How to restore a vise?

[Stuey]

Okay, so I'm trying to restore a 35 lb vise. I cannot figure out how to remove the sliding body from the base. The threaded rod completely disengages from the housing, but I cannot figure out how to retract that whole jaw piece completely.

Also, half the vise is painted, the other half corroded a bit. I have a paint stripping wheel and wire wheels, but I'm not sure how to remove the paint from the places where the paint is really thick and stuck on good. Any suggestions?

Finally, what kind of lube/grease do I use on it once I have it in nice shape again?

Pics will come later, and I'm sure I'll need a lot of help ont his project.

 

[Uncle Buck]

Some pics would help. Also the brand of vise might help a bit too. I suspect that there is a lock pin or a bolt or something of the like you might find on the underside of the base of the vise that secures one part to the other. Post some pics, include one of the bottom of the vise.

 

[eschoendorff]

Some pics would help. Also the brand of vise might help a bit too. I suspect that there is a lock pin or a bolt or something of the like you might find on the underside of the base of the vise that secures one part to the other. Post some pics, include one of the bottom of the vise.

What he said. Hard to tell without seeing it...

 

[nissan_crawler]

Sometimes there's a bolt inside the track, sometimes the threaded adapter for the rod holds the slide in, too.

 

[Stuey]

It's a Morgan Vise, mentioned here.

I did see a pin that needs to be removed, but it looked like it was retaining something from going in the opposite direction.

No pics yet b/c I'm at work.

 

[PoorOwner]

for the finish it should be easy.. Paint stripper and the wire wheel.. degrease the surface real good and a couple coats of rustoleum industrial enamel or the tought paint of your choice like tractor implement paint.

 

[jimvannoy]

I have always used some wheel bearing grease on the parts of my vise that need it.

 

[Stuey]

I already picked up a can of Rustoleum and primer (made in USA!!), but am slightly concerned as to how it's going to react with any grease that comes into contact with it. I guess I'll see what happens.

The vise is green and looks like it might have been painted by hand. I picked up some yellow paint since I figured Wilton uses blue and Craftsman uses red, leaving not too many decent color choices. I was eyeing the flourescent pink paint, but it was marking paint, which I doubt would be suitable for this application.

 

[Abodyracer]

After you get it apart take it down to a machinist and have it hot tanked. That will remove all the grease and grim and possibly some of the paint.

 

[jimvannoy]

Spray it with oven cleaner then hose it off real good. That will get rid of any grease residue.

 

[Uncle Buck]

After breaking it down take it to the local radiator shop and have them hot tank it for a couple of hours, when it comes out there should be no trace of paint remaining. Hose it down, dry it off and apply a coat of primer and your choice of color. You never lose painting a vise machinery gray. BTW, Do not forget to apply a liberal coat of grease to the acme thread.

 

[Stuey]

What about using a heat gun? Hot tanking sounds like a good idea, but I'm not sure as to how much time that would require (finding a place) and how much.

Is that something I can do myself in a general purpose chemistry lab?

 

[Uncle Buck]

What about using a heat gun? Hot tanking sounds like a good idea, but I'm not sure as to how much time that would require (finding a place) and how much.

Is that something I can do myself in a general purpose chemistry lab?

Like I said, call any radiator shop in your area, I bet they won't charge more than 5-10 bucks to do it, it works great, I tanked a big vise like this years ago and it was stripped clean in nothin flat!

 

[Stuey]

Okay, I guess it's worth a try!

Here are some photos...

See... it was brushed with a paintbrush. boooo

 

[dxdexter]

Okay, so I'm trying to restore a 35 lb vise. I cannot figure out how to remove the sliding body from the base. The threaded rod completely disengages from the housing, but I cannot figure out how to retract that whole jaw piece completely.

It looks as though the nut is retained in a dovetail. Check for a retaining screw or a pin that may hold it within the joint.

