The VISES of Garage Journal

[TheRealZeus]

ViceRoy, that really does look like an anchor. But predominantly for machinery, equipment, hell even the rooms to buildings, plate tags riveted/bolted on, serialization, for inventories, & accountability. When stamps were used, almost always there was “USN” slapped in somewhere. Really cool anchor ️ tho. I see it too, +Looks like a “Fixed Iron Stock” anchor, to be more specific.

 

[Shiftless]

Anyone know if only set screws were supposed to come on the Reed C2s to hold the main nut in place?

Mine came with roll pin and don’t know if it is original

A pin up from the bottom and then bent forward is one way the nut was secured in position within the dovetail slot. Some models had adjustability via a set screw coming in from the back. Does yours have a split nut adjusted in the front under the nose? What shape is the nose…spherical or hockey puck shape?

Do you have a picture of yours?

BTW, Your Reed combo is a 2C and not a C2, right?

 

[jjenri]

A pin up from the bottom and then bent forward is one way the nut was secured in position within the dovetail slot. Some models had adjustability via a set screw coming in from the back. Does yours have a split nut adjusted in the front under the nose? What shape is the nose…spherical or hockey puck shape?

Do you have a picture of yours?

BTW, Your Reed combo is a 2C and not a C2, right?

Sorry- 2C. Everything appears to be original except the roll pin (unless it is original) but there is no set screw. Man date of 1981

And it does have the split nut in front- hockey puck style!

 

[CRSINMICH]

KMS: You are correct. That is not an original collar on the Desmond Stephens Simplex I posted, however, it does accidentally illustrate my point about fabricating a replacement. Good eyes.

 

[CRSINMICH]

DELETED

 

[Shiftless]

jj:
Here is a pic of the back end of a Reed C series vise with the adjustment screw set up I was referring to, This pic is courtesy of GJ member p0lar who did such a beautiful restoration.
This adjustment screw is a very desirable feature of that model Reed.
Notice the octagonal shaped nut. This indicates a forged screw instead of the rounded body nuts which are cast iron.

 

[jjenri]

jj:
Here is a pic of the back end of a Reed C series vise with the adjustment screw set up I was referring to, This pic is courtesy of GJ member p0lar who did such a beautiful restoration.
This adjustment screw is a very desirable feature of that model Reed.
Notice the hexagonal shaped main screw. This indicates a forged screw instead of the rounded body main screws which are cast iron.

Thanks shift! Just trying to figure
Out if mine originally came with a set screw or not that held that hexagonal nut in or not. What’s your opinion?

I have spare roll pins I could put in but rathe use what actually came with it if that’s the case

 

[Shiftless]

If your vise doesn’t have the steel cylinder with the threaded set screw and instead relies on just a roll pin coming up from underneath, if it works satisfactorily, don’t worry about it.
If you can machine a replacement part to match the one in the photo I posted earlier, go for it.

 

[mdoyle1471]

I have a different simplex, there was a clip holding dynamic jaw to the screw. Pull the dynamic out, flip it over, should be fairly obvious where something is missing just inside the jaw, before the threads start.

Any chance you'd be willing to post a pic of that here? We looked at the dynamic twice, and could not see any attachment points, drilled holes for cotter pin, etc.

 

[Shiftless]

Here is a pic of my Simplex. It has a collar on the main screw that is staked in place. See pic with blue arrow.

edit:
(Is the process of hitting the shaft with some kind of chisel to raise up a chunk of metal to block the sliding of a collar called staking or something else?)

 

[CRSINMICH]

Shift: I call it a PITA when I have to deal with it.

 

[TheRealZeus]

Here is a pic of my Simplex. It has a collar on the main screw that is staked in place. See pic with blue arrow.

edit:
(Is the process of hitting the shaft with some kind of chisel to raise up a chunk of metal to block the sliding of a collar called staking or something else?)

“Driving”

Light read; https://knowhow.napaonline.com/know...d for starting,aligning punches in many cases.

they do not cover pilot punches, but worry about one thing at a time.

 

[jjenri]

jj:
Here is a pic of the back end of a Reed C series vise with the adjustment screw set up I was referring to, This pic is courtesy of GJ member p0lar who did such a beautiful restoration.
This adjustment screw is a very desirable feature of that model Reed.
Notice the hexagonal shaped main screw. This indicates a forged screw instead of the rounded body main screws which are cast iron.

Shift-

Then again- the hole behind my
Main nut isn’t that big to where it would fit a set screw??? Wonder if it actually just came with a pin instead of this (1981 is the year). Can anyone confirm if Reed 2Cs this new came with adjustable main nut screws?

