Anyone recognize this vice?

[great white]

Sorry, but you seem to be hung up on filling the low spots. Low spots really don't matter as long as your part, or the parallels, can bridge them and keep the part in the same plane as the bed of the machine. Trying to fill them with braze or JB Weld or whatever brings a high probability of creating high spots which will ensure the vise is no longer co-planar.

Another key issue is the moving jaw. Wear in the guides will allow the jaw to lift as you tighten it. That's bad as it probably tilts the part. In the worst case, the part isn't being held very securely.

As others have said, clean up the vise and check how it operates. If it excessively worn or banana-shaped, you won't be happy using it with a milling machine. To really rehab an old vise, I think you'd need a surface grinder.

Craig
(And I believe I saw that Busybee has their 5 inch vise on sale right now...)

The low spots for me are mostly appearance and I suppose I could try and justify it by saying it would make cleaning easier (but I won’t, its purely a cosmetic thing for me).

Plan is to tear it down to its last bolt, into the ultrasonic for a day or so, repair what I can, turn a blind eye to what I can’t, a lick of paint, back together and whatever fine adjustments I can do to make it as good as it can be.

It may also turn in to an opportunity for me to learn scraping. Or build a surface grinding attachment for the new mill.

Often, its about learning new skills for me as it is repairing/rebuilding/building whatever item is in front of me at the time.

 

[great white]

Vice showed up today.

It’s actually not as bad as the pictures make it look.

The divots and gouges are fairly shallow, which makes me think the sellers close ups made it look worse than it was.

Tore it down and its currently soaking in the ultrasonic. Ample use of the impact driver was required…

Pics to come once I get it clean….

 

[mattthemuppet2]

my main concern would be the divots in the base close to the fixed jaw. If there's not enough original metal left you'll have problems getting the part to sit flat repeatedly. One option would be to keep a selection of ground stock around (you can get it off Amazon for not too much sometimes) and place a piece flat on the base then your work on top of that. Using the stock to "bridge" the divots, basically.

Other than that use it until you get annoyed with its shortcomings then buy a better one. You'll get most of your money back even if you take it to the scrapyard

 

[wachuko]

Heck, I just want to see it once he gets it clean!! Looking forward to the photos!!

 

[great white]

So, I'm not sure now if this is actually a Brown and Sharp vice. There are no maker marks on it anywhere. I've looked at multiple pictures on the net for this vice and there are no indications of maker marks in any of the locations I've seen in pics.

About all there is is the "No. 2" on the top surface and "MGI" cast into the lower casting underneath the movable jaw. Maybe the MGI is the foundry mark that made the raw casting?

With all the grease, sawdust and schmutz cleaned off there arises a couple potential issues. The drill errors and scraps/gouges aren't a big deal, they're mostly all just cosmetic.

But the real issue is one of the moveable jaw ways has some very odd machining marks (no, not all the errors). There's actually a bit of a "step" where it looks like someone tried to machine the surface but stopped half way through. If you look closely, you can just see it on the way at the bottom of the picture:



It's in the de-rustng solution right now:



Once it's cleaned up, I'll have to reassemble it and evaluate what needs to be addressed for it to function properly and what is merely cosmetic damage.

I'm not decided on what to do to the underside. It's pretty beat up and I wouldn't mind skimming it with a ly cutter to clean it up a bit. But it also seems like it sits flat as it is, so I'm also thinking maybe best not to mess with it at all. I need to get it on a surface plate to see if it actually does sit flat or if it's just touching in enough places to make it seem flat....

 

[great white]

Out of the rust remover and rinsed:



I quickly assembled it and the movement is pretty smooth. It seems to sit flat on my surface plate and the jaws don’t rock or move except in the direction they’re supposed to.

So initial look seems like its at least serviceable. Next up is to fully assemble it and do sone tolerance checks. But first blush looks pretty good, at least structurally and functionally.

If the assembled checks work out, I’ll probably epoxy fill the drill divots and gouges, then get it nice and smooth and give it a matching off white color like the mill.

One issue is the hold down holes don’t line up with the table slots, so I’ll have to sort that out. I may consider machining a couple lands on the sides and use some low profile hold down clamps. More thought required before moving on any of that.

Not bad so far for 10 bucks!

 

[great white]

Well, the vice itself seems to be in decent operating shape. So its mostly cosmetic damages.

I thought I might give cold welding a try, but decided JB Weld would work well enough as a filler.

So the first coat of jb is hardening up as we speak:



A quick sand once hardened and then one (maybe two) more coats should make it presentable, at least enough for a lick of paint.

With any luck, the JB in the jaw opening gouges will harden up enough to be flat and strong enough to stand up to use.

Time will tell….,

 

[great white]

Jb seems to be doing a decent job as a filler:

Its not perfect, you can still very slightly feel where the divots and dents are. But I think I’m going to leave a little bit of a record where the damage was as a nod to its age and life its led.

 

[Boswell]

Have you given any thought yet to how you are going to ensure that top of the vice ways (where a parallel or part will sit) is perfectly parallel to the bottom of the vice? It looks like a lot of damage and now Filler right were most parts would sit when clamped.

 

[great white]

Have you given any thought yet to how you are going to ensure that top of the vice ways (where a parallel or part will sit) is perfectly parallel to the bottom of the vice? It looks like a lot of damage and now Filler right were most parts would sit when clamped.

filler will be removed and all that will remain is what is filling the holes and gouges. the fill is just for cosmetic purposes. Once that's done, I can look at if I need to rework it to be parallel.