The VISES of Garage Journal

[txlonghorn1989]

It will NEVER be "good as new" and as an "expert" hes a welder not an engineer nor has he a heavy vise repair background. How do I know that? Because of his answer.

It's your vise and your $$. Do as you will, but to ignore the combined knowledge of this forum....

Outlaw,
I kind of read his response as he had already commissioned a guy to fix the vise before reading all the collective wisdom of GJ. And then there are those who have to make their own mistakes. Nothing wrong with that. I'm sure we've all been there and done that. If you're like me...that's been the story over and over and ...

Mike

 

[WQ59B]

Picked this lil dude up Sat. No brand name or COO, but it did come from estate of 86 yr old guy who passed this winter. Judging by other stuff there, I assume C-Man.

 

[gman007]

It will NEVER be "good as new" and as an "expert" hes a welder not an engineer nor has he a heavy vise repair background. How do I know that? Because of his answer.

It's your vise and your $$. Do as you will, but to ignore the combined knowledge of this forum....

In fact there is nursery rhyme for this , the American version is

Vise sat on a tree stump,
Vise had a great fall.
All the king's horses and all the king's men
Couldn't put vise together again!

The English version is perhaps more detailed

Vice sat on a tree stump,
Vice had a great fall.
Four-score Men and Four-score more,
Could not make vice where he was before.

 

[sparty569]

Outlaw,
I kind of read his response as he had already commissioned a guy to fix the vise before reading all the collective wisdom of GJ. And then there are those who have to make their own mistakes. Nothing wrong with that. I'm sure we've all been there and done that. If you're like me...that's been the story over and over and ...

Mike

This.

1) already found someone, who I was told by other welding shops "if anyone can fix it, they can"
2) I am willing to gamble a bit. All told it'll be less than $100. If it works, great. If not, well I learned something.

 

[Outlawmws]

Picked this lil dude up Sat. No brand name or COO, but it did come from estate of 86 yr old guy who passed this winter. Judging by other stuff there, I assume C-Man.

Look on the head of the main screw. MF (Millers falls) put their initials there. Others, not so much.

 

[MayerMR]

Outlaw,
I kind of read his response as he had already commissioned a guy to fix the vise before reading all the collective wisdom of GJ. And then there are those who have to make their own mistakes. Nothing wrong with that. I'm sure we've all been there and done that. If you're like me...that's been the story over and over and ...

Mike

At least he has the excuse of not knowing it was a pretty tall order to fix it. My dumb*** bought this vise knowing full well it was stupid.

But I liked it, damnit...

 

[va.grouseman]

Even a child has to learn that something is hot by touching it and getting burned one time.---That will stay with him.---If he keeps touching it over and over, WELL, he might have some issues.---Burning is part of learning.

 

[txlonghorn1989]

At least he has the excuse of not knowing it was a pretty tall order to fix it. My dumb*** bought this vise knowing full well it was stupid.

But I liked it, damnit...

Right out of the gate I can't see what's wrong with it. At least I'm learning to recognize some of the Reed vises immediately. Care to edumacate me MMR?

 

[Fretters]

Right out of the gate I can't see what's wrong with it. At least I'm learning to recognize some of the Reed vises immediately. Care to edumacate me MMR?

Looks like the jaw towers have been welded.

 

[txlonghorn1989]

Looks like the jaw towers have been welded.

Duh! How in the world did I miss that?! SMH.

 

[drivesitfar]

TEX: if i recall correctly MR spiffed up that old Reed a while back and posted pics and details here or on the Vise repair 101 thread showing how it looked after he did some of his magic. it's not a vise i'd pay much for in the condition he bought it in, but i probably would have at least bought it as a parts vise cause it's one of my favorite Reeds.

a lot of times new spray bomb paint jobs are hiding something other than rust so learn to spot the irregularities like some of us are able to do now. also don't feel bad if you buy a vise or a tool with a nice repair job that you didn't see cause the tool might still be useful and some of us still miss some of the issues we point out to others.

