Dissembling an old machine vice

I have to say I think I would feel uncomfortable dunking it in cola. I will stick to wd40 (not the best I know) and the impact driver for now and see if I can shift them

I will be painting the base black but leaving the rest natural, drill marks and all. It does have a beautiful patina under the grime.

.

Nick,

If the WD40 doesn't penetrate, try 'PlusGas Formula A'

MichaelG.

Get the whole thing hot, not too hot, too hot to touch. Then dunk in diesel or paraffin. As it cools the liquid is drawn in.

Well I managed to get the last two screws out from underneath by filing the hole slightly larger and doing the vice up as tight as I could, the bolts just squeezed out. I will continue to try and remove the jaws however. Now the moving block is only fixed to the body of the vice by the shaft. I see what I thought was a pin that I could hammer out and everything would slide apart but of course it wasnt that easy.... The pin wont budge at all so im wondering if I am going to have to drill it out to finally get this vice apart? Or is there some other trick for this final part of the disassembly?

This was the side of the pin I tried to apply force to via a punch and hammer.

and the other side of the pin

Taper pin? Whichever end you hit it will be the wrong one.

Damn thing didnt move which ever end I tried to hit. I guess Im going to have to support everything better and use a bigger hammer. This thing puts up a fight....

If it's a taper pin, in theory one side should be bigger than t'other. In theory, but it doesn't always seem to work like that.

Or, has it been peened over at each end?

Perhaps, in the end it will just have to be drilled out?

Chris

Edited By jason udall on 13/03/2015 11:42:34

I though that end looked weird and very screw like too Jason so you could be right.

I think I will put the vice aside for now and when I get the drill running I will drill it out. Less chance of cracking something that way.

Thanks for the help guys.

George,

Just caught up with this thread.

Wash your mouth out with Soap!

Those things are the Devil's invention as I have found out to my cost

Geoff - Morning spent roasting 5x250g batches of coffee beans

An EZ out stud extractor the Devil's invention?

Well maybe, maybe not, but sometimes one has to sup with the Devil Geoff to get things done!

Chris

Chris,

After having one go 'ping' and breaking off inside the stud, and flush with the cylinder head on my CB350, I would now rather drill out recalcitrant bolts, studs etc.

I think my mistake was drilling a too large a pilot hole, with the result that the sheared stud expanded in the head, and no doubt steel in aluminium hadn't helped.

That took place in 1972, and I haven't been tempted to try them again, or those that you hammer into a pilot hole.

No idea they work better on more substantial bolts/studs compared with those on the 350.

Geoff - Just my bad experience, but others my have had better results.

I could give a screw extractor a go I guess. If im going to drill it anyway then I have nothing to lose. It will have to wait a month or two until the drill is running though. Dont fancy trying it with a hand held!

Hopefully this thing will come to bits once that pin/screw is out, They built em strong back then....

Geoff - the few times I have had to use stud extractors they have done the business for me, except I have now 'lost' them, or the 'Little People' have borrowed them, same difference really but if the latter I may get them back later!

From what you say it sounds like you did indeed drill the pilot hole too large so the broken steel stud expanded and seized tighter in the aluminium head. Had it been a stainless stud it would have seized in the aluminium anyway - on boats we had to use some special gunge between stainless fittings and the aluminium mast otherwise they were there for ever! Even mild steel, never mind stainless, into aluminium is fraught with the chance of seizure, hence your sheared stud. So, even if the stud extractor had not broke you might still have had a "no go" on your hands.

Best way to get a broken stud/bolt out if no easy-outs available to to drill a small pilot drill hole as accurately straight as possible then successively larger holes until the drill cuts the edge of the threads then, if you are really lucky, you can "persuade" the broken bit to collapse inwards and be pulled out as you have found out for yourself - sorry, granny and egg sucking comes to mind! Like Jason says, helicolis are an answer and the most reliable way of threading in aluminium if high loads and/or need to 'frequently' disassemble items are a requirement.

Chris

If you can adjust the gibs, do you really need to get the rest apart? You aren't going to fit a new feedscrew.

Plus, I cant see how removing that pin will let you remove the jaw anyway... you need to get the feed screw out of the jaw, which will then lift off.

Neil

Neil, the idea is to get it apart so I can properly clean it, repaint the base and possibly replace the bearings. The pin in the shaft is the last fixing I can see other than the ones holding the jaws on so I assumed with that collar removed I could wind the thing out and up. If theres some other trick to it then I would love to know.

My experience (or lack of) with vices is with a few Record bench mount ones that I have stripped, repaired and painted. This thing is in a different league in terms of engineering and complexity so im not afraid to admit im out of my depth.

Chris,

You have just confirmed my suspicions on what happened.

A year ago, I had to drill out a jib adjusting screw that had sheared flush on the Boxford Shaper, and no attempt at getting it out worked, so used LH drills as mentioned by Jason.

It was the first time using them, and after going up a few sizes the screw just unscrewed itself as I was drilling.

Magic.

Geoff - Putting the Marlow Y-axis Handwheel back today amongst other things.