Care and feeding of a bench vise

[MushCreek]

As I rebuild my old American Scale vise, it occurred to me that I've never really done any maintenance on a bench vise. Just used 'em as they came. I would think that the screw/nut should be periodically cleaned and greased. What about the slide? 99% of the pressure on the slide is on the top and bottom under load, but greasing the whole slide would make a greasy mess, wouldn't it? In fact, the grease might get contaminated with shop grit and become a lapping compound! What do you guys lube, and NOT lube on a vise?

 

[ecotec]

i don’t see any reason to lube anything but the threaded part of the spindle handle. Maybe pump in a good amount of grease into where the spindle handle threads into first.

 

[Maui]

Lube the main nut and the spindle generously, lube behind the meatball where it contacts the dynamic jaw tower, and for a fixed base vise lightly lube the underside of the dynamic jaw tower where it contacts the static jaw tower.

 

[Firebrick43]

Threads of the screw only. Any grease on the slide is only going to hold grit/dirt/metal chips and do more damage than good on the slide. Most have the screw generally protected at least from **** falling into it.

 

[General Geoff]

In addition to the screw and nut, I usually apply just a dab or two of grease to the ways that support the dynamic jaw slide from underneath.

If the main screw and nut are shielded from debris, they probably don't need much refreshing. Maybe once a decade if it sees a lot of use. Think about how many miles that wheel bearing grease survives before needing refreshing.

 

[Shiftless]

i don’t see any reason to lube anything but the threaded part of the spindle handle. Maybe pump in a good amount of grease into where the spindle handle threads into first.

That pic shows the inside of a Wilton machinist style vise with a round slide. The clearances on that design run about .002 inches. On my user Wilton C1 I keep a light coat of Mobil One grease on the slide. I drape a shop rag over the exposed part of the slide if I am doing something like sawing or grinding. Once in a while, I clean the slide and reapply a VERY thin layer of clean grease. The main screw and nut are fully enclosed so the grease I put in there when I overhauled the thing is still fine.
I have worked on a Wilton that was completely stuck when I got it because of what turned out to be a very small amount of rust. I have worked on other vises where there was significant slop due to wear because of a lack of lubrication.

 

[Ultradog MN]

As I rebuild my old American Scale vise, it occurred to me that I've never really done any maintenance on a bench vise. Just used 'em as they came. I would think that the screw/nut should be periodically cleaned and greased. What about the slide? 99% of the pressure on the slide is on the top and bottom under load, but greasing the whole slide would make a greasy mess, wouldn't it? In fact, the grease might get contaminated with shop grit and become a lapping compound! What do you guys lube, and NOT lube on a vise?

I oil the threads now and then. Nothing else.
I don't expect I will ever wear it out

 

[Beerhippie]

Super Lube grease on the screw, dry moly lube on the slide.

 

[jmarkwolf]

I have a 25-year old 6-1/2" Craftsman that I like but it was "growling" badly when I turned the screw. I tried lubing the screw and the "ways" which helped but not for long.

Then I spun the screw all the way out and removed the movable jaw, propped it up vertically on the bench and squirted oil in the place where a better vise would have thrust bearings and let it sit overnight. Then turned the jaw over and squirted oil in from the other direction and let that sit. Then re-assembled the vise.

The growling has been gone for over a year now.

 

[senlow]

I use Molykote Gn on enclosed pressure screws. Extreme pressure grease will also work. For exposed screws, I use Dupont Chain-Saver. It's a wax lubricant, with teflon. This also works well on the sliding parts.