Recent content by dabrian99

Finally found a decent Columbian to restore. I’m in Cleveland so had to honor my beloved Brownies making the payoffs again. I’m having a difficult time dating this one. I can’t find a positive match in the catalogs online. The lack of “USA” makes me think it skews old.

Not sure of the origin but fat chance finding anything like this made in America anymore. I’m just trying to restore it because it’s a nice USA made jack and I refuse to buy a welded, non-serviceable Chinese one to replace it.

Based on all of the feedback, I did want to have a contingency plan in place. Turns out they do still sell a Piston Assembly separately that *should* have the piston cup installed (no pictures of the part available online). It’s like $20 shipped so no biggie to just swap out the whole assembly...

Yeah that’s a solid plan B. I can maybe file it down enough to remove the keeper, reinstall, and reflare it with a punch?

Thanks for the tip! Will give it a go.

Does anyone have any experience rebuilding bottle jacks? I have an old (prob 1970s) US Jack / Drednaut 3-ton I’m currently rebuilding. I got an OEM kit from Lazzars HCRC with all the seals, o-rings, etc. the instructions are well…not real great. I’m stuck on ONE last piece which is the...

Hey all-grabbed this Reed 105 1/2 from an auction for cheap. I *had* to have it because I really wanted a big vise to add to the collection and they seem to be pretty rare. I didn’t have a chance to inspect it prior and it was definitely a beater! The main nut was welded at some point and the...

Maui - That is a great idea. Thank you

If there were some kind of anchor shape holding the spindle in that would be ideal. The play in it is very minute but there nonetheless. I have done a couple more crank tests and it’s held fine. I do have a MIG welder but I know the challenges of MIG on cast. There is also a 4” crack on the...

This is exactly what I was hoping to find in terms of old catalog info and answers my question about weight (no scale in our house-it’s just easier not to think about how much I weigh). Agree there’s a ton of info on the patternmakers. Any idea what year that catalog is from?

Here's a pic of the latest progress:

Thanks MShaw-if that’s the case would you suspect the screw is locked into the casting? Meaning there could be a little wiggle (due to prior abuse like a chunk missing from the ball) but for all intents and purposes it’s stuck in there? I can’t help myself so I’m moving full steam ahead on this...

No pin but it does look there is a seam that runs all the way “over” the ball. So maybe it was somehow sandwiched together on the screw? Or it’s casting marks? And yes that’s epoxy filler to recreate a chip in the ball. 😂 This thing was beat on (source: bent handle) but otherwise main screw...

If the screw had, say, a square “key” machined into it that fits into a corresponding slot in the ball then that should be fine. If, however, it’s literally round screw into round hole in ball and then was originally welded, that’s a little more concerning to me.

That’s part of the problem is my lack of understanding on how these screws were originally set into the ball. See pic…the two drilled out holes are for the set screw on the collar that fits over the screw and holds the screw in place inside the dynamic jaw.