I picked up an old Athol vise, which works great, except the base does not rotate at all- it is rusted to the vise. It appears that the center screw is also rusted in place. What are the odds of getting this base apart, in one piece, with either vinegar or PB blaster? Thats all I have available. I have the base sitting upside down at the moment, filled with vinegar.
Vise advice needed...
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454ragtop
Well-known member
First thing to do is to carefully inspect both sides of the fixed jaw looking for a small lock screw some Athols had that locked the big center screw from unscrewing. If you find one loosen it. Next step is a draglink socket on an impact tool, the type you hit with a hammer. Just went thru this on an Athol, came right out. Oh, and I'd use the PB Blaster, use the vinegar for rust removal after disassembly.
chrisnazzy
Well-known member
Nothing is going to happen until that shoulder bolt is out! Once it is removed I doubt there is so much rust that the swivel base wouldn't separate easily from the main body of the vise.
Your vise looks like a 624 or 624 1/2 and as luck would have it I'm working on an Athol 624N thatI just got. That slotted shoulder bolt isn't easy to loosen even with no rust present. Attached are some pics of how I got mine loose. If you have a large chisel with a hex shank all you need is an impact socket and some nut busting torque.
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Your vise looks like a 624 or 624 1/2 and as luck would have it I'm working on an Athol 624N thatI just got. That slotted shoulder bolt isn't easy to loosen even with no rust present. Attached are some pics of how I got mine loose. If you have a large chisel with a hex shank all you need is an impact socket and some nut busting torque.
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chrisnazzy
Well-known member
Thanks guys. I could not get the center screw out, but between trying, and all the PBB and WD, the base is now spinning as designed. Now, I can't stop it! The vise came with the fitting, but no nut. It has an unusual thread that does not fit a standard nut. Any idea where to find a nut to fit this thread, before I "improvise" something? Hahaha.
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454ragtop
Well-known member
Probably a std thread, but looks to be very worn. Will probably need to measure the diameter and figure the pitch, and run a thread chaser over it before it will accept a nut or handle.
chrisnazzy
Well-known member
454ragtop
Well-known member
Wow, you're right, it does look like an acme thread. How wide are the jaws on that vise? I have a 4" Athol apart right now, I'll take a closer look at the bolt and locking handle tomorrow. Is the bolt about 3/8", or bigger?
454ragtop
Well-known member
Not really the runt, have a 622-1/2 here as well as a 623. I'll take a look at the 623 tomorrow and report back.
454ragtop
Well-known member
454ragtop
Well-known member
Well lookee here! I have an Athol 630 4" swivel jaw, swivel base apart, kind of a sad *******, but anyway was just out in the shop cleaning some stuff up and happened to glance down at the swivel lock bolt. Say what!!!! It's 1/2" OD and has that same type of coarse square thread, measures about 6 TPI near as I can tell, my thread pitch gauge only goes down to 8 and it's coarser than that.
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Here's an update. I gave up on finding an acme threaded nut- nothing local, and online they were from $8 to $25 EACH! Not including shipping! I found a small handle at Habitat for 25 cents- it has a 3/8x 24 thread. There was enough meat on the acme bolt to rethread it to match. It works great. I replaced it with a nut because it looks cleaner to me, and I will probably never rotate it anyway. I prefer fixed base vises only, these days, and I will replace this one with a 3-1/2 or 4" Columbian...if I ever find one...They're my favorite vises.
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great white tj
Well-known member
Nice job..