Wilton 1750

[John Odom]

I just got a Wilton 1750 vise for $10. It is a 5" "bullet" design one. It is badly rusted, as if it has been in the manure pile a few years. The slide is seized up. The screw will wiggle a little. There are no jaw inserts. The jaw insert screws are broken off. There is no cover on the end of the slide.
This will be an interesting project! My plan is to remove the collar around the handle/screw and back out the screw. All the while soaking the slide with Kroil. Then I will try to move the slide. Do you have any suggestions for loosening the slide?

New Jaw inserts are available, I believe, and I can drill out the broken screws. What is the thread of the insert retaining screws on this vise?

I hope restoring vises does not become a vice.

 

[drivesitfar]

you are asking some pretty good questions that i'm sure a lot of us would like to know and I'm sure a lot of folks on GJ already know and might like to share if they find this thread. I've read these threads for years and finally joined and glad to have you join too. most everyone likes to see pictures along with good questions and chatter so in case you have a few pictures of your "VICE" you would like to attach did you know there is a little paper clip icon above your typing area to put one in? does your 7500 look sort of similar to my 7600 that needs a good cleaning? Vises are much better than drugs, but not much cheaper so take care. there is also a running vise thread that you may know about where you can post a picture of before and after if you want to. by the way I think my Prentiss Vise has been soaking in Kroil for a few days now trying to loosen up a swivel jaw that might not have been moved in 100 years. that magic juice already got the swivel pin out and has loosened many a rusty bolt. good luck with that.

 

[drivesitfar]

sorry I thought I attached the picture and here's my 7600 which might be close to your 7500?

 

[drivesitfar]

one of our smarter members posted some great pics and a tutorial on how to set up an "E" (electrolysis) tank which might be the best cure for your old abused Wilton. also here's the can of magic rust removal juice I use that ain't cheap, but it works.
I bought it off the counter at Tacoma Screw up here in Seattle, but I think they sell it online too.

 

[autopts]

What is the thread of the insert retaining screws on this vise?

I hope restoring vises does not become a vice.

1/4-20 on the screw. Good luck

 

[John Odom]

The Philips screws that hold the collar on are now loose. I am trying gentle methods for loosening things first! I will try each item again this afternoon.

Thanks for the replies!

 

[John Odom]

A pic of the vise with only a little clean up, sitting on the antique Howe platform scale.

 

[drivesitfar]

I think I saw that you tried to attach a picture of your 7500, but it didn't show up when I took another look at your thread. keep trying and if you know how to use PhotoBucket.com or another online picture site they even work a lot better. keep trying to attach for now and if it's not working that way i'll try to help you if I can.
if you click on my Prentiss thread at the bottom of my post and i'm also restoring an old Wilton so you will have to choose or look at both threads if you like. one of the handier members did an awesome tutorial with great pictures on how to make and use an Electrolysis tank that probably would work well for your Wilton. Best of luck in posting a few pics and getting the Wilton vise you have to come to life.

 

[John Odom]

Another try!

 

[drivesitfar]

You Rock!!!! good luck with the Wilton challenge and i'm guessing you like steel things a bit because looks like you can make part of a Battleship with the little piece of steel the Wilton is sitting on. or did you melt down a Battleship to get it inside your shop. great job with the picture and did you use Photobucket?

 

[John Odom]

I DID break down and start a Photobucket account. This is the ONLY photo there. The vise is sitting on the platform of an antique HOWE 3,000 pound platform scale. When I found it it was in a scale pit with the platform level with the floor and the pit drain clogged. It was a bunch of rust! The building owner said he wanted to get rid of it but he needed to fill the hole in the floor, and I could have it if I patched the floor. I restored it and calibrated it. I took it to a scale place and checked it, it is within 1/4 pound all the way to 3,000 pounds! It was the only clear spot in the shop to put the vise for the picture.

 

[John Odom]

To continue:

The three collar screws are out. One was stubborn! The screw is out. It is in good condition, having been heavily greased. The end near the handle has some superficial rust as does the handle. Those areas will clean up well.

The swivel base is off.I will need to make/get/buy new clamping nuts.

The main slide will not budge. I used a brass block and an 8 lb. sledge. I will have to make a holding fixture and use a press.

