Recent content by John Odom

Parkers are great vises, better than most anything available now.

Pictures of the fixture used in the big press. Note that it holds the main (fixed jaw) casting by the taper. The bolts that hold the bars together are very important and must be evenly tightened. A 1 3/4" dia piece of Bar was used as a pusher in the press.

This afternoon I worked on the Wilton 1750 vise. The broken jaw screw did not want to come out. I drilled with left-hand bit and tried a screw extractor. It would not budge. Fortunately the drill hole was well centered and I used successively larger bits until I could get the fragments of the...

Sometimes a bigger hammer IS needed. In General a bigger hammer, properly used, will move things with less damage than a smaller one. In blacksmithing one uses a big hammer to move metal deep in the piece, and a lighter one to modify the surface of the work.

I once saved a vise by boring out the stripped nut and Relining it with a piece I mad from a stock acme thread nut. I brazed the liner with threads into the shell of the old nut.

Screw removal was mentioned in post #12.

I Did mention removal of screw etc.

Here is a picture of it after pressing it apart.

I removed the main screw, back cap and nut before pressing out the moveable jaw. The Kroil had penetrated all the way through. The rust holding the slide was an oily paste., but some was so hard it would not wire brush off, and had to be scraped.

The Wilton 1750 is apart! This morning I remembered that the Southern Adventist University technology department has a 100 ton press similar to the one at TVRM. I asked nicely and was allowed to use it. The vise came apart easily, without approaching the capacity of the press. Now success is...

The vise is apart, except for the main slide. I have made a fixture to hold it in a press and also turned a pressing ram to fit it. I will use the 100 ton press at a helpful local railroad shop.

To continue: The three collar screws are out. One was stubborn! The screw is out. It is in good condition, having been heavily greased. The end near the handle has some superficial rust as does the handle. Those areas will clean up well. The swivel base is off.I will need to make/get/buy new...

Among mi vises is an Emmert, like this one...

I DID break down and start a Photobucket account. This is the ONLY photo there. The vise is sitting on the platform of an antique HOWE 3,000 pound platform scale. When I found it it was in a scale pit with the platform level with the floor and the pit drain clogged. It was a bunch of rust! The...