Prentiss No 21 Repair and Refurbish
- Thread starter rennebew
- Start date
With help of a cnc machinist, machined new mounting ear. Profile for ear was from a dxf file generated from a photocopied image of the base scanned into a cad program that was then scaled and mirrored to generate the missing profile for the broken ear.
drivesitfar
Well-known member
awesome job getting the base's ear repaired. I just posted a thread and i'm restoring a Prentiss #26 wood vise that has similar base and swivel jaws. I am in the process of taking it apart and have the swivel jaw left to figure out. did or does yours have pins to drill out or ? I have 3 different pins heading into the top of my swivel jaw and I think mine need to be drilled out. good luck on your restoration and any ideas or knowledge you can share and pass on to me in my thread please do an much appreciated.
Still cleaning up the vise. The pin for the swivel jaw was removed once the vise was disassembled. With the swivel base and the main screw nut removed, a long punch was placed through the hole for the swivel bolt and this allowed the pin for the swivel jaw to be tapped out. For some reason the swivel base required .032 of shim to allow the main body to move on the base. This shows the vise reassembled after fitting and reinstalling the swivel base.
drivesitfar
Well-known member
it looked like you had pins like mine heading into the swivel jaw didn't you? so maybe they are supposed to be there and all I need to do is put something up in the hole under the swivel pin and give it a few gentle taps? by the way I was just wondering how expensive the swivel's base foot replacement was? also did you change the bottom bolt from the original one? nice looking vise
I think the holes on the sides of the swivel jaw were used at the factory for setup or locational purposes when machining the swivel jaw. I have read other posts making the same assumption on the Prentiss swivel jaws. Mine were empty, but other posts talk of the holes being filled with lead.
There is a good chance you will be able to hammer the pin out from below. It may require more than gentle taps. This vise pin came out easily. On my Reed 406, I ended up putting pressure on the bottom of the pin with an improvised screw jack and then hammering on the top side of the swivel jaw to get the swivel pin out.
I did replace the washer and the original square headed bolt for the swivel base. The washer was broken into pieces and the original bolt was in poor shape. I faced the head of a grade 5 bolt until the head was below the edge of the swivel base.
The base repair took over 4 hours of machining time and 1 hour of CAD work. This repair would most likely be too expensive if you do not have access to the proper machinery. Most shop rates are $75/hr and up.
After the ear was repaired, the base had a slight rock when placed on a surface plate. I think the base was not flat from the factory and the ear probably broke off when the vise was tightened down to a solid surface. The surface on the top of the swivel base was good, so we flipped it over and used a surface grinder to clean up the mounting side of the swivel base.
There is a good chance you will be able to hammer the pin out from below. It may require more than gentle taps. This vise pin came out easily. On my Reed 406, I ended up putting pressure on the bottom of the pin with an improvised screw jack and then hammering on the top side of the swivel jaw to get the swivel pin out.
I did replace the washer and the original square headed bolt for the swivel base. The washer was broken into pieces and the original bolt was in poor shape. I faced the head of a grade 5 bolt until the head was below the edge of the swivel base.
The base repair took over 4 hours of machining time and 1 hour of CAD work. This repair would most likely be too expensive if you do not have access to the proper machinery. Most shop rates are $75/hr and up.
After the ear was repaired, the base had a slight rock when placed on a surface plate. I think the base was not flat from the factory and the ear probably broke off when the vise was tightened down to a solid surface. The surface on the top of the swivel base was good, so we flipped it over and used a surface grinder to clean up the mounting side of the swivel base.
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drivesitfar
Well-known member
I decided to find a bolt to try to tap the swivel jaw's pin out and couldn't find a small enough hammer and was going to use a large bolt. I decided to just push on the bolt I had in the hole up against the pin and it popped out. not sure if the holes have lead or aluminum in them, but I still have the swivel jaw hanging on. maybe an "E" bath for a few hours might help break it free. again really nice job on saving the swivel base to your Prentiss and i'm guessing you like the pull pin swivel as much as I do on mine. thanks for the information
DavidB
Well-known member
I was bummed when I saw one of the mounting ears broken off...but than I saw your fix. Nice! It's so much easier to fix things when you have the right tools. Keep up the good work. It's good to see all these Prentiss posts!
drivesitfar
Well-known member
coming along nicely. just curious if you found a couple screws coming in from the front of the swivel jaw like my Prentiss #26 has??
besides the new foot did your machinist make you a new pin or did you already shine that jaw? your blast cabinet work looks like it worked great.
keep up the nice work!!!!
besides the new foot did your machinist make you a new pin or did you already shine that jaw? your blast cabinet work looks like it worked great.
keep up the nice work!!!!
oldldh
Well-known member
I almost bought a 21 from a GJ member...
Probably should have...
Stout vise, yours is coming along nicely...
Probably should have...
Stout vise, yours is coming along nicely...
drivesitfar
Well-known member
hard to believe that your Prentiss had a broken foot on the swivel base and was maybe heading for the scrap pile until you saved it. great job and it looks like a real keeper now.
wrenchguy
Well-known member
nice, u gotta love those older classic models. good luck.
Alexbn921
Well-known member
Nice restore. Saved another one!