Restoring a milling machine vise
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 29 ก.ย. 2024
- My PAL mill came with a mill vise of unknown origin. I don't even know who made it. But - I hoped that I could clean it up. In the video I unclog the oilways, replace the missing oil ports, redo the paint, and generally give the vise a new lease of life. Enjoy!
/ craigsworkshop
craigsworkshop.net
Hopefully Max isn't too upset about the loss of Swan Valley green :-)
And i thought it was in primer !!! Nice job , unusual design vice . Cheers .
@@swanvalleymachineshop Thanks Max - yes it is an unusual one. I've done some searching and most reverse vises with this configuration, are for CNC use, where having the fixed jaw towards the operator is convenient for job setup because the coordinates origin is often on the front-left. Something tells me this vise pre-dates CNC by some decades though! Just an oddball. Cheers, Craig
@@CraigsWorkshop Not sure but it looks like a shaper vise. Fixed jaw in the direction of the cutting forces.
@@Rustinox Thanks Rusty - I think you may be right!
@@Rustinox I don't know wether it was MADE as a shaper vice, but it would clearly be good in that role
Currently cleaning up a cheap garage sale milling vise here and got to see you redoing yours. That vise you have is a nice unit, very good fit and finish to all machined surfaces, much better than the one I'm redoing. Good choice of Candy Apple Gray!
That's great - are you taking video of it, or treating it as a side project? Yes - I'm impressed with the vise quality - never seen vise ways that big on a vise that size, or that well provided for, lubricant wise! Thanks for the colour mention - who doesn't love candy apple grey :-) I might relabel the paint tub - I wrote "light machinery gray" on it, but you have definitely found a better name for it. Cheers Everett! Craig
Just tore the vise here down last night and will be doing a video on it, but it is definitely not as high quality as yours. As for the term 'Candy Apple Gray,' I got that one from a viewer when mentioning that I really like gray as a machine color.
Nice vise Craig, came around nicely 👍👌😎
Thanks Steve! I like it more now it's clean and shiny!
Everytime i think it's good enough, you continue and make it even better. Nice work.
Rustinox! