- Joined
- Apr 9, 2023
- Messages
- 135
I finished cleaning up my Speed-Vise today. I got it for free, thrown in on the deal for my drill press, because it was in semi-junky condition. I don't have many good pictures of it, then, but here's the best of what I managed to take.
Pictured: Before-times.
Three different colors of blue and grey, bunches of holes and drill scores and deformations in the plate and jaws, rust, grime, neglect, one stuck bolt, chronic depression, etc. It spent a few days in the Evapo-Rust® tank before I got replacements for the damaged stuff - don't have the mill to make them, yet, and I was waiting on a VFD for the drill press as well - and got everything cleaned and repainted.
Pictured: Many hours later.
I kind of liked the darker of one of the grey-blue colors, but I decided to go with something that was a little closer to another of the weird blue-grey colors of some other equipment that I have...but now that I look at it, that picture really makes it kind of a powder-blue color. It isn't that light and pale, but I think that against the brown-grey of the tabletop, there's not much that can be done. Anyway, it turned out well.
Pictured: Also, lettering.
Damn it, that blue still looks powdery... except under the shadowed area, where it looks stupidly dark. Oh well. The point is that I used this as a test for painting lettering; I mixed up a small batch of gold and yellow to make Powermatic gold, and it actually came out really well. The lettering itself did alright as well, especially for a first time. I also did some oil blueing on the hardware; that was also a first effort, and they came out nicely, too. Win, win, win.
Pictured: Also very blue...but at least this is accurate.
I really like the hot-oil treatment; I've done several sets of fasteners with it, now, and I think it looks better than cold blueing...and as long as you don't need heat treatment, it's a pretty good process. I wouldn't want to do big pieces without a small oven, though; a large bolt can take ten minutes to heat up with my tiny little torch. I did use some cold blueing on the jaw-screw recesses on the vise itself, though; I didn't want them rusting after I took awhile to clean them out.
Anyway, that's most of the story. It's functional now, and although it was functional-ish before, it deserved better than it had gotten. Hopefully it'll work well for me.
Pictured: Before-times.
Three different colors of blue and grey, bunches of holes and drill scores and deformations in the plate and jaws, rust, grime, neglect, one stuck bolt, chronic depression, etc. It spent a few days in the Evapo-Rust® tank before I got replacements for the damaged stuff - don't have the mill to make them, yet, and I was waiting on a VFD for the drill press as well - and got everything cleaned and repainted.
Pictured: Many hours later.
I kind of liked the darker of one of the grey-blue colors, but I decided to go with something that was a little closer to another of the weird blue-grey colors of some other equipment that I have...but now that I look at it, that picture really makes it kind of a powder-blue color. It isn't that light and pale, but I think that against the brown-grey of the tabletop, there's not much that can be done. Anyway, it turned out well.
Pictured: Also, lettering.
Damn it, that blue still looks powdery... except under the shadowed area, where it looks stupidly dark. Oh well. The point is that I used this as a test for painting lettering; I mixed up a small batch of gold and yellow to make Powermatic gold, and it actually came out really well. The lettering itself did alright as well, especially for a first time. I also did some oil blueing on the hardware; that was also a first effort, and they came out nicely, too. Win, win, win.
Pictured: Also very blue...but at least this is accurate.
I really like the hot-oil treatment; I've done several sets of fasteners with it, now, and I think it looks better than cold blueing...and as long as you don't need heat treatment, it's a pretty good process. I wouldn't want to do big pieces without a small oven, though; a large bolt can take ten minutes to heat up with my tiny little torch. I did use some cold blueing on the jaw-screw recesses on the vise itself, though; I didn't want them rusting after I took awhile to clean them out.
Anyway, that's most of the story. It's functional now, and although it was functional-ish before, it deserved better than it had gotten. Hopefully it'll work well for me.