Anniversary Wilton Vise with PoweRscrew

[Catalyze]

Greetings and Salivations! Somewhere along the way, I managed to buy another Wilton vise. You know the story, you see Wilton and a cheap price and you jump on it.....or maybe "in it". This one might be an "in it" story. This thing is going to be a long term project since it has several unusual things about it.

From what I can dredge up, Wilton made an Anniversary model vise back in 1971 (?). I will have to wait until I pull the slide and check for a date stamping to see if it is correct. On these vises they had several different options that you could get. One of them is the PoweRscrew. This was a hydraulic mechanism inside the vise that applied a bunch (technical term) of force when tightened down. That idea seems to have lasted about as long as a Brittney Spears marriage. The vise does open and close normally now but I have no clue if the PoweRscrew still works.
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The jaws are flat items that mount like the big Wilton 6" and 8" vises...from the back with screws. One is missing so there we go...something to hunt down. The shape of them is not like any Wilton that I know but that isn't saying anything.
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The body has two "X"'s cast into it. I guess that this is the 20th Anniversary of Wilton moving to Schiller Park, Illinois from Chicago. If someone can see 3 of them, then it would be the 30th Anniversary of the bullet production. I have no clue but maybe somebody can tell if it is 2 or 3 "X"s cast into the body. Anyway.....here it is in all its 4 1/2" glory. LOL
Craig
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As a side note ( I know....I never shut up)....look at the small diameter and length of the main handle. It is tiny. The PoweRscrew was supposed to apply enough extra force that a normal handle torque was not needed. That was then....but this handle may need some "help".
Craig

 

[SweetD]

Definitely different and interesting...looks like someone didn't agree that "normal handle torque was not needed" in that last pic - is the handle slightly bent? (Could also be the fact that I'm slightly bent).

You sure have a nose for the unique vises in our world!

Dave

 

[Carguy99]

If I am not mistaken the hydro was mounted on the back..

 

[bczygan]

The "two X's" look like a stylized "W" to me.

http://books.google.com/books?id=qyUDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA146&lpg=PA146&dq=wilton+Schiller+Park+600+vise&source=bl&ots=zxJ3P_O9td&sig=Dzi06YxucS_FHuoBCbU9JkLjQSo&hl=en&ei=lxOyTdDpOMb30gGSmbywCQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CFAQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=wilton%20Schiller%20Park%20600%20vise&f=false

 

[Catalyze]

Holy Cow!!
Ask and ye shall receive. I do believe that you are correct....it is a stylized "W" and according to your link was available back in 1967. I learn more from this forum every day than I did in Reform School. Thanks bczygan!

Dave - Wait until I mate this up with 6' of 2" round stock for a handle......or not. Just don't let my wife know that I have another vise.
Craig

 

[Catalyze]

Hello again you crazy Wilton folk! After getting back from vacation I took the Wilton apart today. It was made in June or August of 1970. I can't tell the 6 from an 8...but the 70 is clear. I did manage to snap one of the 3 jaw screws off with a hand impact tool but that's the price you pay for watching Fred Flintstone in your youth. Once I get all my North Carolina photos off the camera, I will take some of the Wilton. It has a wild looking main screw....can you say spring operated hydraulics? LOL
Craig

 

[nine4gmc]

thats an interesting vise, cant wait to see it restored!

 

[Catalyze]

And here are some photos....not including the screw I snapped off...because if you can't see it then it didn't happen.

