i'm such an athol...

[greymatter]

so as part of my New Years Resolution of finishing the old projects before starting the new ones, i am in a rush to put back together any and every damn thing I've taken apart and started resto on. my latest subject:

An Athol 627 Vise that's been rusting away since I blasted most of it two summers ago. It's mostly complete, minus some of parts that should be attached the leadscrew. I'll know more after I start getting it back together.

A few shots as she sits now.

 

[Packard V8]

You'll like it. An Athol has been my most used vise for many years.

jack vines

 

[pendragon1998]

Why not blast it again and hit it with some paint?

 

[greymatter]

Why not blast it again and hit it with some paint?

well i'm low on glass at the moment and actually the damn thing is so long I can't blast the ends as it just barely fits my barrel blaster. Also its just some surface rust i'm working with now, the 825 layers of paint i got off already! (it did leave the original surface well protected for all those years!)

I also like to use scotch-brite wheels then wax on the slide to give it a nice shine, the rest is going to get a few coats of MF Gray as I get them cleaned up. I'll finally have a vise that's not black!

 

[creativecars]

Just glad Mike Tyson didn't call you that...

 

[CafeTools]

Thats a good chunk of iron! GL.

 

[greymatter]

You'll like it. An Athol has been my most used vise for many years.

jack vines

This is indeed my first Athol, I have a much newer Starrett 924-1/2 that sees a ton of use but this thing is on another level. It's really not a very practical vise for my needs but I've never been one to let practicality dictate my tooling purchases. This was purely a vise I had to have after seeing(and haggling down to an absolute steal!) so along with the restoration, I need to come up with a safe place to mount it. Assembled it's has to be somewhere north of 200lbs, so not sure I have a bench that it wouldn't flip over or tear off the wall when fully extended!

 

[greymatter]

well after going through way too many scotchbrite pads, I finally picked up some more glass and threw the previously blasted pieces back into the blast cabinet and a few beers later they came out looking as clean as the first time. While I was blasting the other pieces I treated the static jaw(which was never cleaned up previously) with oven cleaner and let it cook(9 deg F) overnight. It did a pretty decent job of getting rid of most of the paint and grease. Now since its freezing outside the garden hose was a no go and I was too lazy to throw the whole tub in the bed of my truck to take up to the spray bay so I just put the whole mess into a garbage bag and dragged it into the washtub in the laundry room while the wife was at work and gave it a good scrub down with soapy water and a wire brush. The pin holding the spindle nut in place is heavily deformed so I am planning on turning a new one down to size this weekend. I also noticed a fairly large void under the spindle nut, not sure if this was from corrosion at some point in its life or more likely just a bad casting. Either way it doesn't seem to effect its performance. I still need to get the static jaw into the cabinet for a final cleanup but for now some pics.

 

[Tonellin]

DAMNIT do I want an athol vise..Athol, MA is a little less than an hour from where I live but I've yet to pick one up

 

[greymatter]

Now for the spindle, I am missing everything but the actual spindle and would love if someone who has a similar vintage Athol 92x could post some pics of what the spindle collar and the whole setup looks like. I have done some research but haven't found any pics of the exact setup like this one yet. But I think there is supposed to be some sort of a collar and something to go into the groove and either a roll or cotter pin in the hole.

As it stands it will close fine but the dynamic jaw but needs to be pulled out after the leadscrew is loosened since there isn't anything for the dynamic jaw to grab onto.

some more pics. I put the Wilton 1750 tradesman & Parker 924 leadscrew in for size reference.

 

[greymatter]

closest i've been able to find is this... looks like there may be a spring I need as well.

View media item 14264

 

[meatsis]

I have the big brother to your vise. The 628. Ill look at the spindle tonight. I don't remember any spring in there. Im pretty sure it was just a collar with a set screw. Ill let you know.

 

[greymatter]

I have the big brother to your vise. The 628. Ill look at the spindle tonight. I don't remember any spring in there. Im pretty sure it was just a collar with a set screw. Ill let you know.

Thanks a ton!!

 

[454ragtop]

I have a couple Athols with springs to take up the end play on the screw.

 

[meatsis]

Thanks a ton!!

The first vise pictured is the older bigger Athol 628. which looks just like yours but bigger. This one just uses a simple collar with a set screw.

The second vise pictured is a much newer Starrett 326. This one uses the spring and spacer held in with a cotter pin. hope this helps. sorry about the crappy pictures. let me know if you need me to take them apart to get better ones.

 

[greymatter]

thank you sir!! please don't worry about taking anything apart, this is all I was looking for!

I'm going to see if I can find a shaft collar that will fit, if not I can just turn and bore my own. I was thinking about doing something like this already and seeing that yours is obviously working well I think this will be the easiest way to go. I just saw the reduced diameter slot and hole through the shaft and was thinking there was something more complicated going on in there. Also checked out my starrett 924.5 for reference and it had the same basic setup as your 326 so that just added to my confusion.

One more question though, I just noticed that my spindle actually extends out about .5" past the back end of the dynamic jaw, is this the same on your 628? It just seems a bit odd to me as none of my vises are like that.

 

[meatsis]

I'm pretty sure mine doesn't stick out. I'll have to check tonight.

 

[greymatter]

well still have some finish work to wrap up and clean up the end of the spindle and handle but here's a little shot of it so far!

 

[G-ManBart]

well still have some finish work to wrap up and clean up the end of the spindle and handle but here's a little shot of it so far!

Nice!

 

[greymatter]

Nice!

Thanks man, btw, love your site! I've always wondered who that other guy was snatching up all the nice vises around Detroit!!