Wilton Bullet Vise

Thanks, Matt... I didn't realize until I took the picture that the second set of cuts are not as deep as the first... I'll have to address that tomorrow when I get back on it. I'm out of time today, gotta sleep so I can work tonight...

-Bear
 
I have a 4" Record with ground flat jaws, and a 6" Record with serrated jaws. I find myself using the flat ones 90% of the time. Only once in a while do they slip.

A compromise is to make brass or copper jaws or captive jaw covers to improve gripping.
 
I'm thinking about making a set of V-notch jaws as the stuff I struggle to hold tightly enough is usually round. I also use my vise alot for sawing bits off small bars. Hmm, ponder ponder.
 
The new vise jaws arrived today, so I finished the gray vise...

20220625_163045.jpg

I also finished machining one of the jaws for the green vise...

20220625_170445.jpg

I discovered that I am out of acetylene... and the oxygen tank doesn't have a lot in it... so I guess I'll see if I can get refills next week.

-Bear
 
I attempted to heat treat one of the jaws... it was a miserable failure, mostly due to my lack of experience with a torch.

The torch had a brazing tip on it... I discovered the hard way that a brazing tip won't allow enough heat to get a vise jaw hot enough. After realizing this, I let the jaw insert cool, then discovered that it had warped... it had a .030" bow in it.

So... I put it on the 20 ton press to try to straighten it... and broke it...

For the second jaw insert, I put the cutting head on the torch and had it hot enough in about 5 minutes... dropped it in the oil... let it cool... cleaned it... and it had a .015" bow in it.

It was hard... but not straight. I went ahead and finished it, anyway... after grinding it on the surface grinder, (it took .015" from each side to clean it up), it looks ok.

So, this morning, I machined a replacement for the broken one and heat treated it. This time, as I was heating it with the torch, I would flip it over every 30 seconds or so to heat evenly on both sides. This time it only took .004" from both sides to clean it up. I guess I learned something...

Anyway... I'm considering this vise to be finished now...

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20220629_121611.jpg

It's hard to believe this is the same vise that I started with... here is a 'before' and 'after' picture...

20220528_143318.jpg

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I think it turned out ok...

-Bear
 
I would have not expected the jaw to crack! Wow... Thank you for sharing the details!

Vise looks great!
 
wow, beautiful work! Mine looked about half as good as that when I finished it and it looks alot worse now :)

Bummer to hear about the first part, though I can relate to the "20t presses are great for breaking things" aspect. Another way to minimise warping that I've heard and someone might have mentioned already is to put long parts into the quench small end first (standing up) and swirl them on the way in. Most of the parts I've done have been too small to need this, so no real experience on my part.
 
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