benchtop vise restoration

[SteveM]

Painting!

I may need to put on a second coat to be sure to hide all the remnants of the original paint.

The anvil cleaned up well enough without having to mill it. Ran a file over it to knock down any high spots from dings, then used an angle grinder with a flap wheel on it to clean it up.

I have to look at maybe making new handles for the swivel locking nuts, although the ones there work fine. Thought I could make them a bit longer for more leverage. Have some stainless rod a good size. Would use a torch, a hammer and my railroad "anvil" to flatten the ends out.

Next up (pretty much last up) will probably be the vise jaws.

The manufacturer's current vises have different hole spacing and they are a little too tall.

I have some flat bar stock I can use.

Thinking of using a slitting saw in the mill, clamping both jaw pieces side by side on the swivel vise set at an angle and then running the parts thru the saw, moving over in steps.

Then set the vise to the complementary angle, rinse and repeat.

Steve

[SteveM]

Back to the vise.

Making jaws.

Needed to chase out the mounting holes. They are 10-32, but they were so crudded up, they felt like a sloppy 8-32.

Had to measure from the holes to the shelf the jaws will rest on.
Screwed in socket head cap screws (which had a pretty consistent diameter) and used number drills as gauge pins to get the dimensions.
The distances are different for each of the four holes. Need to make the holes slightly larger to ensure that each screw will go in and the jaw will rest on the shelf so that any hammering is taken by the vise body and not the screws.

Have to counterbore the holes so that the screws are set into the jaws. The holes need to be 1/64th bigger than 3/16, but I don't have a counterbore pilot in 64ths, so I will drill 3/16", counterbore, drill 13/64".

If you notice the smooth area in the center, the surface was not 100% flat, so I had to scrape and file some metal out of that area until a straightedge across the surface did not rock. Once I get the jaws installed and close the vise, I may find the jaws aren't totally flat against each other. Trick I learned is to put a file between the jaws, lightly clamp and then pull from the top end of the file so that the file teeth cut in (if you pull from the handle, you will be running the teeth backwards, if you push, you could influence where the file goes).

Here's the metal cut to length and marked out.
I used ground flat stock tool steel, although I'm not going to harden them.

Steve

[Russ Hanscom]

When I made new jaws for my bench vise, I made several sets, using oil hardening stock, and then hardened them. The one set that I use almost exclusively have rabbits, about 3/32 deep and wide - they ahve been amazingly useful for holding small bits. The other sets have radii of varing radius. I thought they would be handy for bending stock, and they are but get infrequent use. The rabbits are the preffered set.

[SteveM]

So I drilled and counterbored the jaws and then installed them.

Then I remembered why you shouldn't paint things until everything is fixed and fitted.

The jaws don't line up because the pads on which the movable jaw rides are worn and the front of the movable jaw sags.

They are where the red arrows are pointing to:

The ones in the rear are not as worn, as you would expect, and they are not as important.

I need some way to build up the front ones. The gap is more than a 16th of an inch.

I could drill and tap a hole from underneath and put a screw, like a cup point socket head setscrew, but that would probably wear out (or wear the movable jaw).

I could built the area up with weld and then file it down to size (kinda the Adam Booth method).

I could cut a piece of steel to go across both pads and silver solder that in place.

The vise is likely some form of ductile iron.

Opinions on the best method and materials?

I have a Horror Freight 90 amp flux core welder, although I have not tried it out (got it for $20 at a garage sale). The spool on it is probably the garbage it comes with.

I have propane / oxygen and acetylene torches. Not sure if my dad's O2 tank is filled, so I might not be able to use O/A right now. I can use the propane oxygen to silver solder, if that can get enough heat into the part. I have some ground flat stock that I can use for the wear pad.

Steve

[spro]

I think a shim and mechanical lock. The shim material may span past the worn area but locked in some way before it gets to the less worn area. I would try that before drilling any holes or too much heat.

[SteveM]

I think a shim and mechanical lock. The shim material may span past the worn area but locked in some way before it gets to the less worn area. I would try that before drilling any holes or too much heat.

I may start experimenting with different thickness shims to see what size it needs and what that does.

Steve

[jcfx]

I'd go with the Abom method, do you have access to a TIG welder ?

I'm going to assume that the HF flux core welder you have is MIG, my
limited experience with MIG is it's not very well suited for small, tight
quarter work, maybe with a more experienced welder MIG might work.
If you have access to a TIG welder you could TIG fill with a filler rod.

[SteveM]

I'd go with the Abom method, do you have access to a TIG welder ?

I'm going to assume that the HF flux core welder you have is MIG, my
limited experience with MIG is it's not very well suited for small, tight
quarter work, maybe with a more experienced welder MIG might work.
If you have access to a TIG welder you could TIG fill with a filler rod.

I do not have access to TIG.

On my wish list, though.

Steve

[spro]

Upon closer inspection, there are two raised areas. While they wore, the movable jaw ram was wearing too.

[SteveM]

Upon closer inspection, there are two raised areas. While they wore, the movable jaw ram was wearing too.

Yes, I'm sure it is, but as long as the wear on the ram is not too bad or uneven, just doing the pads should work, but just to be sure I will measure the ram.

If it turns out the ram is worn uneven, I can mill a bit off to even it out.

Steve