Athol 624 1/2 question…

[BoiseBullDog]

Greetings all. About 6 months ago, I acquired a Athol 624 1/2. Guess what? It swivel base is missing. I know shocker. I’ve been keeping an eye out online since and have even reached out on GJ to see if anyone had one but to no avail. So…I started thing about finding a base that IS available. I have a dozen or so various old vises and I started looking at another base that might be able to work. I would have to modify the locking mechanism possibly….any thoughts on a possible part swap amongst other vises/manufacturers?

 

[Maui]

You could machine one for it. I made a swivel base for my Reed 33 vise.

 

[BoiseBullDog]

Thanks for the reply. I could do that…let me look into it. I’d have to farm it out as I don’t do machining.

 

[slowtwitch73]

If you could borrow one to trace out or have someone else trace one out for you, that would not be a hard part to get cut out at a local metals place, and then finish machine. The trickiest part would be the angle from the bottom to the top (where the vise sits).. but very doable. You may need to also use something other than cast.

 

[tool_scrounge]

Yost used to sell spare parts for pretty reasonable. You might see if any of their stuff will fit. Posting a picture of the bottom of your vise with dimension would also be helpful.

Athol/Starrett 614 1/2 vises are semi common. It may be easiest to buy another one with a base to get a base. Swap parts to build the best vise, and then sell the spare vise. But note, Starrett vises did change castings and other parts over the years so choose carefully.

 

[slowtwitch73]

^^ that's a good idea.. buying a donor. Even if a guy did all the machining himself, the cost of the metal and cutting would be a fair bit.