There may also be a pin and spring immediately on the other side of the handle/slide casting that may need to be removed.

 

[tatra]

Spray it with oven cleaner then hose it off real good. That will get rid of any grease residue....................................one of my fave paint strippers.........

 

[Stuey]

It looks like that pin is in the way of disassembling everything. Unfortunately for me, it's not coming out without being 100% mangled. To put everything back together (if I can ever get it apart), I'm going to have to replace it with another hardened pin.

 

[dxdexter]

It looks like that pin is in the way of disassembling everything. Unfortunately for me, it's not coming out without being 100% mangled. To put everything back together (if I can ever get it apart), I'm going to have to replace it with another hardened pin.

Is there a smaller hole opposite/underside the large pin in order to drive it out using a pin punch? If not you could drill one easily enough.

 

[Stuey]

Is there a smaller hole opposite/underside the large pin in order to drive it out using a pin punch? If not you could drill one easily enough.

Nope. Plus, it's domed on the underside. Well, I'm just going to need to use brute force to take that pin out. My largest pin punch is a bit too small, and I couldn't even Dremel it off due to its angle. I'm using a cold chisel and brute hammering to try to at least bend it out of the way.

 

[Stuey]

WELL.... Somehow all my knocking set things free. BUT I still have to remove that mangled pin from the dovetail... Then I have to find a replacement hardened pin. I suppose that pin was for alignment or something like that. Oh well... I knew this was going to be a trying experience...

EDIT: The pin is free!! I took dxdexter's suggestion and drilled the pin from the underside. 1/8" and then 1/4" cobalt bits, and then used a 3/16" punch to follow through.

To remove one little pin, I needed all three of my ball pein hammers. Couldn't find my damn drilling hammer though - that would have made things move a bit quicker.

 

[Merkava_4]

I was going to say that the pin would be easier to drive out if the length of it was cut off first, but it looks like I'm too late with that suggestion.

Post up a picture of the mangled pin when you can.

In the mean time, let me protest against the oven cleaner idea before it actually happens.

 

[jimvannoy]

I was going to say that the pin would be easier to drive out if the length of it was cut off first, but it looks like I'm too late with that suggestion.

Post up a picture of the mangled pin when you can.

In the mean time, let me protest against the oven cleaner idea before it actually happens.

Oven cleaner works great. I use it all the time on engines and parts. It's cheaper than engine degreaser too.

 

[Merkava_4]

I left it on too long in my attempt to clean a Briggs & Stratton aluminum crankcase/cylinder assembly; the metal was permanently stained a horrible black color; obviously the victim of accelerated chemically induced corrosion. Every since then, I've been trying to save the world from the corrosive effects of oven cleaner.

 

[jimvannoy]

I left it on too long in my attempt to clean a Briggs & Stratton aluminum crankcase/cylinder assembly; the metal was permanently stained a horrible black color; obviously the victim of accelerated chemically induced corrosion. Every since then, I've been trying to save the world from the corrosive effects of oven cleaner.

"aluminum crankcase/cylinder assembly"

There's your problem right there. Why on earth would you use it on aluminum?????????

Been using oven cleaner for well over 15 years with no problems at all and I clean a LOT of parts.

Just did a search for radiator hot tank solution and came up with this:

The product is called Caustic Soda, and is used in Radiator shops. When I owned a Radiator shop we purchased the soda from a local Chemical Dealer or the Radiator supply house, You might be able to get a Radiator shop to sell you a pound or two, the afore mentioned suppliers only sold LARGE quuantities. Most of your modern domestic oven cleaners are caustic too!! heat up your item to be cleaned and spray it on.

 

[Stuey]

The thing is, I don't have any way of heating this up. I have a crappy electric oven that takes forever for food, let alone a 35 lb vise which may have toxic paint.

Hmm, caustic soda... Is that something that airgas might carry? After reading a bit about it, I don't think that I want to use it anywhere in or near my apartment. I might have some in the lab, though. The only problem is that I don't have access to a parts washer big enough to handle the vise components.

