So, an update of the work I've done so far. My wife took the toddler to her parents for the day, so I had a bunch of shop time mixed with trips for supplies!
I started with a trip to Ace for some paint stripper and bolts.
First thing I did was some paint removal on the vise. I was told by the seller that he bought this out of a field, where someone had put it after painting the whole machine to protect it from rust. So the degree indicators on the vise is one location that he missed stripping.
I spent a bit with paint stripper cleaning this off, plus stoning all the surfaces.
While waiting for that to work, I worked on making Tnuts to hold the vise down! It takes 6, and only had 2 installed when I bought it, so it rotates freely. Fortunately, it uses the same t-nuts my mill does AND I had 4 blanks that I had made on my last shaper. So the process was just to drill and tap.
I bolted the vise down, and considered that a win.
Next, I pulled the access panel on the "reversing" handle. The purpose of this handle is to let you reverse the direction of the Ram while it is moving. It seems it wasn't working due to a plug bolt leaking, so I replaced the small oring on it, and it works!
Now that I am 100% functional, I wanted to see why this was leaking like a sieve. I tried plugging it with that bolt, but it started coming out the pin.
However, I couldn't find my 3/8 drive hex key set (I think I lended it out to a neighbor?), So I didn't have ahhex wrench bigger than 3/8!
SO another trip to Ace. They fortunately had a big 1/2" and 9/16", which were the two big ones I could find. I started by pulling the box and cleaning all faces and reinstalling, but that didn't fix it.
I pulled it again and looked for what I could do. Fortunately while moving it around, I discovered that those alignment pins actually come out! I smacked the right side out with a punch and then the plate with the bolt in it came out with no issue.
That plate is actually piston shaped and is a plug for some of the hydraulics. The O ring on it looked beat up, and if it leaked by that would definitely explain the problem. My box of O rings doesnt go that big, but a trip to Ace got me a replacement.
However, while I was out, my wife came home, so I had to pick up pizza and be done for the day.
I DID through this get some swivel pipe thread hose Barb which I installed to use for the head automatic oiler, but haven't recieved the hose yet, so it still leaks on the floor