 

[sparty569]

Here's the repair. I was told "You can back into that with a Mac Truck and it aint going nowhere."

So we'll see. If it works, definitely worth the $100 total for vise and repair. If not, well, it wouldnt be the first $100 lesson I've learned.

 

[TTLLOGIC]

Here's the repair. I was told "You can back into that with a Mac Truck and it aint going nowhere."



So we'll see. If it works, definitely worth the $100 total for vise and repair. If not, well, it wouldnt be the first $100 lesson I've learned.



What do you all think?

I think $100 could have been spent more wisely imo.


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[sparty569]

I think $100 could have been spent more wisely imo.


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So does everyone else. But that isnt what I asked.

Does anyone have any constructive input?

 

[TTLLOGIC]

So does everyone else. But that isnt what I asked.

Does anyone have any constructive input?

You could have at least taken the spindle out before baking it...


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[TTLLOGIC]

So does everyone else. But that isnt what I asked.

Does anyone have any constructive input?

Btw your statement of "What do you all think?" got you exactly what you asked for... What I think. Not sure what else you expected, so no need to get upset.


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[sparty569]

Btw your statement of "What do you all think?" got you exactly what you asked for. What I think, not sure what else you expected, so no need to get upset.


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Maybe it wasnt obvious enough, but I was asking about thoughts on the repair.

I am not asking for all of the snarky responses that I have been getting. That doesnt help anything. Some people have been cool and pointing things out, while others are are acting like elitists. These are vises. Sure some people take them seriously, but you wont see me talking s**t to someone who is on an anvil or watch message board, because the dont know what they dont know.

So if I come across as upset, it is because I only want constructive responses.

 

[TTLLOGIC]

Maybe it wasnt obvious enough, but I was asking about thoughts on the repair.



I am not asking for all of the snarky responses that I have been getting. That doesnt help anything. Some people have been cool and pointing things out, while others are are acting like elitists. These are vises. Sure some people take them seriously, but you wont see me talking s**t to someone who is on an anvil or watch message board, because the dont know what they dont know.



So if I come across as upset, it is because I only want constructive responses.

You asked for opinions, sorry I didn't give you the gold star you were expecting. To me it looks like a gigantic waste of time and money. I also think my opinion is very constructive, It may possibly help you think twice next time you want to do something this silly.


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[royce]

So does everyone else. But that isnt what I asked.

Does anyone have any constructive input?

That brazing job looks good and I'm thinking the repair will serve you well.

Royce

 

[sparty569]

That brazing job looks good and I'm thinking the repair will serve you well.

Royce

Thanks for that. To me, with how much braze there is, it looked and felt solid when I picked it up.

 

[jpickar]

Here's the repair. I was told "You can back into that with a Mac Truck and it aint going nowhere."

So we'll see. If it works, definitely worth the $100 total for vise and repair. If not, well, it wouldnt be the first $100 lesson I've learned.

It is braze and not certainium cast rod. Braze has limited strength. I would never waste time and money on a vise that has been brazed.

 

[kwoswalt99]

It is braze and not cetainium cast rod. Braze has limited strength.

Bronze has a higher tensile strength than the cast iron lol.

 

[Fierljeppen]

So does everyone else. But that isnt what I asked.

Does anyone have any constructive input?

You could always use it as a boat anchor.

 

[TTLLOGIC]

You could always use it as a boat anchor.

Wow, thanks for the laugh haha


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[Perrorojo]

Here's the repair. I was told "You can back into that with a Mac Truck and it aint going nowhere."

So we'll see. If it works, definitely worth the $100 total for vise and repair. If not, well, it wouldnt be the first $100 lesson I've learned.

grind. paint. use.

 

[jpickar]

Bronze has a higher tensile strength than the cast iron lol.

Maybe braze itself does. But braze on cast is not that great.