My floor - such a mess - now you can see why I'm searching for a folding work table.

Drilling through bottom (unmushroomed) end of the pin

What's left of the pin.

I have no idea how to replace that super-thin washer/spacer.

I'm in the process of removing the vise jaws and the screw handle. There is a screw stopping the handle from being removed, and it's mushroomed in from the side. That's definitely going to take brute force to clean up.

I don't have engine degreasaer or oven degreaser. I do have an orange type degreaser and simple green type degreaser for our bicycles. That should do the trick, right?

Still, I need to remove that paint. I'll try a heat gun outdoors or maybe just go with a hot tank treatment if I can source a machine shop or radiator place that will do it for me in this area.

 

[Moose-LandTran]

The product is called Caustic Soda, and is used in Radiator shops. When I owned a Radiator shop we purchased the soda from a local Chemical Dealer or the Radiator supply house, You might be able to get a Radiator shop to sell you a pound or two, the afore mentioned suppliers only sold LARGE quuantities. Most of your modern domestic oven cleaners are caustic too!! heat up your item to be cleaned and spray it on.

Also known as Sodium Hydroxide.

 

[jimvannoy]

Stick it in a 5 gallon bucket full of diluted Muratic acid. It will come out bare shinny new looking metal. You don't have to heat it up to use oven cleaner either. Spray it, rinse it off, wire brush it, paint it.

 

[eschoendorff]

Stuey, are you doing this in the house???? You're gonna mess up the carpet and Mrs. Stuey probably won't like that...

 

[Stuey]

Stuey, are you doing this in the house???? You're gonna mess up the carpet and Mrs. Stuey probably won't like that...

It's an apartment, in the 2nd bedroom that I mostly use, over cardboard, so it's okay. Nothing to worry about.

You guys are still throwing too many things at me! Which is better for my situation? oven cleaner? Muratic acid bath (sounds scary)? Hot tank? Argh! I'll think about things and pick up a few supplies to see what works.

I'm still hoping that I can do this without having to bring nasty chemicals into the house and without trying to explain to a professional shop what I'd like them to do for me.

New problems have risen up. I need to pick up a screw extractor set, and then I need to figure out how to replace the screws holding the jaws to the vise.

I figure that all the time, effort, and expense I'm going to put into this, I might as well have bought a new vise. But, I'm loving every minute of this!! Well, except for the pin mangling.

Edit: I've got a container of mineral spirits that I recently bought. I don't remember why I bought it, maybe for this exact purpose? I'll give that a try before I try anything else.

 

[eschoendorff]

It's an apartment, in the 2nd bedroom that I mostly use, over cardboard, so it's okay. Nothing to worry about.

You guys are still throwing too many things at me! Which is better for my situation? oven cleaner? Muratic acid bath (sounds scary)? Hot tank? Argh! I'll think about things and pick up a few supplies to see what works.

I'm still hoping that I can do this without having to bring nasty chemicals into the house and without trying to explain to a professional shop what I'd like them to do for me.

New problems have risen up. I need to pick up a screw extractor set, and then I need to figure out how to replace the screws holding the jaws to the vise.

I figure that all the time, effort, and expense I'm going to put into this, I might as well have bought a new vise. But, I'm loving every minute of this!! Well, except for the pin mangling.

****.. forgot about the apartment thing. Sorry.

Oh, and what about just using a fine wire brush? Cheap and you can tread lightly...

 

[billymade]

Hot tank would be nice because all of the nastiness is left at the shop its being dunked into! I hot tanked all the tins (fan shrouding, pulleys etc) on my old air cooled vw engines and they came out really awesome! Most places don't charge too much; considering your lack of a shop it is a drop off and pick up solution! Of course you could take it down to the car wash, use the engine degreaser and take it home; sand it, paint it and your done also! Hot tank really come out nice tho!