 

[RossinSD]

This is a vice I inherited. No clue who the manufacturer is but it has some similarities to a Wilton. Works great but sometimes I wish for a larger jaw opening. Any idea who make this?

 

[Shiftless]

Ross:
That is definitely a Wilton. It’s a Tradesman model. There used to be a sticker on the side in that big rectangular area that said Wilton

 

[TheRealZeus]

That is a Wilton Tradesman 1750, so the “50” denotes jaw width of 5”. A 1755 would be 5.5”, and 1760 would be 6”, etc. they are robust.

 

[jjenri]

If your vise doesn’t have the steel cylinder with the threaded set screw and instead relies on just a roll pin coming up from underneath, if it works satisfactorily, don’t worry about it.
If you can machine a replacement part to match the one in the photo I posted earlier, go for it.

Here it is shift- here is a proper size roll pin for reference… I don’t think it came with the steel cylinder since the hole would have to be larger in diameter:



Also, I goofed up and didn’t make note of which direction the main nut goes in first. Does the flat portion go towards the front or back? Thanks in advance Everyone!

 

[RossinSD]

Ross:
That is definitely a Wilton. It’s a Tradesman model. There used to be a sticker on the side in that big rectangular area that said Wilton

Thanks for clearing this up for me. This is a great place.

 

[FourthQuarter]

Finally got a nice day to clean this up outside.

I'm indecisive with this one. Paint or BLO?

The casting finish is rather coarse in several spots but like the ease of BLO.

 

[jjenri]

Just found the answer everyone! I guess later model 2Cs came with pins instead of the desirable adjustable set screw for the main nut… very interesting! As you can see with another member’s 2C, he has a hole larger in diameter where as mine is only for the size of a pin to hold the main nut

 

[TheRealZeus]

great! Now, buy her dinner first, & nut in, stick it, puck it! Pics, or it never happened.

 

[budget76]

I like that mount concept. Probably limiting in some ways, but I'm sure that's very sturdy for most situations being into concrete. Really like the idea for lighter duty work, might steal it one day in the future

 

[F-22]

I like that mount concept. Probably limiting in some ways, but I'm sure that's very sturdy for most situations being into concrete. Really like the idea for lighter duty work, might steal it one day in the future

Yes, for a 200mm wide vise, I rather wanted to have a very strong mount. I think it made it a lot more useful than mounting it on a table... I gain good access to what I'm holding from both sides. The vise is quite large so if I go with my back against the wall I am behind the rear jaw and can also work or grind from "the rear" quite easily.

I got a metal table there now too, with a smaller 150mm Heuer mounted on it. It's almost more used now, cause I baby that big vise a bit. With the forged steel heuer, you can hammer on it all day long and it just laughs and asks for more

 

[Zach]

Here’s my 386 Parker I just got finished up and the stand I made for it. It’s got 6” wide jaws and weighs about 167 pounds. I wanted a solid stand that I could still move with my tractor to set it outside if I have a lot of dirty wire wheeling to do or a lot of heavy grinding. I’m happy with it.

 

[royce]

Here’s my 386 Parker I just got finished up and the stand I made for it. It’s got 6” wide jaws and weighs about 167 pounds. I wanted a solid stand that I could still move with my tractor to set it outside if I have a lot of dirty wire wheeling to do or a lot of heavy grinding. I’m happy with it.

Skookum set up, well done.

Royce

 

[Ignacio]

Picked up a Colmbian 5 1/8" jaw today with numbers that I  believe might be a 205-M2 (or 3?). Guy bought it used in 1980s and used it in his repair shop for 30 years before retiring. Has some decent beatings on it, but I got vise fever and had to find one to cure it. Kinda makes the Reed 105 1/2 look small but weighs 85lbs compared to the Reeds 110lbs (30% less!) Fun purchase though, and I'm looking forward to cleaning them up and using them.
Now I can rest tonight knowing I have even more projects than I'll ever have time for.

 

[TheRealZeus]

he said “cure!” Muhahaha.

 

[twagler]

This vise just came up for sale locally. No description other than "Bench vise - $210". I'm not interested in purchasing it for that price, but it has rather unique looking jaw plates (see pictures below). The pictures are too low resolution to read clearly, but I'm pretty sure it is a fairly early Columbian Combination Pipe Vise. Has anyone seen this type of pipe jaw in the upper location as shown here? Wondering if this was a factory option or something home-made.
- Tom

 

[neophyte]

This vise just came up for sale locally. No description other than "Bench vise - $210". I'm not interested in purchasing it for that price, but it has rather unique looking jaw plates (see pictures below). The pictures are too low resolution to read clearly, but I'm pretty sure it is a fairly early Columbian Combination Pipe Vise. Has anyone seen this type of pipe jaw in the upper location as shown here? Wondering if this was a factory option or something home-made.
- Tom

I doubt “Home Made”.
Factory made custom jaw additions from a decent factory with a proper machine shop, or manufacturer made would be my guess.