The dynamic jaw just unscrewed and out like a normal vise. I can't say normal Wilton since I am Wilton dumb. To remove the lead screw out of the dynamic jaw, I put an Allen wrench into the set screw and loosened the nut. It came out nicely...not like the broken scew (which didn't break off because you can't see it).
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Here is the date stamp on the slide. It looks like an 8 - 70 so that would be about right with what Autopts remembers.
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This is what a PowRscrew type of lead screw looks like. It looks like when something is tightened down...the spring compresses against a piston and causes hydraulic fluid to do something with the thingy and that makes it tighten down hard with little handle torque. That is all I can figure out.
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Here is the dynamic jaw interior.....not quite the same as your average Wilton bullet....I think. Autopts and others know what "average" should look like. Anyway.....I tried to loosen the PowRscrew collar next to the handle and that is just not happening in my world. I would hate to mess anything up since Wilton factory told me they really aren't sure they made anything like the photos that I sent them last month. LOL
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Any thoughts are always appreciated.
Craig

 

[gatewaysysop]

There's another thread with a little more info on how this works, you can find it here, including a pic.

Pretty clever design, very unique.

 

[Catalyze]

Gate - I will match my "dry heat" against yours this summer. 107 ....6% humidity...20 mph winds. Meanwhile....I think the design was an answer to an unasked question. Anytime you have fluids in a manual vise that is just asking for leaks and a rebuild kit or dealer only rebuild. It was a nicely thought out design but for a vise lasting 50 years, which Wiltons do, it was a nightmare. Imagine the parts that you would have to carry that won't interchange with any other vise you make. The vise was made about the same time as we put a man on the moon and I think that they got caught up in the New Technology fever of the time.

I may try to take the clip holding the spring on the lead screw and see what blows apart. Better yet...maybe I can send it to Autopts and let him knock out a hole in his wall. Yeah...that's the ticket!
Craig

 

[gatewaysysop]

Gate - I will match my "dry heat" against yours this summer. 107 ....6% humidity...20 mph winds. Meanwhile....I think the design was an answer to an unasked question. Anytime you have fluids in a manual vise that is just asking for leaks and a rebuild kit or dealer only rebuild. It was a nicely thought out design but for a vise lasting 50 years, which Wiltons do, it was a nightmare. Imagine the parts that you would have to carry that won't interchange with any other vise you make. The vise was made about the same time as we put a man on the moon and I think that they got caught up in the New Technology fever of the time.

I may try to take the clip holding the spring on the lead screw and see what blows apart. Better yet...maybe I can send it to Autopts and let him knock out a hole in his wall. Yeah...that's the ticket!
Craig

My favorite phrase, especially at the office, is "solution in search of a problem," and I completely agree with you that it applies to this design. Perhaps they saw the light in short order and that's why it disappeared from production? If only that happened in big companies, rather than people pretending failure is success and, to quote our senior leadership, "Done now is better than done right later."

 

[coolreed]

Nice Post and a very interesting Vise. Like to see how this all turns out.

Good Luck

 

[Hetman]

Looks like you remove the spring and it should slide out from one another. Or, in the worst case, screw out.

 

[Catalyze]

If I send it to Autopts....watch the Chicago obituaries in the papers to see if it was safe to take apart.
Craig

 

[Catalyze]

Greetings again Everyone!
I got the PowRscrew portion as "apart" as I think that I will be able to accomplish. I have racked my brain trying to understand what Wilton designed into this vise. Here are a ton of photos to just let anyone know what is inside one of these vises and probably why they went out of production.

Here is the large "secondary piston" which contains a resevoir with fill plug. In this photo, the fill plug is removed. This is the end that pushes against the dynamic jaw to tighten it.
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The lead screw portion turns inside this piston and has several seals and O Rings to keep the fluid toward the fill port end.
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Totally out of sequence, this is after removing the C clip from the lead screw. then the clip, washer, and spring come off. Then you can grip the large piston outer part and just pull it off the lead screw...and out dumps hydraulic fluid.
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This is the O Ring on the lead screw that seals inside the large piston. The large piston also has a double lip seal on the fill port end to keep fluid from running down the lead screw and into the vise.
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And finally, here is what it all looks like cleaned up and apart. There is actually more inside the lead screw up near the handle but I think that when the seals started leaking, the hydraulic assist quit, and folks just mashed down hard on the handle to make it work like a normal vise. This in turn locked up the "small piston" inside the lead screw and I don't think that it will ever get freed up again to work properly.
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So in retrospect, I think we can all see why Wilton quit making this feature. It was crazy complicated for what it did. It was a parts stocking and rebuild nightmare since parts didn't fit any other model. It probably cost a lot more than a standard "Bullet" vise and didn't really do anything better.
Craig

 

[dwp99]

I'll give it a try.

