Recent content by Woolfat

Got some info from Randy Roeder (OldToolHeaven) on the shear. Big thanks to him for sharing this with me.

Thanks so much, RTM for the info and links. I did find a company to make new blades and sent them the old blades to be reverse engineered. Turn around is a few weeks or so - I'm not in a rush. Meanwhile I'm reaching out to a few other guys I know trying to pin down a little more info or at...

Well, as I understand it 1931 is also when they moved headquarters to the Greenfield, Mass. site and this shear is marked for the Millers Falls, Mass site. So I took that as meaning pre-1931. According to OldToolHeaven a merger with Backus Vise Company in 1873 made it possible to build a...

I picked up a Millers Falls shear and wanted to share it here. I'm having a hard time finding info or a picture of another one. It came with the handle, two adjustable arms for the handle, and what I'm guessing is a piece that can hold the handle up when not in use. The whole thing is seized up...

I suspended a piece of steel rod from a thread on a popsicle stick so that the steel was able to swing freely 360 degrees. I rigged up a 12v adapter with a light and some alligator clips to run a small amount of current through the matched pairs of wires. For each pair the rod comes to rest in...

It was not working when I got it - it had been previously taken apart, kind of pushed back together and is missing the 4 long bolts that keep it together. There were fragments of wire attached to what's there now but nothing complete, just a few ratty stubs. Might have been useful, though...

Thanks for the reply, much appreciated. No wiring diagram.. in fact no place for a plate? I've determined connectivity between three pairs of wires and will include a couple more pictures. Thanks again. So the three pairs of wires would lead me to think it's a 6-pole single-phase AC induction...

Hello, I have an old Marathon motor ... Marathon Electric Mfg. Co., Wausau, Wis., "OK" 1/4 hp motor that I'm cleaning up and trying to rewire. I'm fairly new to old motor projects but have been learning a bit with some thanks to the help on this forum. To me, and with my limited experience, it...

Thank you, LesserSon. I appreciate the offer/pics/dimensions. I'll check those measurements against the broken screw tonight. PM sent.

Thank you, akasrick. I'm not sure how much it weighs exactly, maybe tomorrow I'll bring it to work and use one of the scales there. I don't think my bathroom scale would be very accurate on a vise that small. Thanks for adding those pics, MayerMR. I'm just now getting a chance to check in...

Thanks for sharing that link, kwoswalt99. That helps me understand why it's wobbly but still holding on. Thanks for the reply, Carla. I think I understand the method for what would fix it, but I lack the machine tool equipment and skill set to do it. That Parker screw is just a replacement...

Hi everyone, I have a vise that needed a main screw and I found one that fits but the meatball is slightly loose and it looks like a crack going all the way around where the screw shaft meets the ball end. I figured it needed a quick weld so I took it to a guy I know to have it welded. He’s...

It very well could be, it sure looks like it. I looked very closely and didn't see any markings anywhere. I'll look again for that Stearns mark though. Thanks, akasrick.

Great thread, thanks for the info. Here's a Reed Craftsman 5187 I recently found in the wild. Marked with a small (1/8 inch) 44 on the left side. It's in good shape, not much wear on the jaws. Also is a Reed I found locally last week marked with larger (1/4 inch) 1269 on the right.

Hi folks, I'm new to GJ and I keep returning to this thread to look at your vises and read up on the great info and history, it's really helpful and much appreciated. I've recently started a small collection and I've been fortunate to find some locally in pretty good shape for decent prices...