Three of the four broken vise jaw insert screws had enough sticking out to grip with ViseGrips and back out. Only one will need to be drilled.

It nowhere does it say Wilton there are W marks on each casting. One is marked 11051, one 11052.

I have quit for the day.

 

[drivesitfar]

you are well on your way to getting that vise on your shop bench. anybody that can restore a scale the size that you have to the specs you say it weighs things should be ok with a Wilton vise restoration. especially with a little help from the hundreds of Wiltons I've seen on the Vise thread come out of the grave (or manure pile).

i'm not sure I would ever hit the screw part of the vise and please correct me if i'm wrong. even if you are trying to protect the surface from scarring up. my 2 cents because it might strip the screw. you have already more than tripled your cash outlay by saving the swivel base because I know many guys that would pay about $40 for one. I think their new swivels still fit the old vises. no for trying to recoup some of your labor costs.

now as far as no name on your 7500. I think when Wilton was making changes and selling off some piece of their company to Snap On. they made some of their vises without names so Snap On could slap on a sticker or they would slap one of theirs on. the #'s sound like Wilton #'s. save as much of the vise as you can and most of the parts are probably still available if you can't get it up and running on your first try at a restore. I think retail for that vise new was about $600 long before it hit the manure pile.

good luck

 

[John Odom]

The vise is apart, except for the main slide. I have made a fixture to hold it in a press and also turned a pressing ram to fit it. I will use the 100 ton press at a helpful local railroad shop.

 

[drivesitfar]

I can't tell if you are serious our pulling our legs. if you are not ready to set up an Electrolysis tank then get an empty 5 gallon bucket and put a 3 gallons of diesel in it and set the Wilton in it for a few hours or overnight or maybe for a couple days. hit it with a rubber hammer at most and maybe you'll have it working again.
otherwise you might have a parts vise and you'll be looking for a buyer to maybe buy your swivel base for $40. I'll buy one of the little pipe jaws for $10if it's the same one I need for my 1780 if that is the case.
good luck.

 

[BFBOB]

You really owe it to yourself to try electrolysis. You can throw together a 'proof of concept' tank in ten minutes. 10 gal plastic trash can, some scrap steel chunks around the sides, dangle your workpiece in the middle. Fill the trash can with water, add a handful or two Washing Soda (sodium carbonate, in the detergent section supermarket) and (optionally-helps degrease) a little TSP (tri sodium phosphate, maybe supermarket, always hardware store.
Hook up a battery charger negative to your work piece, positive to the perimeter pieces, sit back and watch the bubbles float up and rust come off. (Half of those bubbles are hydrogen. Not much of it, but still good ventilation needed).

There are many finer points to making it work optimally, but really, throwing together a crude setup like this will likely convince you. Let it run for an hour, pull out the vise and admire the results. Brush with a scrub brush and repeat. Your vise will take many hours, maybe several overnight treatments. It's darn near magic, but not fast or perfect.
Read up on it elsewhere for details ... AFTER you've done a quick-and-crude setup. It's fun!

 

[John Odom]

The Wilton 1750 is apart! This morning I remembered that the Southern Adventist University technology department has a 100 ton press similar to the one at TVRM. I asked nicely and was allowed to use it. The vise came apart easily, without approaching the capacity of the press. Now success is assured, what is left to do is not really hard, just tedious.

I will do rust removal with electrolysis.

 

[Todd.Brock]

Were you able to undo the handle with the main screw on it so you could press out the slide?

 

[John Odom]

I removed the main screw, back cap and nut before pressing out the moveable jaw. The Kroil had penetrated all the way through. The rust holding the slide was an oily paste., but some was so hard it would not wire brush off, and had to be scraped.

 

[drivesitfar]

that explains the pressing now. I was thinking you just found a bigger sledgehammer. you forgot to mention that you had pulled the screw and insert out and cap off in your earlier posts. best of luck in the E bath and putting it back together.

 

[John Odom]

Here is a picture of it after pressing it apart.

 

[John Odom]

 

[John Odom]

I Did mention removal of screw etc.

