Carla, one thing I wanted to ask earlier, and I don't think you touched on, did you sleeve the handle hole in the screw eye for a tigher fit? It looks (to me) like there is an insert bushing to take up slack. If so, would you mind sharing some details on how you did that without removing the handle? I know some make like Prentiss seem to have a sloppier fit than others between the handle and screw eye, but the fit on yours seems to be extremely tight, plus it looks like a sleeve has been inserted.
Hi, zkling,
Yes, I'd bushed the vise screw, but had forgotten about doing that until you just now reminded me.
So.....here's the story. The Reed works, and some other vise makers, at some time-frames, chose to make the enlarged end of the vise screw by casting iron over the screw, in the.....presumably, as I don't actually know just how they did this.....same way that they cast the jaws with the jaw steels welded to the jaw castings.
In this instance, the hole for the vise handle was worn, and the handle bent.
The correct repair was to shrink-fit a steel bushing into the enlarged iron end of the screw, and make a replacement handle.
The screw end was glass-blasted to clean it, and the diameter of the hole for the handle was found with gage-pins. A short scrap of steel was turned to that diameter, with one end turned to 1/2" to be held in the collet of the vertical mill.
This pin, in the mill spindle, was used to locate the vise screw for boring, simply holding the vise screw on the pin, and bringing the mill vise into alignment with it.
In this specific instance, the handle diameter was 7/16" nominal. I bored the vise screw to a few thou under 5/8", noting the bore dia as read with a gage-pin.
I don't remember this particular one, but I'd probably have used a stray grade 8 bolt as turning stock for the bushing, as those are an easy source of good steel....a bit of a salvaged automotive half-shaft is another easy source of good steel.
The correct shrink fit for steel going into cast iron in that size range would be half a thou, varying slightly under if anything. (a usual shrink is .001 per inch of diameter, but one must be careful with small cast iron parts, lest they crack on cooling.)
The bush was turned to the required O.D., and bored/reamed 7/16"+002.
The screw was then heated, just not quite hot enough to show colour, and the bushing, which had been chilled in CO2 snow, was placed.
After cooling, the bush was filed level with the 'ball' surface of the screw, its bore deburred with a c'sink, and the area polished a little.
I used common 7/16" drill round for the handle, and might have had to touch out the bore with a hone a little bit, for the handle stock to slide freely, with an easy slide fit.
I made the 7/8" dia. ball ends of the handle from led-loy (free-machining mild steel) with a 7/16" radius form tool, in the lathe.
The technique for that was to begin by cutting the handle to length, then turning the ends down to .005 under 3/8", .370, for a bit over 7/8" length of turn.. After cutting a 'runout' groove for the threading tool, I ran 3/8-24 threads, on the handle ends.
The handle ball ends were formed by chucking a scrap of 7/8" round stock, drilling/tapping 3/8-24, then turning the radius with a form tool, leaving a 7/16" dia flat, qty 2. They were parted off a bit over 7/8" length, and, one at a time, were wound on to the handle, and the 'other half' of the ball-end was cut in place on the handle, with the form tool, then polished.
When the handle was assembled to the vise screw, the ball ends were simply clamped with a brass bush to avoid scarring. One end was assembled with Loctite, the other with just a touch of Glyptal, to allow easy removal if ever needed.
A more practical way to do this would have been to use commercial 7/8" dia steel balls, simply held for drilling/tapping in a brass or copper bushing, to protect the finish. At the time I did up that little vise, I didn't have a good local source, and those cheap parts would have been two weeks out on order, so I improvised.
On some other vise handles I did, one time and another, I used commercial brass balls for the ends, just to 'look pretty', when nicely polished out.......and quite regret telling about this detail on another internet board, some time ago, where the sexist boy-children there made some rather impolite comments about that.....we've none of those here, right?
I think I've read mention of some of the members here who plan to offer commercial vise 'rebuild' or 'restoration' services, for those who aren't machinists.......presumably, someone who has CNC machining capability will be able to offer a range of replacement vise handles, at some reasonable price level.
cheers
Carla
) Mark!
), that would be an open end slide. The enclosed end slides were usually so as to incorporate a bearing hanger for the tail end of the leadscrew with the QR vices. There will have been exceptions, but that was generally the reason they'd be enclosed unless it was a pure design choice to attempt to minimise dust/swarf ingress.