The VISES of Garage Journal

[Evergreentree]

Captain-thanks, I look forward to the underside pics.

Outlaw, how does it attach to a drill press? (yes, still looking for the right one) I can't figure it out. Does it need a base for that application?

 

[Shiftless]

I like how he has his face right up to the vise while he's jacking it up. No face protection, and the whole setup is just wobbling around. Maybe he should have just payed the setup horizontal instead of vertical. That's about the most dangerous thing I've seen in a while. At least he didn't get killed and got the vise apart in one piece.

Some of you might remember my struggles with a stuck Chicago era 4 inch bullet a couple of months ago. That video as well as suggestions from some of you vise regulars inspired me to go horizontal and with a long piece of 3/4 inch all thread and a 24 inch breaker bar instead of a hydraulic jack. Pull instead of push. It worked! Here is one of the pics from that job. (WAY safer too.) More details were over on the vise repair 101 thread.

 

[madmikeee]

OK finally getting around to getting the work area completed (yeah it's been awhile) Blew apart my littlestown vise, have it mostly cleaned and painted, now I just need to find replacement jaws for it. Does anyone know the measurements for the screws on the littlestown 4" bench vise? The jaws are just at 3.5" but I have noticed that replacement jaws vary in their mounting screw positions depending on manufacturer. Or should I just put the old ones back on and pick up some magnetic ?

 

[Outlawmws]

Captain-thanks, I look forward to the underside pics.

Outlaw, how does it attach to a drill press? (yes, still looking for the right one) I can't figure it out. Does it need a base for that application?

For most DP use with parts that small you just hold it in position and drill. If using a larger bit where it could hook and spin, you can again clamp it down, or simply clamp a stop fence so it can't spin if the bit happens to want to catch.

 

[drivesitfar]

EG: Outlaw's advise is sound as per usual when he doesn't have the devil guy behind his post. another option is to get an XY table or some other vise that you can bolt to the Drill press and then put your new baby in their jaws. here's a few examples.

Mikeee: i'd probably put the old jaws back on the the little Littlestown and either get plastic, magnet jaws for next to nothing to use over the top of them. or make some jaws out of copper or aluminum.

JC: you about done with that Reed 2C yet? we are expecting to see it mounted and with something in it's pipe jaws by the end of the day if not by lunch.

 

[Craptain]

Here's a couple of pics of the base for that Yankee. Just one screw to remove or install. The base is actuallyiintended for bench use not dp.

The base actually attaches to the dynamic jaw and the frame moves backwards and forwards.

Sent from my LG-D801 using Tapatalk

 

[zkling]

Since we are on the topic of drill press vises. Does anyone have info on Armstrong Blum vises? I could never find much info on it, a quick release bought it specifically for edge drilling plate, it has ~3" tall jaws. I think it might actually be a saw vise.

 

[Jcrapola]

JC: you about done with that Reed 2C yet? we are expecting to see it mounted and with something in it's pipe jaws by the end of the day if not by lunch. [/QUOTE]

Haha, not yet. I am home for the week between the holidays, and the wife wants the guest bathroom remodeled. So, that is my primary project. I am tinkering with the vise when she is not looking though!

 

[Fraggles]

Got a free vice a few weeks ago .

It's a Samsonia, made by Parkinsons with 4 1/2 wide jaws, 41 lbs weight

before



after a quick bath in the e-tank and a wipe with an oily rag. Has minor battle scars caused by a hacksaw, but works faultlessly.



Pics of the other vices to follow.

 

[Evergreentree]

Outlaw-always useful info to a rookie!

Drives-good advise, and thank you for the pictures! Awesome vises!

Capt-thank you for the pictures for clarification. My little vise is perfectly square at the base, so it wouldn't fit a base like yours. Way cool though to know. Thank you very much!

 

[Evergreentree]

Beautiful vise frag, way interesting design!

 

[drivesitfar]

EG: happy hunting.

Shift: i thought you already had the bullet apart? i guess not so post up a few more pictures on the 101 thread if you have time of that from all sides so i might understand more of what you did? also do you still think you have two different vises that made one? i have to give you an A++++++++++ for effort on that one.

 

[dutchgray]

Nice Samsonia Fraggles, a decent example, cast steel as well.

 

[Craptain]

Outlaw-always useful info to a rookie!

Drives-good advise, and thank you for the pictures! Awesome vises!

Capt-thank you for the pictures for clarification. My little vise is perfectly square at the base, so it wouldn't fit a base like yours. Way cool though to know. Thank you very much!

I believe it would if you could actually see the details. However as outlaw mentioned they usually didn't have the base. And..... If you want to use it on a dp the base is irrelevant. Nice vise in any case.

