Wilton Bullet Vise End Cap Restoration

[blsnelling]

I have a pair of old Wiltons here to restore that had badly beat up end caps. Both were caved in significantly. I didn't want to spend the money on new caps, so I set out to see what I could do to repair these. I couldn't be happier with the results. Unfortunately, I didn't get good before pics, so had to crop these from other pics.

I started by setting the caps on a large socket and hammering the worst of the caved in areas out. I then went to the anvil on my vise and worked them with various size ball peen hammers. I then chucked them in the lathe and took a file to them as they spun. No, maybe not safety Nazi appropriate, but it worked. There are a few minor low areas, but I'm very happy with the results. If I wanted, I could fill these areas with JB Weld and make them look like new.

 

[IowaDon]

Nice work. They look like baby moon hubcaps for a mini hot rod.

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[cgrutt]

Very nice!

 

[dirt_dobber]

wow - that turned out great.

 

[LXCam]

Nice job. But since you have a lathe, why would you have bought new ones, it'd been pretty easy and quick to make news ones out of aluminum. Just saying

 

[blsnelling]

Nice job. But since you have a lathe, why would you have bought new ones, it'd been pretty easy and quick to make news ones out of aluminum. Just saying

Because I'm not a machinist, lol. It's just a manual Grizzly latte so would be difficult to do the convex shape. I guess I could rough it in and finish with a file like I did these.

 

[LXCam]

Because I'm not a machinist, lol. It's just a manual Grizzly latte so would be difficult to do the convex shape. I guess I could rough it in and finish with a file like I did these.

You could cheat, that's how I do it. Take random cuts eating away at the basic curve then finish it off with a file.

 

[HarrisFD]

Re: Wilton Bullet Vise End Cap Restoration - po’ boy version

Nice work! I too had a pretty mangled cap on my 500S, but no access to a lathe. So following your lead, I wrapped the end of a long 3/8 extension in electrical tape and stuck it through the screw bore and a used brass hammer to knock the cap off the end of the vise.

I worked out the dents as best I could, there were two big ones , lots of little ones, plus a couple of creases to add to the fun.

Then I stuck a snug fitting hole saw into the back of the cap, squared it up the best I could, and used electrical tape to hold the cap in place. I used my trusty Makita cordless to spin the cap and filed/sanded until most of the remaining dents & gouges were gone.



I filled the remaining small lows with jb weld and spun/sanded again. Some primer and paint and it looks pretty decent.