Scored a Paramo No. 5!

[yossarian19]

I was buying a big steel cabinet from the wreckers and on my way out, noticed a Paramo No. 5 bench vise. I looked it up and Paramo appears to be a clone (same foundry, even) of a Record. This one hasn't been cleaned or oiled in many years and I found it outdoors - still, though, the main screw passes the single-finger test and I can't see any cracks.

The one thing it needs, though, is jaw inserts. They appear to fix to the dynamic / static jaws with a single pin on each side. Anyone know where to get parts for a Paramo / Record vise?

 

[neophyte]

I believe Paramo is now defunct. The early Paramo vises supposedly did use the same castings as Record vises of the period because Paramo was the foundry that did the castings for Record. During WW2, the British MoD supposedly had Record train another factory to make vises to insure a supply in case the record factory got bombed. Record supposedly chose Paramo since they already did their casting. Later Record purchased or built their own foundry and Paramo switched to having their castings done by someone else.

For parts you might check ebay or ebay uk. New old stock Paramo tools sometimes turn up and some of the sellers are willing to ship to the USA.

 

[berol]

You could try making some jaws yourself with some steel bar.

Record jaws are available to buy in the UK, I assume you could source some that fit. I think the Paramo no.5 is exactly the same as the Record no.5, however I believe the record uses screws to attach the jaws, so perhaps I'm wrong. Is it possible someone could have retrofitted the jaws in that manner?

 

[Fretters]

I believe Paramo is now defunct. The early Paramo vises supposedly did use the same castings as Record vises of the period because Paramo was the foundry that did the castings for Record. During WW2, the British MoD supposedly had Record train another factory to make vises to insure a supply in case the record factory got bombed. Record supposedly chose Paramo since they already did their casting. Later Record purchased or built their own foundry and Paramo switched to having their castings done by someone else.

Close, but not quite. Parramore was a foundry, and Record did their own casting. It was a failsafe approach during WWII though, as you suggest, going from available info. Parramore's were producing vices from Record masters as a back up incase of a bombing incident.

 

[PCO6]

... Anyone know where to get parts for a Paramo / Record vise?

I bought jaws for my Record vices at Acklands-Grainger here in town. I believe that's the same as "Grainger" in the U.S.A. They were between $30 to $40 per set with screws.

 

[yossarian19]

The plot thickens.
While I gave it basic clean & oil job last night I looked closely at the jaws. Some knucklehead filled them in with... braze? weld? JB? Not sure yet. Not both holes, mind you, just one hole on each jaw. I can see where it is, though.
So I think I'm going to look for a set of jaws that's affordable & will fit the other dimensions of the vise (ignoring center to center) and drill + tap for it - unless I can find a direct fit set, of course...
I might wind up making a set of aluminum or brass jaws but I'm not set up to do hardened, serrated tool steel jaws and I do want a set of those.

 

[Fretters]

The plot thickens.
While I gave it basic clean & oil job last night I looked closely at the jaws. Some knucklehead filled them in with... braze? weld? JB? Not sure yet. Not both holes, mind you, just one hole on each jaw. I can see where it is, though.

You occasionally find things like that done to stop people removing/nicking/swapping inserts. No idea what types of trick tend to prompt it happening, but it happens.