rob streeper
17th January 2014, 02:18 PM
I picked up an Acme saw filing vise on Ebay a few months ago. These vises were used on the Acme saw filing machine and apparently most have been removed for bench mounted use. As a result many of these vises lack any type of base on which to stand properly.
The vise was listed as having a stuck adjuster but otherwise was in good shape. The vise arrived and indeed the jaw adjuster was completely locked with rust. I took no pictures of the process but it involved a thorough wire brushing to remove the paint applied by the seller and years of accumulated grime and rust, multiple applications of penetrating oil and the use of a 1/2" pneumatic impact gun fitted with a drag link socket to free it up. That done I set the vise aside.
In succeeding months the vise sat unattended as I worked on other projects. During a spate of cold weather recently as I hurriedly closed up shop I managed to topple the vise over and snapped the end off of the closing handle. I then resolved to put the vise into use beginning with a repair of the broken closing handle. My first attempt at repair was made using oxy-acetylene brazing. Try as I might I was unable to get the cast iron handle to wet with braze. I tried 5 different types of brazing rod/flux combinations to no avail. Using an oxidizing flame I managed to burn out some of the graphite over time and got just a dab of 40% silver solder to bond. I then decided to give it my all. The next day I pulled out my arc-welder, mounted a 1/8" MG260 55% nickel rod, clamped up the broken bit, dialed up 90 amps and let it rip. This is the result after filing.
300970
Now for the base. I had a couple of pieces of angled plate steel that had been part of a shipping pallet for a piece of equipment that I scrounged. After thirty minutes of sawing, grinding, drilling and wire brushing I had two mounting plates for the vise. A quick search in the parts cabinet yielded suitable 3/8"-16 bolts and washers.
300971
Remove years of crud from the mounting holes,
300977
Now to tune the vise jaws up a bit. The jaw faces had obviously seen some rough handling and were in need of dressing. The bases were attached and the whole assembly was clamped to the workbench for corrective action. Fifteen minutes of draw-filing with my Big Bastard file trued them up easily.
300972
A quick check with the straight edge,
300975
shows all is well.
The day was getting on so I thought to proceed directly to painting. First the filth was removed with de-greaser.
300973
A wipe down and compressed air blow dry was followed by the application of Krylon gloss Sage Green paint.
300974
Two coats, allow to dry to the touch, re-assemble and back to the bench for final dressing.
300976
Clean the rust from the jaw faces,
300979
Now apply two coats of clear lacquer, clamp the vise to the bench top, insert saw and we're ready to go!
300978
The vise was listed as having a stuck adjuster but otherwise was in good shape. The vise arrived and indeed the jaw adjuster was completely locked with rust. I took no pictures of the process but it involved a thorough wire brushing to remove the paint applied by the seller and years of accumulated grime and rust, multiple applications of penetrating oil and the use of a 1/2" pneumatic impact gun fitted with a drag link socket to free it up. That done I set the vise aside.
In succeeding months the vise sat unattended as I worked on other projects. During a spate of cold weather recently as I hurriedly closed up shop I managed to topple the vise over and snapped the end off of the closing handle. I then resolved to put the vise into use beginning with a repair of the broken closing handle. My first attempt at repair was made using oxy-acetylene brazing. Try as I might I was unable to get the cast iron handle to wet with braze. I tried 5 different types of brazing rod/flux combinations to no avail. Using an oxidizing flame I managed to burn out some of the graphite over time and got just a dab of 40% silver solder to bond. I then decided to give it my all. The next day I pulled out my arc-welder, mounted a 1/8" MG260 55% nickel rod, clamped up the broken bit, dialed up 90 amps and let it rip. This is the result after filing.
300970
Now for the base. I had a couple of pieces of angled plate steel that had been part of a shipping pallet for a piece of equipment that I scrounged. After thirty minutes of sawing, grinding, drilling and wire brushing I had two mounting plates for the vise. A quick search in the parts cabinet yielded suitable 3/8"-16 bolts and washers.
300971
Remove years of crud from the mounting holes,
300977
Now to tune the vise jaws up a bit. The jaw faces had obviously seen some rough handling and were in need of dressing. The bases were attached and the whole assembly was clamped to the workbench for corrective action. Fifteen minutes of draw-filing with my Big Bastard file trued them up easily.
300972
A quick check with the straight edge,
300975
shows all is well.
The day was getting on so I thought to proceed directly to painting. First the filth was removed with de-greaser.
300973
A wipe down and compressed air blow dry was followed by the application of Krylon gloss Sage Green paint.
300974
Two coats, allow to dry to the touch, re-assemble and back to the bench for final dressing.
300976
Clean the rust from the jaw faces,
300979
Now apply two coats of clear lacquer, clamp the vise to the bench top, insert saw and we're ready to go!
300978