you might have to bite the bullet and accept the best fix from a list where none are very satisfying).

Somehow adding 4.5" of extra wood onto the end of the table to make up this difference. Not so sure about this

Well FWIW tail vices do sometimes have very massive chops so yours wouldn't be the first with a particularly thick inside jaw.

I think I would be inclined to spread the thickness over the two jaws myself, but I'm not sure it actually matters (except visually).

the top of the table is laminated 2x4's so it would be very strange and a poor glue joint.

Breadboard ends are an example of how you affix something cross-grain at the end of a surface and the same principle can be used here.

And if your 2x4s in your top are glued face to face then it will have minimised movement across the top because this orients radial grain horizontally, and expansion and contraction of radial grain is roughly half that of tangential grain.

You could of course glue up a short stack of 2x4 material and use that instead of a piece with the grain going the other way. Then movement will be the same so no issues.

Move the top?
Trying to think through the problem here in just the last couple of minutes, is there a possibility of repositioning the top on the legs? It's quite common for workbench tops to have uneven overhangs so the top sticking out more on one side than the other is not a concern on a functional front.

If you can't move it the full 4.5" even a shift of a couple of inches will help ease the main fix adding wood on one or both of the vice jaws.