No haters, please.
Decided a couple weeks ago I was going to refinish a CL find, a Wilton 1780. It was big, it was heavy..It was blue and orange as well.
I can't stand to rattle can anything I own. It just aint right. Started the refinish with a evening of disassembling the vise. This thing was DIRTY.
Never mind the burn marks around the pin holes....that thing didnt want to budge. The 2nd pin was on a slightly offset axis, so there was no pushing one pin into the other and out the other side.
Anyways, got the spindle out. Used a sand blaster to get the majority of the ick off. Looking back I would have skipped the sand blaster, as sand got everywhere inside the vise and was a pain to remove. Dont worry, got it all out. Used some paint thinner to get the rest of the grease off.
You can see the paint bubbling up. Used a nylon brush to scrape most of the paint off. Used a 3M buffing pad with my drill to get the rest. Unfortunately I did not take a picture of the entire cleaned vise. Wish I had.
Next up was a trip the the GF's father's bodyshop. He offered to paint it with the left over paint from a job. Here's the base sealer coat. No fish eyes. We were both impressed considering how greasy the thing was.
A shoutout to Stacks Body Shop
Got it home. My GF's dad surprised me...he even cleared it! The Chrysler Red really is a nice color! Some day maybe my truck will be that color again..
Taking the tape off. Never mind the ghetto grinder on the floor. it was 3 dollars and kicks ***.
All together, with replacement vise jaws, finger savers, and a new tag. (thanks autopts!)
It had babies!
(little dusty since I've been building a cabinet in the garage this last week)
If anyone has any questions about taking these things apart that the "disassembly threads" cant answer, feel free to ask.

Decided a couple weeks ago I was going to refinish a CL find, a Wilton 1780. It was big, it was heavy..It was blue and orange as well.
I can't stand to rattle can anything I own. It just aint right. Started the refinish with a evening of disassembling the vise. This thing was DIRTY.
Never mind the burn marks around the pin holes....that thing didnt want to budge. The 2nd pin was on a slightly offset axis, so there was no pushing one pin into the other and out the other side.
Anyways, got the spindle out. Used a sand blaster to get the majority of the ick off. Looking back I would have skipped the sand blaster, as sand got everywhere inside the vise and was a pain to remove. Dont worry, got it all out. Used some paint thinner to get the rest of the grease off.
You can see the paint bubbling up. Used a nylon brush to scrape most of the paint off. Used a 3M buffing pad with my drill to get the rest. Unfortunately I did not take a picture of the entire cleaned vise. Wish I had.
Next up was a trip the the GF's father's bodyshop. He offered to paint it with the left over paint from a job. Here's the base sealer coat. No fish eyes. We were both impressed considering how greasy the thing was.
A shoutout to Stacks Body Shop
Got it home. My GF's dad surprised me...he even cleared it! The Chrysler Red really is a nice color! Some day maybe my truck will be that color again..
Taking the tape off. Never mind the ghetto grinder on the floor. it was 3 dollars and kicks ***.
All together, with replacement vise jaws, finger savers, and a new tag. (thanks autopts!)
It had babies!
(little dusty since I've been building a cabinet in the garage this last week)
If anyone has any questions about taking these things apart that the "disassembly threads" cant answer, feel free to ask.