 

[txlonghorn1989]

Some of us will be interested to see how it works for you sparty. Keep us posted on how it performs.

On a side note, the recent spate of critical comments have been the worst of the worst in terms of negative commenting I've seen on a thread here on GJ. Overall, this site has been a very pleasant discovery for me over the last year. There are lots of great members here. Hoping the recent negativity is an anomaly.

 

[KMScott]

You guys talking about repair work brought up this repair I finished a couple weeks ago. This Reed 207 was delivered from Kansas, you know the guy with all the vises. It was his Dad's and he wanted me to repair the broken Dovetail. Pretty challenging I thought but actually was not to tuff. First had to layout a pocket locating off the center shoulder bolt threads. Setting up the Static was a choir but figured out a solid clamping. Machined the pocket stopping at the top of the dovetail from underneath. machined a flange area to bolt the insert in place and deep enough so not to rub on the swivel base. Cut the opposite shape in the insert and added a flange for clamping. Finished the dovetail cut which was 30 degrees. Shiftless seen my dovetail groove setup. Nice visit by the way Shift. This repair came out pretty good.

 

[Perrorojo]

You guys talking about repair work brought up this repair I finished a couple weeks ago. This Reed 207 was delivered from Kansas, you know the guy with all the vises. It was his Dad's and he wanted me to repair the broken Dovetail. Pretty challenging I thought but actually was not to tuff. First had to layout a pocket locating off the center shoulder bolt threads. Setting up the Static was a choir but figured out a solid clamping. Machined the pocket stopping at the top of the dovetail from underneath. machined a flange area to bolt the insert in place and deep enough so not to rub on the swivel base. Cut the opposite shape in the insert and added a flange for clamping. Finished the dovetail cut which was 30 degrees. Shiftless seen my dovetail groove setup. Nice visit by the way Shift. This repair came out pretty good.

that's impressive.

 

[KMScott]

Another project I did on this Reed 7" cast jaws was to remove the hard inserts and add new custom made jaws. Cutting the hard cast was fairly easy since I had a bunch of dull carbide endmills and they worked great. Most of my time is setting up the vise to cut or drill. When you have a ridged setup the cutting is easy. Guys with Bridgeport type machines can do this pretty easy.

 

[Shiftless]

Yes, I saw Kevin’s set up for doing that dovetail cut and just about any other metal machining you could imagine. He has a very well equipped shop but more than that, he has the vision and imagination to make and repair objects that elevates his work to that of an artist. I had an opportunity to visit him for a few days last month and thoroughly enjoyed his hospitality.

 

[MayerMR]

TEX: if i recall correctly MR spiffed up that old Reed a while back and posted pics and details here or on the Vise repair 101 thread showing how it looked after he did some of his magic. it's not a vise i'd pay much for in the condition he bought it in, but i probably would have at least bought it as a parts vise cause it's one of my favorite Reeds.

a lot of times new spray bomb paint jobs are hiding something other than rust so learn to spot the irregularities like some of us are able to do now. also don't feel bad if you buy a vise or a tool with a nice repair job that you didn't see cause the tool might still be useful and some of us still miss some of the issues we point out to others.

Yes sir, I went into that vise knowing it wasn't ever going to be as strong as it was before it was damaged. Just as sparty569 has chosen to do with his "rescue" vise. It's fine. The repair was ugly but strong. I spiffed her up some and will use her for lighter jobs. If I ever decide to sell her on then I'll just be sure that the new owner is aware. But regardless, I viewed it as a challenge that I wanted to undertake.

Here's the link to the thread I did on the restoration, if anyone is interested:

https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=388526

Here's the repair. I was told "You can back into that with a Mac Truck and it aint going nowhere."

So we'll see. If it works, definitely worth the $100 total for vise and repair. If not, well, it wouldnt be the first $100 lesson I've learned.

