Vise Repair & Restoratuion

JPigg55

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Found an old bench vise in an old tool shed on my property.
Tore it apart trying to clean it up, but found a piece of the casting was broken off.
Not sure if it's repairable if I can find the missing piece or not.
I did find, however, it incorporates a Gib.
The piece broken off broke right in the middle of the gib screw hole so even if I find the piece, I doubt I'll find the gib screw.
This is the first vise I've ever seen with a gib for adjustment. Any idea what it is ?
Looks to be a 4"-5" with fixed front jaw and intergral swivel base.

20160131_134747.jpg 20160131_134711.jpg 20160131_134611.jpg 20160131_134620.jpg 20160131_134725.jpg
 
that's a pretty fancy bench vise to have a dovetail and gib! That'll be awesome once you've fixed it and given it a lick of pain.
 
JPigg,
Is that an FPU? If so, you have a high quality vise. It's a shame that it's broken.
I've made repairs to vises with missing chunks by filling them in with liquid steel putty & sanding it down. Sometimes I'll install some small studs and drill some holes in the broken area for the putty to anchor to. However, I'm not sure it can be fixed in that area because of the stress that can be placed on the repair when you tighten the gib (hope I'm wrong).

On a side note, some guys claim that mixing iron filings with the putty helps.
 
I wonder if depending on the quality of the casting, if she can be welded and then normalized so she doesn't have stress spots.

Daryl
MN
 
A little bit about FPU:
1. FPU stands for Fabryka Przyrazow Uchwytow. I can't spell it without looking it up, and there's no way I could pronounce it.
2. Made in Poland by Bison Bial, a manufacture of high quality vises & machine accessories. www.bison-bial.com.
3. Age?: 60's or 70s. A lot of Eastern European vises don't have model numbers, styles or other clues to tell the age.

I have an 80mm FPU that will get restored and mounted on a roller cabinet. It has very precise movement, like a vintage Wilton Bullet.
I hope you can rescue yours.

Edit:
There is a moving jaw for sale on e-bay (I'm not affiliated with the seller). Might work for you.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/FPU-Polish-...304865?hash=item5d612d1c61:g:nFYAAOSwQoFWP~A1
 
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Haven't found the missing piece yet and guessing probably won't.
Thanks mark for the eBay listing, I'll have to measure to see if it might fit.
I've never heard of FPU, any way to tell if mine is or not ?
Still a lot of grease and grime from laying half buried in that shed to clean up.
I've been there for almost 20 years, lord knows how long before that it was put there.
 
JPigg,

The first attached picture (from Google images) shows the casting mark for a FPU vise. Half the fun of restorations is to learn the history.

That'll be a fun restoration. The most challenging restoration I took on was a 100+ year old Reed vise that was rusted shut. I let it soak in my kerosene tank for a couple of months, soaked parts down with a 50/50 mixture of ATF/acetone, worked it apart with a sledge hammer & wood block, and some press time. Second & third pictures show the before & after.

Good luck with it.

fpu-vise1.jpg REED 204A.jpg 204-E.jpg
 
I haven't had time for a good cleaning yet, but yes it looks to have a previous repair and appears to be brazed.
I got enough grime off tonight to see that it indeed has the FPU casting mark.
I measured the jaws which were 5" wide and dovetails were 3.5" at widest part.
The eBay listing Mark posted for the top slide looks almost identical except listed as 4.5" and mine only has 1 bolt/screw in the rear.
I see the one on eBay has a stamped 402 for the model number, but can't see where it's located on the vise. Can't find one on mine, but it is dirty. Knowing where to look would help.
Planning on researching some tonight, but with only a little over a day left on the listing, might have to take a chance for the price.
Any links or other info anyone has would be greatly appreciated.
 
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