Sent from my LG-D801 using Tapatalk

 

[Outlawmws]

Frag, That looks great! nice job, nice score and for free too! A Usuck moment!

 

[vertguy]

I took advantage of the not so fun winter storm that is blowing through today and cleaned up a CM drill press vise that I picked up a couple months ago. I still need to pick up some wire wheels for the Dremel as I could not get into the smaller areas with the bench grinder. But I do like using the wire wheel on the 3/4HP CM grinder as it almost impossible to bog down that big dog!

Did these vises come unfinished as I was expecting to find some color under all the crud? Would BLO be a good option as I do like the unfinished look?

Before:

After:

 

[Outlawmws]

I like to paint the "as cast" surfaces, but masking a a fair bit of work... BLO would also be a good option.

 

[topop101]

So I was given a ?mill? vise today. I found an old hing pin I'm going to use for the lead handle. It's unmarked, but heavy for its size, and super precise. 2 1/4" jaw. Can some enlighten me on how it's attached? Maybe It's missing a base piece? I'll post a pic of the bottom.

They make different base's for them lil Yankee's. The one I have is dissembled at the moment but here's the base. The Yankee is held in place by set screws. The carrier or base can be bolted down or attached to a swivel base.

 

[topop101]

Did these vises come unfinished as I was expecting to find some color under all the crud? Would BLO be a good option as I do like the unfinished look?

The ruff cast areas were painted black. But BLO would be good too. Just keep it light and watch the contact areas. BLO sets like a varnish and can gum up on moving parts. ... Nice long "C" vise

 

[Shiftless]

Drives:
Yes, it came apart a few minutes after that pic with the big breaker bar was taken. Here is what it looks like now. After the Christmas visiting grandchildren leave later this week I hope to find some time to work on getting some extra clearance so the slide will go in smoothly and completely. That red spot is the paint underneath the blue paint. Needs to be stripped and repainted or left bare. That decision will come after I see what the surface looks like. I'm hoping for a surface good enough for bare.

And thanks for the high marks on the "stick-to-it-ivness" category.

 

[straightcut]

BTW. ..off topic, but Costco has their led 4' shop lights for $20 right now. Bargain of the decade!

http://m.costco.com/4’-LED-Shop-Light-with-Pull-Chain,-2-pack.product.100223617.html

These are the lights. You can buy them singly. $30 normally but an instore $10 per light discount. I'm picking up 5 tomorrow.

I'd be interested in seeing the published $10 discount. I went to two different Costco's in the Phoenix area; the only thing posted was their everyday price of $30.

Ok, back to our regularly scheduled programming, but wanted to post this to save others wasting their time. and

 

[thursday]

Is there a thread to exchange vise parts? I've got a few random parts around I'd like to get rid of, hopefully in exchange for a matching vise nut and spindle so I can salvage one.

 

[drivesitfar]

Shift: was there a date stamped on the key way? since your jaws looked like they matched so nicely and look pretty darn close i'm still thinking your vise is one vise. maybe with the tolerances so close on the bullets maybe once you clean out the rust and gunk it will slide in and out perfectly. crossing my fingers for you on that happening.

Vert: BLO would be ok and even shoe polish or a beeswax type mix would work so you can keep that cool DP vise naked. Fretters tried shoe polish with success and he also put up a recipe over on the vise repair 101 thread before Christmas that he is tweaking and i might try.

TOP: that vise looks good enough for me, but as you know i always lean that way to put BLO on a vise.

Thursday: there is a vise parts thread in this section and you could edit your post with the vise parts you have to trade and the ones you need if you give a few more details.

 

[Shiftless]

Shift:
Mine is marked Guar. Exp. 12-30-62
No rust or gunk
Original milling marks intact...VERY little wear on the slide or inside the static.
But nevertheless, even after generous oiling, the slide gets stuck before closing all the way.

 

[drivesitfar]

Shift: you're the first person i know to have that issue or if others here have had it they didn't mention it on this or the 101 thread that i can remember. I guess there always has to be a first timer for almost anything so hopefully you and maybe a few of us can help you find a solution because it's a cool vise.

ALL: anybody have a Wilton Bullet not go all the way closed if it isn't broken or welded?

 

[454ragtop]

Shift:
Mine is marked Guar. Exp. 12-30-62
No rust or gunk
Original milling marks intact...VERY little wear on the slide or inside the static.
But nevertheless, even after generous oiling, the slide gets stuck before closing all the way.

