Vise Gurus - help me out with this Union Charles Parker Vise

MissileBear · Jun 20, 2017

Here be a Charles Parker 973 1/2A I've finally gotten around to restoring. When I took out the dynamic jaw, I was surprised to see this small metal plate instead of a retaining pin holding the nut in place.

There is no hole drilled for a pin when looking at the bottom of the vise. Is this original? I'm not too familiar with the Union Parkers. I don't much care for them....def not to the standards of the old Parkers.

If it is original, anyone have any hints for removing it? I tried to pry it up but it seems as though there may be a barb or something holding it in place.

Thanks in advance.

1982fxr · Jun 20, 2017

I'm curious too. Never seen that before...

rusty65 · Jun 21, 2017

Both the union parkers I've owned use the same holder. You can just use a punch and hammer straighten it out and use a screwdriver to pry it up and out and reverse for the install.

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MissileBear · Jun 21, 2017

rusty65 said:
Both the union parkers I've owned use the same holder. You can just use a punch and hammer straighten it out and use a screwdriver to pry it up and out and reverse for the install.

Tried that. There is absolutely no room to straighten that piece - the nut doesn't have any play like there is something crammed under the nut. The nut all the way forward too.

Going to play with it a bit.

MissileBear · Jun 21, 2017

Welp, found the issue.

There is a piece of sheet metal driven behind the plate. It has wedged the nut in very tightly.

Not sure how to remove that piece.

EOC_Jason · Jun 21, 2017

My old union parker was the same way. I think I just took a big *** screwdriver to pry up on each side slowly working it out, maybe a small pry bar... It's a tight fit, don't be afraid to use some leverage...

MissileBear · Jun 21, 2017

EOC_Jason said:
My old union parker was the same way. I think I just took a big *** screwdriver to pry up on each side slowly working it out, maybe a small pry bar... It's a tight fit, don't be afraid to use some leverage...

Tried that too. Snapped an old Proto flathead screw driver tip right off :shocking:

, which ended up also getting stuck. Did your vise have both flat pieces(plates)?

I ended up cutting the pieces out. There is slight damage to the casting where this plate was driven and some pry marks from a previous owner, so it's pretty obvious that I am not the first to try. The chunk of casting had gotten jammed inbetween the two pieces, bending the outer plate into the damaged cavity. It would have sheered off more casting before it would have pried out.

I will have to fabricate a new plate....but I prefer that over damaging the dovetail any more.

EOC_Jason · Jun 21, 2017

You can make a new one using just a soft mild steel... All it does it keep the mainscrew nut from moving backwards as you open the jaws... Nothing special about it.

kirklandkie · Jun 21, 2017

You just inadvertently answered a question I had about my charles parker vise which had nothing retaining the dovetail nut. I have the same break in the dovetails as you do so it's likely that I also should have had a piece of sheetmetal retaining the nut. Thank you

-Kirk

MissileBear · Jun 21, 2017

kirklandkie said:
You just inadvertently answered a question I had about my charles parker vise which had nothing retaining the dovetail nut. I have the same break in the dovetails as you do so it's likely that I also should have had a piece of sheetmetal retaining the nut. Thank you

-Kirk

You are welcome?

I was unable to find much reference to this style here, so glad to hear that I made somebody's life a bit easier.

kirklandkie · Jun 21, 2017

MissileBear said:
You are welcome?

I was unable to find much reference to this style here, so glad to hear that I made somebody's life a bit easier.

Yeah, Seriously. This is the first reference to this style of retention i've seen at all. If you were curious here's my original post about it: http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=360845
I might change mine over to a roll pin setup to save the trouble

-Kirk

Vise Gurus - help me out with this Union Charles Parker Vise

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