Here is an Athol / Starrett 924-1/2 that I got from drivesitfar. It cleaned up real nice. Factory smooth jaws... Slide is nice and tight fit and has just a few tiny cuts on the top back, but otherwise it's so clean and unused you can see all the machine marks on it.
Went with the Rustoleum Deep Blue (only a hair darker than Safety Blue
), and white lettering. I was going to do it with black lettering at first but figured I would try the white and I'm glad I did, it really pops!
Had a bunch of pits from the original casting, when I stripped it down you could see where they were filled in originally with some sort of filler. Also the seam down the middle is very noticeable on the insides. I filled in most of the pits with JB Weld since it was really a cosmetic thing. Sanded down smooth. Tried not to get it too perfect as I wanted it to blend with the rest of the vise.
I bought a bronze thrust bearing to use on the front, but that extra thickness made the spring inside impossible to get compressed so it didn't get used. I'm not sure how I feel about that spring setup vs just a regular collar to keep the spindle locked in place. The tension the spring creates allows the handle to stay at any angle.