Check the slide tube with a straight edge on the top and bottom. Had one a while back that was bent slightly that had that same symptom. SOB to straighten it, took everything my 20 ton press had.
Jim

 

[Evergreentree]

I didn't find any markings on it. Was hoping to find something.
Top-is just the base marked, or is the vise itself?

Still came out nice and usable for a Monday night. e-tank and oil on this instead of blo.

 

[Evergreentree]

Earlier today

 

[Shiftless]

Check the slide tube with a straight edge on the top and bottom. Had one a while back that was bent slightly that had that same symptom. SOB to straighten it, took everything my 20 ton press had.
Jim

Thanks 454
I thought of that. I checked for straightness with carpentry tools ( the ruler on a combination square.) Seemed straight. But I should find a machinist grade straight edge to double check. My combination square ruler can't be too bad...I checked it against a granite countertop.(again I realize a kitchen counter is not an absolute granite surface plate.)

 

[454ragtop]

Thanks 454
I thought of that. I checked for straightness with carpentry tools ( the ruler on a combination square.) Seemed straight. But I should find a machinist grade straight edge to double check. My combination square ruler can't be too bad...I checked it against a granite countertop.(again I realize a kitchen counter is not an absolute granite surface plate.)

On mine it was a little hard to see, just 1 fairly slight bend a couple inches away from where the slide tube goes into the jaw casting, basically about where it stopped when trying to slide it into the main body.
Jim

On edit, here is where I mentioned this earlier http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?p=4102588#post4102588
See Joe Stripers post about 6 posts before mine.

 

[Outlawmws]

Shift, you can slide it in to the bind point then back it out and put some dykem blue or use a magic marker and then bind it up to see where the bind is.

 

[Provincial]

The bend probably came from using the Wilton as a press, with a cheater pipe on the handle.

If Shiftless's tube checks out straight, the next step is using a micrometer to check the tube for uniform diameter and out-of-round. If the tube checks out OK, then checking the bore in the fixed jaw casting for uniformity is the next step.

Honing the bore of the fixed jaw is a last resort, as it could result in too much slop when the jaws are open. I would only do it if the measurements showed that the tube was straight and round and that the bore was tapered in the back. Then I would find someone with a Sunnen sizing hone and have them square up the bore. This is not a job for an amateur.

Nice vise, and well worth the effort to save!

 

[bagged89s10]

Shift:
Mine is marked Guar. Exp. 12-30-62
No rust or gunk
Original milling marks intact...VERY little wear on the slide or inside the static.
But nevertheless, even after generous oiling, the slide gets stuck before closing all the way.

Did you check m for any small burrs inside the static?

 

[bagged89s10]

I picked up these 3 drill press vises today with a craftsman drill press. I have way too many drill press vises and need to sell like 5.

 

[joe.striper]

Too expensive but a large cool vise in VT

http://burlington.craigslist.org/tls/5364731076.html

 

[Evergreentree]

Bagged-I'm looking at a drill press today to buy. an alien head Dunlap like your craftsman. No vari speed..it's not exactly what I'm looking for, but it's a client of mine, and he has vises as well to check out.

What are the make of your dp vises?

 

[ChargerRT]

Well anybody close to Aurora Canada???

https://www.govdeals.com/index.cfm?fa=Main.Item&itemid=171&acctid=5523

 

[xxaler]

I work in Aurora, but those aren't worth much of anything. All beat down Record clones of Parkinsons 37s.

 

[Shiftless]

Thanks for all your suggestions

After my little grandaughters fly off tomorrow I hope to find some shop time to further the stuck bullet project. I recently acquired a Mitotoyo digital caliper so I can check for taper on that slide. I can't imagine any way to measure inside diameter with precision throughout the bore.
Honing the bore is a good idea but would require some way to fill the key way first, right?
Maybe remove the key from the slide and just let it sit in the key way while honing? Epoxy it in and bust it loose later? Fill the whole key way with epoxy and chisel it out later? Doesn't sound like a good way to treat precision machinery...

Starting to sound like we should move over to Vise Repair 101

Edit: Why didn't I think of Googling "precision bore measurement?" duh!
Any reason why the $29.99 "anytime tools" set wouldn't be good enough?

 

[Nightshift]

Shiftless, its probably not the bore that is the problem. But it is easy to measure with bore gauges. All machinists will have them and any shops that rebuild engines.

I have several Willy bullets and none have close enough tolerances to cause sticking. My guess is the keyway. Either there is **** wedged in the slot or the keyway itself is burred or needs to be ground down where it's sticking.

Like someone said earlier, paint blue dye on the insert, including the keyway and slide it in. Preferably without the screw installed. That way you can slide it back and forth easily and get some good marks on the dye where its sticking. Cheers, Bill