Building up a vise

[Llama]

Howdy from far away,

I recently picked up some goodies at a liquidation sale, including a rather large Woden 18/6 for $19 (about 10 pound for you fellas). They had mistakenly put "Wooden" on the ad, and it was at the last of a lot of old Record vises (which went for silly money).

The only issue is it is rather sloppy in the slide, it is possible to build these up then file them down to a nice fit again? As I understand they would mostly be cast iron, which would be a pain to weld, are their any options?

I also picked up a bench grinder for $19, and a old NZ Tanner drill press (minus motor) for free!

It makes dad's #1 record look laugable!

 

[dan.taylor.1]

I'd be interested to know if you can too as my record no.6 is a bit sloppy side to side, also needs some new jaws but they're bearable!

Dan

 

[BrokenBiker]

could be built up with weld if you use pre heat or a dedicated cast rod.

not sure how else to do it, bar making a new slide from a billet of something that can be brought up to a good hardness with good wear resistance

 

[scott0031]

My best advice would be not to even consider welding it. You will kill it and most probably cost you a fair old wedge in rods.


If it was me and it really was that bad I would use bright cold rolled steel sheet. Drilled and tapped holes in the body and countersunk screws. It can then be easily replaced when it wears. The cost is minimal and pretty easy for anyone to do with basic tools. This does of coarse depend on sheet thicknesses matching what you need dimension wise to make the vice good.


Kind regards and good luck.


Scott

 

[scott0031]

I should have said i also have had woden vices in the past, they do tend to be a bit sloppy, so its likely what you are experiencing with yours is not out of the ordinary. To actually wear a vice out it would have to be used constantly each and every day for years and years and more years. So i would have a guess it could well be perfectly normal.



Kind regards,


Scott

 

[Wendelspanswick]

I was going to suggest milling down the top of the slide and drilling and tapping on a new m/s plate to replace but it does mean you would need access to a mill and it would be time consuming.

 

[awemawson]

I wouldn't be surprised if it is in fact cast steel. At the very least it should be ductile iron rather than plain ordinary grey iron or it wouldn't stand up to the beating that a vice takes.

 

[hareng]

Theyre definitely cast at least my quick release 6" is. Also suffers from lateral play with a slight bit of upwards movement. I would say that's the way they were made with minimal wear.

Its possible you can drill and tap through, insert phospur bronze or something with a grub screw on to it.

Jaws are easy to make even the Record ones that are not drilled and tapped through the casting to get a pickup point.
Even easier on Woden, jaws are tapped through the casting bolted from the outside. Done some serious stuff with mine and cant break it

 

[Llama]

Hmmm phosphor bronze slides sound like a plan. It's not a huge issue for the use of the vice, I'm just being a perfectionist when it comes to restoring things.

 

[MattF]

Hmmm phosphor bronze slides sound like a plan. It's not a huge issue for the use of the vice, I'm just being a perfectionist when it comes to restoring things.

You'll be making it better than it was as new if you do. The Wodens are nice vices but they aren't precision engineered overall. They do have slop etc. Even the nut on all of mine needs leaving loose rather than being tightly bolted down onto the casting else the screw is hard to turn at certain points. I'd personally leave it as is. If you have any wear which is causing the slop, it'll be visible. If not, leave it as it was designed. They've survived all these years fine like that.

Besides, once you've clamped whatever you're holding, any play becomes irrelevant unless you're seriously leaning on or pounding whatever is in the jaws.

 

[brightspark]

as above leave well alone apart from a new set of jaws if needed ,if your needing anything that acurate shell out and buy another as well. i have 4 vices i use

 

[Llama]

I took it apart properly, and tried cleaning it a little. Spark testing indicated cast steel opposed to cast iron, but I managed to take out most

Someone has welded the jaws, so I'm thinking I'll just file them down flat again and get myself a pair of soft ones that can be laid over top.

 

[awemawson]

I seem to remember suggesting that several posts ago

 

[Shox Dr]

I'd of thought the fixed part will have bell mouthed, possibly at both ends, making it almost impossible to shim.

I keep mentioning malleable (cast steel) and non-malleable (cast iron) vices whenever a vice thread pops up, but it seem to fall on deaf ears. So it does pay to find out before you start with the BFH.

 

[awemawson]

Malleable iron and cast steel are two quite different materials

 

[Shox Dr]

Malleable iron and cast steel are two quite different materials

It's a long long time since I was taught/learnt this fact so I stand to be corrected composition of malleable iron however it doesn't detract from the fact there are two types of vice available