I think that repair looks pretty good. I mean I'm not pro-welder/brazer by any stretch of the imagination. But it looks good and solid to me. I hope it serves you well for many years.

Some of us will be interested to see how it works for you sparty. Keep us posted on how it performs.

On a side note, the recent spate of critical comments have been the worst of the worst in terms of negative commenting I've seen on a thread here on GJ. Overall, this site has been a very pleasant discovery for me over the last year. There are lots of great members here. Hoping the recent negativity is an anomaly.

I agree with your sentiment, the recent rash of argumentative/combative responses is disheartening. I imagine those folks will get bored and move along soon enough if people just ignore them.

 

[trijeff]

Man, you guys must've missed the whole rounded corners discussion spurned by one of my first Tradesman restos a few years back ... that one was a real bruiser

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[TTLLOGIC]

To those complaining about the "negative" response. Way I see it, you ask for an opinion on a public forum be prepared for the good and the bad. No one called anyone names. The world isn't smiles and sunshine, if the very vanilla comments made about this were so offensive. Then I suggest you completely avoid the real world, because life is going to be rough.

I could care less what he wastes his money on, it's his money. He asked "what do you guys think", so I answered.

But hey what else did I expect, we live in a everyone gets an "A" and a trophy world now... Can't say anything contrary to their expectations without someone being offended SMH.


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[sparty569]

You could always use it as a boat anchor.

Ok, that's funny.

 

[sparty569]

grind. paint. use.

I had to grind the housing a bit in the front to get it to close all the way. Would rather leave the braze untouched.

 

[Outlawmws]

I had to grind the housing a bit in the front to get it to close all the way. Would rather leave the braze untouched.

I would not remove any of the brazing rod in this case. That's ALL that's holding it together.

As to the strength of the braze vs the cast iron, the numbers say the brazing rod is at least as strong as the cast iron in that vise. However numbers aren't everything.

How thick is the braze compared to the CI? (probably not as thick)

WHERE is the stress? Right at the top is where the yield strength makes or breaks the repair. The lower edge is in compression more that anything.

The covered ALL the old welds. Good.

What the condition of the remaining CI is is after 2 welding jobs and now a ~1600? degree brazing job is anyone's guess...

Also an unknown is if they slow cooled the job when done. if not, I don't give it long to fail again.

Time will tell.

How is the fit of the jaws? Did they get it square?

 

[sparty569]

I would not remove any of the brazing rod in this case. That's ALL that's holding it together.

As to the strength of the braze vs the cast iron, the numbers say the brazing rod is at least as strong as the cast iron in that vise. However numbers aren't everything.

How thick is the braze compared to the CI? (probably not as thick)

WHERE is the stress? Right at the top is where the yield strength makes or breaks the repair. The lower edge is in compression more that anything.

The covered ALL the old welds. Good.

What the condition of the remaining CI is is after 2 welding jobs and now a ~1600? degree brazing job is anyone's guess...

Also an unknown is if they slow cooled the job when done. if not, I don't give it long to fail again.

Time will tell.

How is the fit of the jaws? Did they get it square?

The braze is definitely not as think. The other cast iron around it looks good to my untrained eye. I asked about the process and they said that it was headed before and cooled after. Like your said, we shall see. If it does fail, hopefully I'll have a post leg vise by that time.

I'll snap a picture of the Jaws tomorrow. It's in the shed waiting to be mounted once I get the stump base built. But I remember thinking that everything lined up well.

 

[Outlawmws]

Hard to tell how much braze is there and how far past the breaks it goes - My guess (with ? (sorry, not good at writing with a mouse...) indicating where I'm not sure if its braze, or burn marks...)

 

[va.grouseman]

TTLLOGIC said, (''You could have at least taken the spindle out before baking it''.)---But I don't know how you could keep the jaws aligned for the braze without it being in it.---I've never brazed one or even seen anyone else do it, so I literally don't know.---Someone enlighten me here.