 

[Shiftless]

I just sprayed the final coat of Chevy Engine Orange on this Cadet. Seems like Cadets are a lot rarer than the machinist bullets. It’s been sitting on my Wilton shelf since about 5 years ago when I stripped off the 3 coats of ugly and chipped paint a P.O. had applied. Orange is the original color. I found bits of faded orange during the paint removal process. Thanks to KMScott for his long ago posting of this catalog page.

The bottom says Warrantee EXP March 55
Cadets had a 3 year warrantee so this one left the factory in 1952

The jaw inserts were pretty corroded and all 4 of the old Phillips head screws were FUBAR so I had to drill them and use a threaded extractor. I replaced ‘em with black phosphate coated hex cap screws.
I used a belt sander to surface the jaw inserts and remove the corrosion and the usual saw and file cuts. A tiny amount of filler smoothed out the jaw towers. Emery cloth cleaned up the shiny bits just fine.

 

[Mr. Wonderful]

This vise just came up for sale locally. No description other than "Bench vise - $210". I'm not interested in purchasing it for that price, but it has rather unique looking jaw plates (see pictures below). The pictures are too low resolution to read clearly, but I'm pretty sure it is a fairly early Columbian Combination Pipe Vise. Has anyone seen this type of pipe jaw in the upper location as shown here? Wondering if this was a factory option or something home-made.
- Tom

I don't know where it came from, but for $210 I'd have trouble keeping the speed limit to go buy it!

 

[kkrbell]

Hi all, does anyone recognize this cadet? Notice the pointed nose at the handle. I haven't seen this on a cadet before.

 

[fishwatcher]

I just sprayed the final coat of Chevy Engine Orange on this Cadet. Seems like Cadets are a lot rarer than the machinist bullets. It’s been sitting on my Wilton shelf since about 5 years ago when I stripped off the 3 coats of ugly and chipped paint a P.O. had applied. Orange is the original color. I found bits of faded orange during the paint removal process. Thanks to KMScott for his long ago posting of this catalog page.

The bottom says Warrantee EXP March 55
Cadets had a 3 year warrantee so this one left the factory in 1952

The jaw inserts were pretty corroded and all 4 of the old Phillips head screws were FUBAR so I had to drill them and use a threaded extractor. I replaced ‘em with black phosphate coated hex cap screws.
I used a belt sander to surface the jaw inserts and remove the corrosion and the usual saw and file cuts. A tiny amount of filler smoothed out the jaw towers. Emery cloth cleaned up the shiny bits just fine.

Fantastic job! Would you mind sharing how you painted or treated the under belly? I mean under the main body and the two swivel surfaces. When I did mine.. I left it bare.. and I wonder if that wasn’t the best decision. Thanks!

 

[Shiftless]

Thanks
I left mine bare. If I lived in a more humid climate, I would have applied primer or at least some BLO or something else to retard rust. I put Fluid Film on the bare shiny parts of all the vises I restore.

 

[Shiftless]

Hi all, does anyone recognize this cadet? Notice the pointed nose at the handle. I haven't seen this on a cadet before.

That doesn’t look like any Wilton nose I’ve ever seen. I’d guess that it’s a replacement.
My Cadet I posted last night is an earlier Chicago era model but I bet they didn’t change the shape of the nose. Does anybody have a Schiller Park Cadet in order to verify my assumption?

 

[Mr. Wonderful]

Here's one. Just as you suspected!

 

[TheRealZeus]

Hi all, does anyone recognize this cadet? Notice the pointed nose at the handle. I haven't seen this on a cadet before.

Notice?! Nose-tice! There is a joke in there somewhere.

Nose, I never seen that shnoz on a Wilton before. I bet an Airedale put a nose cone on her. For no aerodynamic purpose, just cause they don’t do much on the ground.

 

[TheRealZeus]

Outta a Cadet… normal cylindrical, meatball.
🫡 “trust, but verify.” Go navy. ️

 

[Shiftless]

Thanks for verifying. It certainly seems as though ALL Cadets came from the factory with cylindrical noses.

 

[va.grouseman]

I don't know where it came from, but for $210 I'd have trouble keeping the speed limit to go buy it!

Looks like a double pipe vise, Mr. W.---I think you ought to bird dog that unit down.---That's a Unicorn.