I think that the spring is to keep the jaw moving while you turn the lead screw in and to help reset the hydraulic portion when you release it.

If the spring wasn't there the weight of the jaw might cause the lead screw to start pushing the piston in before the jaw came in contact with the piece you were clamping. This would cause the hydraulic throw to extend fully rendering the hydraulic portion useless.

So you're going to clamp something into this vise.

You turn the lead screw in the and the piece you are clamping comes in contact with both jaws.

Next the spring starts to compress as it does (which has nothing to do with the hydraulics at this time) the lead screw pushes a small piston into the fluid which in turn pushes the fluid out through a hole into a larger bore containing a larger piston. This larger piston gets pushed into the movable jaw of the vise multiplying the force on the jaw.

This is why the handle is smaller, a larger handle would probably cause the seals in the hydraulic portion to blow out.

When you release the handle the spring pushes the large piston back into it's bore which in turn pushes fluid into the smaller piston and bore setting the hydraulic portion up for the next cycle.

If you get everything disassembled, cleaned, sealed and reassembled. you will have to bleed all air out of the hydraulic system or it won't work properly.

I don't think that the large piston and jaw move all that much with the hydraulics. If what you are clamping starts to crush the spring resets and the lead screw takes up the slack until the resistance overcomes the spring again.

I'll also bet that when the seals start to go that whatever you have clamped in the vise will slowly loosen.

 

[Catalyze]

I like it!!
So let's review.....I have a vise that I will have to bleed air out of....and when the seals go (and they will) that big hunk of iron in between the jaws will fall out on my foot. What's not to love about this design? LOL Be that as it may....in the spirit of the military/government which employed me for many years....I shall continue this effort with no possible good outcome. It's a learning experience and it keeps me out in the shop where I have XM Radio! LOL
Craig

 

[dwp99]

Well it's was an educated guess and yes watch your toes.

 

[Catalyze]

Just an update for folks. The part where the handle goes through is another separate piston. As you turn the handle in, the whole lead screw turns in moving the dynamic jaw. Once that jaw contacts something and you keep turning the handle, you move the small piston inward. This builds pressure forcing fluid out two small ports into and against the big piston which is touching the dynamic jaw. Due to the way hydraulics work...little piston building pressure against big piston.....the dynamic jaw moves in tighter against your work with very little effort on the operator handle. Well......we actually got that tiny piston out of the end of the lead screw today. When the vise leaked out the fluid, somebody just wailed on the handle to tighten it down. This jammed the tiny piston in tight and they used it this way until I got it. We had to clamp the handle in a vise (a Wilton...LOL) and use an air hammer in the two notches to turn the lead screw off of it.

Long story short.....the Wilton is in even more pieces now. We are going to try and replace the O rings and use 90w gear oil to assemble it just to see if it will work as intended before trying to source that strange double lip seal. So stay tuned folks....this goofy thing may live again!!!
Craig

 

[airbuff101]

Craig,
Here's the info from a 1970 WD catalog:

From looking at both Automotive and Industrial catalogs that I have, it appears that the 1750 was just being introduced at this time for what it's worth.
airbuff

 

[Catalyze]

Airbuff......you are my latest hero!!!
This is the first time that I can actually put a model number on this vise. I will actually send this photo off to Wilton to let them try and look up anymore information that they might have on it. They had nothing without some kind of model number, so here it is.

Celebration time folks!! We actually got everything apart, cleaned up, and (drum roll please) found all new seals and O rings. It it mocked up and it works like a dream! The hydraulic assist works and with two fingers will tighten down enough that you can pick up the 70 pound vise by the clamped object and shake it. If I can find a pressure tester, I will see what the clamp power is just for curiosity sake.

