1st post, Columbian No 603 - how do I disassemble?

[Kong1970]

Hi,

I'm new here and I picked up a Columbian No 603 vise on Craigs today for $50. It has a few score/cut marks on top of the jaws but otherwise seems in nice enough shape.

I'd like to strip it down and repaint. The jaws were very hard to open past about 4". I started removing some paint from the slide and I got it to the point where I could open them up all the way to where the spindle will disengage from the nut but I can't get the dynamic jaw to separate from the body. So now it opens and closes relatively easily and the swivel base works perfectly.

It looks like it has been beat on during its life, so it might be slighly bent. Or, does the nut need to be removed in order to get the dynamic jaw out?

Any help would be appreciated. Here is a pic of the vise. I'll post more tomorrow.

 

[Mohawk Dave]

The paint and rust is holding it tight to the static side.

At this point I wire wheel the slide (as much that sticks out), and then I take a hand file and file the burrs on the top and sides of the slide. When assholes hammer on the slide it creates a divot and the outer portion of said divot rises above the plane.

Then I have separated them 2 ways: put a Iwrin clamp grip thing between the jaws (if you have one that spreads) and spread it. But usually I just grab a brass drift punch and give hefty taps to the back of the slide as it is inside the static housing. Work the punch from side to top to side etc. It'll come out. Spray lube on it while doing it.

Once the lead screw is disengaged, there is nothing mechanical holding it. Just grime and burrs. But after the first tap or two, turn the lead screw again to make sure you are not catching the last thread.

Then wire wheel the whole slide once you get it out. I use anti-sieze on my lead screws.

 

[scooternut]

Nice Columbian, it will be good to you.

Mohawk has given you excellent advise, do as he says.

 

[Kong1970]

Can anyone tell me the approximate age of this vise?

 

[Mark in Indiana]

Kong,
Very nice Columbian you have.
If you go to the "Vises of Garage Journal" thread, there will be some informed answers on the age there.

Cheers.

 

[Kong1970]

I got it disassembled and took a wire wheel to it to remove the blue paint. I'm going to repaint it a dark gray color. I hope my new paint sticks as well as that blue stuff did. Here are some pics.

 

[thebeekeeper1]

It looks like you are doing a fine job on a nice vice. Kudos!

 

[KM223]

Wow! Your prep work is fantastic! Well done.

 

[Kong1970]

Well I finished repainting the Columbian. I'm not sure if it is an improvement but I like the gray better. Not too bad for my first try. I'm pretty happy $50 plus a can of primer and a can of paint. She works beautifully now too, smooth as silk with no slop to speak of. Here are shots of primer and paint.

 

[cgrutt]

Looks great. I'm in process of restoring the same (or very similar) vice. Might try to get it done tomorrow. Thanks for the motivation!

 

[ADSR]

fantastic job!

 

[Mohawk Dave]

Awesome.

I bake mine in the oven (don't tell GF!) for an hour or two at 200 or 250 degrees. I think 200. Makes spray paint WAY more durable.

 

[drivesitfar]

Kong: WELL DONE!! do you still have any questions? can you tell us what grease you used after you put it together or did you use oil?

also one tip I've learned after watching and learning from others is if you put newspaper over the slides and just use your expensive blue tape to hold the paper or plastic bag on you won't use so much tape. nice work overall though and professional tape and paint job.

Dave: might not be the best to use that oven for your paint and then cook your food in it. some of the guys have bought $100 new smokers and put them in their shops and the guys with bigger shops just put in an old oven. When I get my shop built i'll make sure to make a 220 plug and space available for an old vintage oven because I agree it does make the paint look better and hardens it like powder coating. you can even heat up BLO and make it harder, but according to some you really don't want to do that inside your house or maybe even your garage because it stinks.

 

[Mohawk Dave]

Drivesitfar, You are correct. It is not ideal, but it's all I have for now. One day I'll have a full shop with a real oven, or better yet, paint/powder booth.

 

[Kong1970]

Kong: WELL DONE!! do you still have any questions? can you tell us what grease you used after you put it together or did you use oil?

also one tip I've learned after watching and learning from others is if you put newspaper over the slides and just use your expensive blue tape to hold the paper or plastic bag on you won't use so much tape. nice work overall though and professional tape and paint job.
---

Hey Drives- thanks for the compliment and the tip about using newspaper. I used Bel-ray waterproof grease just because it is what I had available. Seems to work well enough but I think I may try never-seize next time I lube it. I still was wondering the approx. age, my gut thinks pre WWII. I didn't go too nuts on trying to restore the vise, since I'll be using it. But if I wanted to clean up the top and sides of the jaws a bit better, do folks use hand files for that kind of work?

 

[Kong1970]

Thanks all for the kind comments this is an awesome forum, glad I stumbled upon it!

 

[Kong1970]

The paint and rust is holding it tight to the static side.

At this point I wire wheel the slide (as much that sticks out), and then I take a hand file and file the burrs on the top and sides of the slide. When assholes hammer on the slide it creates a divot and the outer portion of said divot rises above the plane.

Then I have separated them 2 ways: put a Iwrin clamp grip thing between the jaws (if you have one that spreads) and spread it. But usually I just grab a brass drift punch and give hefty taps to the back of the slide as it is inside the static housing. Work the punch from side to top to side etc. It'll come out. Spray lube on it while doing it.

Once the lead screw is disengaged, there is nothing mechanical holding it. Just grime and burrs. But after the first tap or two, turn the lead screw again to make sure you are not catching the last thread.

Then wire wheel the whole slide once you get it out. I use anti-sieze on my lead screws.

When I was taking it apart, I neglected to mention there was a dowel pin holding the drive nut inside the static side. I couldn't get that pin out and I was afraid I'd destroy the vise. I got help from a friend who got the pin out for me and once I got the drive nut out of the static side, the jaw slid right out. When I reassembled, I used a spring pin that my buddy cut to the right size to hold the drive nut in.

 

[drivesitfar]

Kong: yes there are several members that hand file or hand sand their vises to a shine you wouldn't believe and then they use their vise. I guess they just like looking over and seeing something that is shiny and makes them smile every day they walk in to their shop/garage.

here's the main vise thread link and feel free to spend a few hours or days looking at pictures. a few years ago a guy made a 4 part 4 hour YouTube video of the vises of Garage Journal and that was about 1/4 of the vises showing up now on that thread.

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=44782

also if you want to take up a couple posts showing the before and after of your vise restoration and of that pin that sounds like a great upgrade your buddy made please do on the vise repair 101 thread and here's the link.

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=252830

again welcome and we are happy to have you join our group that is usually pretty friendly and I bet some of the guys could build a rocket/space ship out of scraps that could fly to the moon and maybe some are for Amazon now. I ask a lot of questions and if you are on the right threads or know the right member you can usually get a good answer fairly quick.

cheers