Hi ho,
After finishing up that possible Parker 40 a few weeks ago, I turned my attention to a pair of Athol Machine Co. units my brother sent me late last year.
Here's what they looked like when I got them:
They went in the electrolysis tank first to get everything moving, then after a few days I went over them with the wire wheel started working on painting and polishing. I also had to work out a mounting method, since the base is slotted for some manner of captive bolt set-up. I decided to use carriage style bolts, although the heads needed to be ground to a bit smaller diameter to ensure the square shoulder would engage the slot properly. For each unit I did 2 pairs of bolts: 1 short pair for going through machine tables (drill press, etc.) and another long pair for use with thick wooden benches.
Here's the No. 70 ready for re-assembly:
And here's the No 71:
You may notice on the 71 that a previous owner appears to have ground off the shoulder of the lead screw with the groove to engage the handle retaining pin, and replaced it with a new groove inside the static jaw and a snap ring. No idea why they went through that trouble (perhaps they couldn't remove the old broken pin?), but the new system seems to work fine. There was some slop in the handle because of the new snap-ring, but I inserted a couple shims between the ring and jaw during re-assembly and now it's all good.
Here's the pair of finished vises:
They were re-finished with Rust-oleum Gloss Dark Grey followed by a couple coats of Clear, while the lead screw, sliders and jaws were polished and hit with a couple coats of wax.
The No. 70 is 12" long with 2-7/8" wide jaws, and the No. 71 is 14" long with 3-5/8" wide jaws:
I'm keeping the No. 70 for use with the drill press, and the No. 71 is going back to my brother for use in his motorcycle shop.
I'd love to know more about when these things were manufactured, and what their original purpose was, if anyone has an old catalog or advertisement.
Thanks for looking and enjoy!
-JeffK
