Machine Vise Refurbishment

**Anorak Bob** · 5th March 2011, 08:20 PM

A few years back I bought a very incomplete Hercus 3 inch swivel vise. I bought it because I reckoned that the chances of finding a complete vise in good nick were slim. I've seen two on Ebay, a 4 and a 3 inch, in the past 6 years. Steve Brennan, the seller and fellow Hercus owner, also had a pristine version of the same vise and kindly provided me with a drawing and photographs (second photo below) of the parts that were required. I paid for the swivel base, the main body and the sliding jaw. There was nothing else. Steve had himself bought the vise in it's sorry state with the idea of a resurrection.

What made the vise attractive was the condition of the bed. It had one minor nick that I could live with.

On receipt of the vise, I noticed that the hole that located the bronze nut in the vee way bed had been elongated, I imagine as a result of forceful overtightening of the jaws. There's a pretty good chance that a hammer may have been at play.

I bored out the hole and made a new phosphor bronze nut to suit. To minimise the chances of ruining too much bronze in the process of trying to cut the internal thread on the lathe, I bought a 1/2 inch 10 tpi acme tap from England. Good chance that it originated from the sub continent as it was cheap. I cut the screw thread on the lathe. Steve did point out that the original thread has a square form, not the 29 degrees of the acme. The difference has not caused me any grief so far. The screw was machined from 4140 bar. The boss that locates the screw at the rear of the sliding jaw was turned from a section of 80mm 4E cast round bar.

The gib was milled from 1020 flat bar and the gib screws and nuts were purchased from Hercus.

My sole criticism of the vise is the narrow vee way bed, but with a jaw width of only 3 inches and the use of an adjustabe gib there's not much that Hercus could do other than make a wider vise. Which is what they did.

So, to avoid grief, avoid excessive force when tightening your vise.

As Greg Q states, nothing beats native tooling!

BT

**neksmerj** · 5th March 2011, 08:38 PM

AB,

You have done a fabulous job at resurrecting what could have been a throw away.

There's also something about the Hercus green paint. It's a great contrast against shiny metal.

Well done, how about helping me finish off my Hercus 9" lathe? Just need some more motivation and a bloody shed. Going to the council Monday to get a permit rolling.
Ken

**Anorak Bob** · 5th March 2011, 09:26 PM

Kenneth,

My purchase was tinged with some trepidation. Below are Steve Brennans's photos of the vise. It was his description that clinched the deal.The photos would have scared most potential buyers off.

I like the green too, unlike a fellow West Australian forum member who reckons it's lawnmower paint.

BT

**Stustoys** · 5th March 2011, 09:37 PM

Came up great BT
Makes me want to go over my ugly vice.

Stuart

**neksmerj** · 5th March 2011, 10:04 PM

Looked a mess beforehand. There's something rewarding about restoration. Not only do you finish up with a useful jigger, but you have saved the life of a vice from an iconic manufacturer.

A bit disappointed yours did not have a Hercus logo on it. Your mate's one, painted in hammer tone, looks pretty average, it should have been green.

I have Hercus logo artwork, if you want a copy. It was copied from a brochure, then cleaned up. I have no idea how true the colours are, I've got nothing to compare it with.

Ken

**Anorak Bob** · 5th March 2011, 10:22 PM

Stuart and Ken,

Even though the vise looked appalling, the three main castings were in pretty good condition. It would undoubtedly have been thrown out at some stage unless some desperado like yours truly came along and was prepared to make all those missing bits.

It was worth saving.

I'm pretty sure the hammertone paint was the original finish Hercus applied to the vises. The ones on our little mills were painted to match the mill. Steve may have repainted his. There were traces of the original silvery colour on mine.

We need to discuss the decal thing further.

BT.

**Woodlee** · 6th March 2011, 02:18 AM

Top job there Bob it looks like a nice soldid vice.
Just done a refurb on an old 3way vice I picked up quite afew years ago .
Mine had been mongrelised but some very careless people , using it as a drill vice .
It now has a new bed and is much better for the time taken to repair it.

Kev

**BobL** · 6th March 2011, 06:59 AM

I like it a lot. It looks like it will be a very useful gizmo.

A while back I passed up a machine vice that a lot of knicks and holes drilled in it especially on the jaws, and the screw was very sloppy. It didn't even cross my mind to restore it.

**Abratool** · 28th January 2013, 05:41 PM

The Hercus Swivel Base Vise I have came in a used condition with the Hercus Model O Mill I purchased 2nd hand 20 or so years back. Like most vises it had been abused but was in still reasonable condition with no cutter or drill marks.
Spent today stripping it all down & hand scraping the slides back to accuracy.
I seem to have a hand scraping addiction since attending the scraping course in Melb April 2012. Learnt a lot at that course.
The vise is now very solid & accurate & will be a valuable addition to the milling tools.
I know BT will be asking about the paint I used, but have not got around to any painting yet.
regards
Bruce

**Anorak Bob** · 28th January 2013, 07:17 PM

Originally Posted by Abratool

The Hercus Swivel Base Vise I have came in a used condition with the Hercus Model O Mill I purchased 2nd hand 20 or so years back. Like most vises it had been abused but was in still reasonable condition with no cutter or drill marks.
Spent today stripping it all down & hand scraping the slides back to accuracy.
I seem to have a hand scraping addiction since attending the scraping course in Melb April 2012. Learnt a lot at that course.
The vise is now very solid & accurate & will be a valuable addition to the milling tools.
I know BT will be asking about the paint I used, but have not got around to any painting yet.
regards,
Bruce

I needn't ask about the colour of the paint. It with be the signature beige.

**Abratool** · 29th January 2013, 10:25 AM

Bob
Seriously thinking about going "Green"
Cleaned up the "Beige" Hercus Mill after hand scraping the slides, & it came up a nice grey rather than the beige.
I think green for the vice, would be the go.
Bruce

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