 

[John Odom]

that explains the pressing now. I was thinking you just found a bigger sledgehammer. you forgot to mention that you had pulled the screw and insert out and cap off in your earlier posts. best of luck in the E bath and putting it back together.

Screw removal was mentioned in post #12.

 

[drivesitfar]

I apologize for not reading more carefully. I had just talked to a guy (not a member of GJ) that was selling a nice 200 pound vise that was seized up and he had been hitting it with a sledgehammer on the ends of it. I know some guys grew up with the thinking that all you need is bigger hammer to get any job done. needless to say i'm not going to buy that big vise now.

when you mentioned a Railroad's 100 ton press i thought you'd found the biggest hammer. some guys actually do know how to use the right tools for the job and it looks like your plan worked.

you are doing great with the restoration and you should have a working Wilton vise in the near future. once you get your Electrolysis set up completed maybe some before, during and after pictures?:

thumbup:

 

[bigcaddy]

Its amazing how little rust can hold a vise stuck so badly. I had the same problem you encountered with a basket case Wilton 350 Machinist vise. The vise had no rear guts and looked pretty rusty. The 2 halves seem bonded permanently but with some Kroil and a press, i got them free. Once it was out, all the rust i could see was on the first 1" of the slide. The rest was bare, clean metal


Good luck with the rest of your project. Don't forget to check out Wiltonviseparts.com for jaw inserts. The gentleman that runs the sight it a member here and makes excellent replacement parts for Wiltons

 

[John Odom]

Sometimes a bigger hammer IS needed. In General a bigger hammer, properly used, will move things with less damage than a smaller one.

In blacksmithing one uses a big hammer to move metal deep in the piece, and a lighter one to modify the surface of the work.

 

[tool_scrounge]

The Wilton 1750 is apart! This morning I remembered that the Southern Adventist University technology department has a 100 ton press similar to the one at TVRM. I asked nicely and was allowed to use it. The vise came apart easily, without approaching the capacity of the press. Now success is assured, what is left to do is not really hard, just tedious.

I will do rust removal with electrolysis.

Molasses diluted 7:1 with water has been working really well for me to remove rust. 10:1 dilution also works but takes a little longer. Animal grade molasses is $20 for 5 gallons from the feed store. You can use the grocery store molasses but it costs more. I dump the parts in a bucket and leave them in the solution for a week or so. I do wander by every few days and agitate it a bit. I thought ants would be a problem but they seem to hate the stuff. I put some of the left over dregs in my trashcan and the ants no longer go near it.

I bought the parts to build an electrolysis tank but the molasses is so simple that I have been using it instead. It does take longer than electrolysis however.

Good Luck!

 

[John Odom]

This afternoon I worked on the Wilton 1750 vise. The broken jaw screw did not want to come out. I drilled with left-hand bit and tried a screw extractor. It would not budge. Fortunately the drill hole was well centered and I used successively larger bits until I could get the fragments of the thread out with dental picks. Then I retapped. Now I will order new jaw inserts.

Now it is ready for the major clean-up and paint prep.

I put the wire brush to the casting and discovered that this vise has pockets for pipe jaws. These pockets were filled with Bondo-like stuff. One pocket has a hole, the other looks like a broken screw. Was the 1750 originally equipped with pipe jaws, and what was the screw size?

The wire brush showed a LOT of hammer dings and chisel marks that had been filled and painted over. It has had an even rougher life than I had imagined, and that was bad.

After the wire brush I will try the electrolysis.

 

[bluebolt]

I put the wire brush to the casting and discovered that this vise has pockets for pipe jaws. These pockets were filled with Bondo-like stuff. One pocket has a hole, the other looks like a broken screw. Was the 1750 originally equipped with pipe jaws, and what was the screw size?

Yes it had pipe jaws originally and replacements are part number 2904200 and include two jaws and two screws.

The regular jaws are part number 2904110 and include two jaws and four screws.

I have a 1750 myself but it looks a lot nicer at the moment LOL. It needs new jaws, might get them online from Advance Auto.

 

[John Odom]

Pictures of the fixture used in the big press. Note that it holds the main (fixed jaw) casting by the taper. The bolts that hold the bars together are very important and must be evenly tightened. A 1 3/4" dia piece of Bar was used as a pusher in the press.