Lesson learned...don't cheap out on a vice!

[waterboy12]

Well I was trying to get what was left of a bolt out of an ex out. Had the bolt in the vice and was gonna back the ex out off. The bolt kept moving so I got out the old trusty cheater pipe and start cranking down on my vice and BAM! Carnage! But I have to say its been a pretty damn good vice to be china made. It's put up with a lot of abuse! Anyways....here's the pics.

 

[2JZGTESC300]

Wow, first time I've ever seen on crack.

 

[purplezr2]

I have done that to a few of them

 

[NC-Fordguy]

I have done that to a few of them

Me 2

Cast is cast

 

[EOC_Jason]

Super Glue & Duct Tape can fix that right up...

 

[gatewaysysop]

Wow. The fact that the handle still looks straight definitely says something about the quality (or lack thereof) in the casting of the vise. If that weenie handle didn't bend but the vise snapped like a toy, that's definitely not a good sign.

On the plus side, 70 years from now if people are restoring one of these Chinese vises, they won't have to worry about straightening the handle back to its original shape, since apparently the vise will self destruct before the handle bends.

 

[Davefr]

Wow, the casting grain looks as course as pot metal.

 

[Kirbot]

Did that once to a harborfreight vise.
Welded it back up, then it broke again in a totally different place.

 

[liliysdad]

I have an older Wilton 5" homeowner grade vice with a nearly identical crack. I cleaned it, made a nice fat V-grind, and MIG'd the hell out of the cast after a little preheat. 8yrs later, its still holding up.

 

[metaleltr]

That's how you know your weld's good!

 

[chris142]

I did that to a smaller HF one by hand.

 

[ajchien]

Wow, the casting grain looks as course as pot metal.

Stop insulting pot metal!

 

[srmofo]

weve busted 3 of them at the shop....still cant convince the boss man its time for a quality vise

 

[redwrench60]

And that's why Wilton, and other quality vises are so coveted.

 

[NC-Fordguy]

And that's why Wilton, and other quality vises are so coveted.

Thats the last brand I broke... Wilton I was pressing in some leaf spring bushings into some 1 and 3/4 in dom tubing for a custom roll cage tie ins. When the vice let go it shot part of itself into the door of a jeep scrambler I had just painted.

Major suckage

 

[RivennHewn]

That's why I never use cheater bars.

 

[Seb650R]

Coincidentally, I have a Wilton tradesman 6" vise listed on craigslist and a guy messaged me saying he would give me $250 when I was asking for $350. He justified it by saying no one cares about quality tools anymore, and that someone could just go buy a vise at HF. I laughed and told him good luck when his Chinese vise snaps in half.

Of course I log onto GJ to be reminded why I love my heavy duty vise.

After having seen several horror stories such as yours, I'm contemplating just keeping the vise and having two quality Wilton's.

 

[TwoInch]

you can tell it cheap, there is no way to mount it so that the inner jaw is past flush with the bench top.

never seen one blow up, but i have had a couple times when i thought my old menards 6" vise was gonna explode... she still holding up tho. its definitely a T vise and not a V.

cool pics everyone likes carnage!

 

[A_Pmech]

I popped a vise like that years ago. I don't recall even needing a cheater bar.

At least a decade has gone by and the farm store still carries the same crappy vise so far as I can tell.

 

[redwrench60]

Thats the last brand I broke... Wilton I was pressing in some leaf spring bushings into some 1 and 3/4 in dom tubing for a custom roll cage tie ins. When the vice let go it shot part of itself into the door of a jeep scrambler I had just painted.

Major suckage

Lol, you're talented My work has probably close to a dozen old Wilton four and six inch bullet vises from the 60s' and 70s' that idiot mechanics (including this idiot) have been beating on for better than forty years and aside from being rough looking they work just fine. They're kinda like vaginas, you might ugly them up but you can't really hurt them.

 

[monster1]

That's why I never use cheater bars.

Me neither. That's what hammers are for.

 

[TwoInch]

Lol, you're talented My work has probably close to a dozen old Wilton four and six inch bullet vises from the 60s' and 70s' that idiot mechanics (including this idiot) have been beating on for better than forty years and aside from being rough looking they work just fine. They're kinda like vaginas, you might ugly them up but you can't really hurt them.

 

[Seb650R]

They're kinda like vaginas, you might ugly them up but you can't really hurt them.

Thats going in my sig for sure.

 

[Jarhead0408]

I bolted a vise fom Tractor Supply Co. On a 1x12x3 nailed to my 2x4 porch rail for a quick light job I had to do. 30 seconds later the base blew apart. the vise itself held up.
Never seen a base blow out like that though.

 

[bgott]

I've used my Reed 2C to press wheel bearings with one guy on a four foot cheater on the handle and me beating on the jaw with a four pound sledge. No problem! A guy I know tried that on one of those rotating Chinese vises. It broke.

 

[EOC_Jason]

I've used my Reed 2C to press wheel bearings with one guy on a four foot cheater on the handle and me beating on the jaw with a four pound sledge. No problem! A guy I know tried that on one of those rotating Chinese vises. It broke.

Sounds like a shop press is next on your purchase list...

 

[Skin]

I've used my Reed 2C to press wheel bearings with one guy on a four foot cheater on the handle and me beating on the jaw with a four pound sledge. No problem! A guy I know tried that on one of those rotating Chinese vises. It broke.

yours will break eventually as well if you keep treating it like a heavy duty press.

 

[beelsr]

i had a round-bodied rotating pipe-jaws on the bottom $50 POS china vise a decade ago that I beat the **** out of. it finally died the same way - cheater pipe and snapped the slide body. casting was a little nicer but not much.

I'm much nicer to my 60 year old USA/England vises now. But maybe it's because they're so much smoother and nicer that I'm applying the same (more?) pressure without having to go nutzo on the handle?

Salvage the unbroken parts, take the rest to your junkyard. Buy a nice USA vise on the bay for less than the price of a new China. Never look back...

 

[bgott]

Sounds like a shop press is next on your purchase list...

We have one. I had asked one of the other techs about the press when I started there and he told me it didn't work. It turned out that it did work, he just didn't like pressing bearings so he said it didn't work so he could send the bearings out. I think he didn't have any adaptors and didn't care to scare any up.

 

[HandyManny]

That's why you don't use cheater bars on that type of stuff. True that a better quality vise would have it's handle bend before the jaws were over stressed, but by the same token you can also destroy a much higher quality USA or Eurpoean made vise the same way if the handles didn't bend before the main body was over stressed. There is a reason why better quality vises will use a much more maleable handle, so as not to crack the rest of the vise. The point here is that most tools (even better quality tools) break because of improper use.