Now I am just going to start the polishing and painting process and it should be back together in a couple of weeks. More photos tomorrow.
Craig

 

[bigcaddy]

Airbuff......you are my latest hero!!!
This is the first time that I can actually put a model number on this vise. I will actually send this photo off to Wilton to let them try and look up anymore information that they might have on it. They had nothing without some kind of model number, so here it is.

Celebration time folks!! We actually got everything apart, cleaned up, and (drum roll please) found all new seals and O rings. It it mocked up and it works like a dream! The hydraulic assist works and with two fingers will tighten down enough that you can pick up the 70 pound vise by the clamped object and shake it. If I can find a pressure tester, I will see what the clamp power is just for curiosity sake.

Now I am just going to start the polishing and painting process and it should be back together in a couple of weeks. More photos tomorrow.
Craig

HAHA!! You now own the worlds most complicated nut cracker and not a moment too soon for the holidays. Just think, you could let all of your nieces and nephews crack brazil nuts and hazelnuts for "Uncle Vise Tree", with complete ease.

 

[Outlawmws]

Cool! another obscure vise saved!

Make note of the O-ring sizes you needed in case one of us gets lucky!

 

[Catalyze]

I got an email today from the Wilton factory. I had sent them an email with a copy of the catalog that Airbuff posted. Somehow I sort of felt obligated to let them know that there was at least one PowRscrew still alive in the world. Their email sort of confirmed that vise option was priced over a competitive selling point and that indeed it was a tad complicated. Therefore it was a short lived option. I like to think that we put a man on the moon the previous year and we built a vise that helped end the Cold War. Okay....I may have gone too far.....but who knows? LOL

Now I just have to hunt down the Rustoleum Verde Green paint and the closest dealer is over 100 miles away. Living in the Outlands has a number of downsides.
Craig

 

[bsaint]

Whats the modern version of this?

 

[EOC_Jason]

Can't wait to see the finished product. Would also be curious as to how much force it can apply vs a regular vise.

 

[Catalyze]

Hello again!!
Well I got some more work done on finishing this vise up. It is holding pressure and fluid without a hitch so life is great! Here is a cleaned up lead screw with the inner and outer pistons as they should be. The only part missing is the "over torque limiter" which I can install when the vise is finally together. It consists of a pin that sticks out and when you turn the handle, it follows the small center inward. At a point of torque limit, it contacts a ridge and stops you from turning the handle any more. Of course when the previous owners ran out of fluid, they just kept beating on it and sheared it off.
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In this photo you can see one of the "dogs" that is spring loaded. When you go to tighten the handle, these compress and allow you to move the jaw inward and compress the small piston. When you loosen the handle, these rotate back out and "click" up against the notch. This lets you unscrew the handle without unscrewing the small piston all the way out of its bore. Tiny parts? You bet.....LOL
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Since there are no jaws that Wilton makes that are shaped like these and attach from the backside, I am just cleaning these up. Besides, this vise took all this abuse and came back just like new. It is proud of its battle scars.
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To answer a question about a "modern equivalent"......there is none. Nope...nada.....nyet. It is the only self contained hydraulic assisted vise that Wilton ever made. It is styled like a Tradesman series however ( and this is a big However), look at the weight. A Tradesman tips the scale at 41 pounds. This tips the scales at 68 pounds. My modern Wilton 450S machinist vise scales in at 69 pounds. According to the catalog weight that Airbuff posted, the PowRscrew weighs the same as the normal non hydraulic model. So it weighs the same as a modern Machinist class Wilton with a Tradesman tall styling and hydraulic assist. Today you can have either a Machinist or a Tradesman but this one is both....Tradesman styling and Machinist weight.
Craig

 

[pfbz]

The "two X's" look like a stylized "W" to me.

