Vice repair advice and Id please

[Elemental Metal Creations]

I picked up this vice from my nephew sat. I knew it would be a rescue/repair as it had been sitting outside for 20 years since he bought it. The only markings I can find is the weight, 100. Any ideas on who made this, or approx. age?

The main post is bent just above the mounting plates for the moving jaw causing them to misaline. Some one went nuts with  a welder, welding the bracket and spring in place, and adding adding 8 inches to the bottom of the leg.

 The biggest issue is the extreme pitting of the jaws. I am thinking of either welding them up and then grinding them flat or making some covers for them. Are there and options for repairing the jaws I am missing? 

Fortunately the screw and box are in pretty good shape.

 

[ThomasPowers]

The body of the vise is most likely to be real wrought iron. You can disassemble it and straighten the stationary leg with a press.  If done hot; work very hot! (real wrought iron does not like to work not heated properly.  In fact it's often worked at temps where modern steels are burning at.

Truncating the leg is up to: you----based on your height and intended use of the vise. Heavy work vises tend to be lower than light work vises.

Old vises usually had steel inserts welded into the jaws---if so that will make it easier to weld on. Remember to preheat to avoid HAZ cracking.  Normalization would be fine if using a medium to high carbon electrode.  Originally when closed the jaws would only meet at the top, like /\, so when they are opened up they become parallel at the width most likely to be used most often.

I would carefully grind off the welds on the mounting bracket, remove it and dress the leg back to original conformation. Then restore the mounting bracket to its original adjustable form.

I once had a vise where the moving jaw was considerably lower from abuse. I heat shrunk and bradded a plug in the hole in the moving leg and then redrilled it so they would align.  A worn out of shape home can sometimes just be drilled up a size and a new pivot bolt installed.

[Kozzy]

Like TP said, you might carefully grind the welds around that mess.  That was my first inclination also...but....none of those mounting parts or the spring are sacred.  They're all pretty easy to re-make from scratch.  You might want to consider sacrificing those when removing the welds in order to better save the body of the vise.  If those welds are darned solid and deep, skip the hours of fiddling and just move on to any removal method that gets the job done and better protects the main body.

You might also want to try a few careful but strong whacks on the welded parts with a chisel and hammer.  It's possible you'll get lucky and the welds themselves will be brittle and crack.  I'd spend the 5 minutes to give that a shot if  it was mine.

[Paragon]

What is going on with the front thrust washer?  Are those threads?  looks like a makeshift one.  make sure it has a cupped surface that mates with the one on the handle.  it allows good force transfer at different open distances.  From what I gather, legs with the corners knocked down to octagonal are older. 

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

All the above advise is what I would do, can't add anything else. That vise is repairable with a little TLC. To get the proper height just cut the extension off & smooth up the acorn with a grinder.

[Elemental Metal Creations]

T.P., 

 I wish I had access to a press, will have to talk to my mechanic. The jaws do have steel inserts welded in. I thought that the pivot holes may have been worn until I got it apart.

Kozzy,

 I already plan on making a new bracket, I will see about the spring.

Paragon, 

That is a pipe bushing, it fits perfectly so it may get to stay.

Thanks to all. 

[Elemental Metal Creations]

Thomas, I know that wrought needs to be very hot, I guess that taking a sledge to it cold would be a bad idea. 

[ThomasPowers]

I might try cold bending wrought for very slight bends using highly controlled force. I would not sledge it cold.

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

If you have an auto parts store near that has a machine shop, they should have a press capable of straightening it.

[Elemental Metal Creations]

It only took about 10 min. to remove the bracket and spring. I used a Lennox diamond cutting wheel to cut most of the way through the welds and proper application of force to break them free, no damage to the body of the vice and I will be able to salvage the spring. Now to carefully grind off the welds.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ThomasPowers]

Note: if they welded on a high carbon steel spring without proper process, you may want to normalize that spring!

[Elemental Metal Creations]

Thanks for the tip.