 

[Merkava_4]

"aluminum crankcase/cylinder assembly"

There's your problem right there. Why on earth would you use it on aluminum?????????

I learned from that mistake. The correct procedure would have been a glass bead blast.

 

[Merkava_4]

Stuey,

I'd strip the paint off with JASCO paint stripper. I only reserve that route for paint that's unreachable by abrasive procedures though. Followed by a thorough rinse with hot water.

 

[rsanter]

you can get a replacement pin from either NAPA, a large auto supply house, also an industrial supply house. they are called dowl pins.
tell them the size you need and the lenth.

in a pinch you could use an allen bolt of the right size (high quality allen bolt) as they will be a bit harder on the outside than a normal bolt (case hardened, somewhat). you will cut the pin from the smooth straight shank portion of the middle

bob

 

[tatra]

get a coupla garbage bags, place outside on the balcony, flattened out and spray down with oven cleaner, bag it up, place in box, go to carwash throw out bags...........use goggles and rubber gloves, long sleeve shirt and pants..........make sure it is the caustic kind of oven cleaner............another thing that strips paint is brakefluid............but taking it somwhere to hot tank is the most effective and time effective way...............glad i don't live below you.....................

 

[Merkava_4]

glad i don't live below you.....................

LMAO!!!

 

[Stuey]

No balcony. 3 floor building. Huge parking lot though. Since I'm in grad school, I live in on-campus family housing. It's much nicer than all the affordable housing options in the reasonable area, and much much cheaper than the nicer housing options in the area.

BUT I do have access to laboratory facilities - ventillation hoods, chemical disposal, etc.

I'll try what I have and then you guys' suggestions.

Great idea regarding the dowel pin. I just figured that I'd get a piece of round stock and cut off a piece, but dowel pins would be cheaper and easier. Further examination of the pin and photos of it reveal that the pin was larger on the top than the bottom - three slots cut into the pin to widen it, and they taper towards the bottom where they disappear.

 

[tatra]

what that sounds like are the tapered pins we use on lcomotives in certain applications.............take to a machine shop with a box of donuts for the guys and ask if they can ream it and supply you with another tapered pin...........the hard part will be peening it over, usually done with two hammers hitting the pin at the same time.........pita.........maybe they will have more up to date solution........although they seem to be used in high vibration/extreme situations..........

 

[rsanter]

No balcony. 3 floor building. Huge parking lot though. Since I'm in grad school, I live in on-campus family housing. It's much nicer than all the affordable housing options in the reasonable area, and much much cheaper than the nicer housing options in the area.

BUT I do have access to laboratory facilities - ventillation hoods, chemical disposal, etc.

I'll try what I have and then you guys' suggestions.

Great idea regarding the dowel pin. I just figured that I'd get a piece of round stock and cut off a piece, but dowel pins would be cheaper and easier. Further examination of the pin and photos of it reveal that the pin was larger on the top than the bottom - three slots cut into the pin to widen it, and they taper towards the bottom where they disappear.

is there an auto shop on site?
if there is you may be able to use their hot tank or sand blaster...etc

one of the best parts of college was access to the shops. I was an engineering student but I took one of the automotive classes so I could have access to the shop (for the cost of the lab fee)
I built all of the race engines there. built my dads engine and 2 for my cars in there.
recreated the front half of the race car (frame) when we wrecked it.
rebuilt a couple of transmissions there. made a set of aluminum engine pullies (back when they were very expensive)
had access to an engine dyno, chassis dyno. full engine machine shop, flow bench. alignment rack....

the instructor used to tease me that I had built more engines there than any other student in history

bob

 

[Stuey]

I know there is a machine shop somewhere in our department, or in an affiliated one. No auto facility or anything of the sort that would be helpful.

I think I can manage the pin without a machine shop. Worst case scenario I thread the hole or find a close tolerance pin. That's the least of my concerns though.