Cool find! Here's an image clip of that link...

 

[Catalyze]

Thanks pfbz.....and a song comes to mind.......
The Foot bone connected to the ankle bone.....the ankle bone connected to the shin bone......the shin bone connected to the knee bone.....
This Wilton has a lot of bones! LOL
Craig

 

[autopts]

Hello again!!
Well I got some more work done on finishing this vise up.

When I see the finished product, you will receive a genuine Wilton Vise T shirt from me with my autograph. Don't think thats a act of generousity..It doesn't fit me!! LOL!!!

 

[Catalyze]

Dang Autopts.......I am getting misty eyed....that T shirt will be a Kodak moment.
Craig

 

[Catalyze]

Well, I am still marking time until later this week when I can drive 110 miles to buy one can of Verde Green paint. Don't move to The Outlands if you don't like to drive a lot. Everything is 100 miles away and most times it is also in Central Standard Time so you get to play time tag all day.

On a positive note, I was missing the end cap for the vise so I got a 2" steel freeze plug. I didn't want to play with priming brass for the vise paint so steel got the nod. I used a Craftsman 2 3/8" socket and a ballpien hammer to dome it out like an original. It turned out pretty well and fits nice and snug after tapping the edges a touch wider for a press fit. I also used a 60 grit flap wheel on the grinder to clean off the top of the anvil since it looked like a meteor shower hit it. After that grit, then it was a finer grit, then 180 on the buffer. It isn't a mirror but it is much nicer now. I ordered two new base lock down nuts from Wilton last week so hopefully they should be in this week. Maybe this weekend, the learning experience will bear final fruit.
Craig
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[Provincial]

Nice job on the end plug!!!

 

[pfbz]

Amazon sells Verde Green Rustoleum... Unless your making that 110 mile trip anyway.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001UE7MTW/?tag=atomicindus08-20

 

[autopts]

Amazon sells Verde Green Rustoleum... Unless your making that 110 mile trip anyway.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001UE7MTW/?tag=atomicindus08-20

He can't order from Amazon. They don't go into Radiator Springs!

 

[Catalyze]

Exactly!!
So after my 100 mile trip down to Home Depot, I find that they not only don't have any Verde Green, they have never had any Verde Green. The Internet says they have 6 cans but when you are looking at a shelf with none.....well it's just not going to happen. So a short while later, out on a windswept road (it's a dry heat), I called up one of our esteemed GJ people and asked "Do you have any Gray Poupon?......I mean Verde Green?" And with that simple call, I have 2 cans rushing their way to Radiator Springs. You have to love this forum!
Craig

 

[Catalyze]

Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your eyeballs!
It is done...finished....served up...ready to go to work. The story is basically all above so this is just a time to sort of say what I learned along the way.
1. I have no clue if this model was any sort of Anniversary....but I don't think so. It was a model to try out a self contained hydraulic assist setup. (and the two "X's" are actually a "W")

2. The setup worked great, was well designed, and the machining was top notch.

3. The setup was complicated for a vise, was expensive to make, was complicated to replace the seals, and was an answer to a question nobody really asked.

4. You really have to try hard to break a Wilton vise. This vise was used with no fluid, was hammered on while dry, and was never given even basic care....and yet it works just fine now.

And here it is:
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And now if you will all rise for the singing of the Wilton Anthem:
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Thanks for ALL the help...comments....and for the great catalog and ad postings!! Now the vise goes to my friend Cliff who I told "if you can get it apart...you can have it." Never tell an old machinist anything like that. LOL
Craig

 

[EOC_Jason]

Just curious, can you tell the difference when turning the handle when the hydraulic pistons kick in?

Do you still get visiting rights? *sniff* *sniff*

 

[autopts]

Top Notch..First Class...Five Star...And a slice of pie for you!

 

[DandDMachine]

Looks awesome, what color is that copper colored Wilton. I am fixing up a tradesman and think that would look great. I assume its one of the Hammered finish colors?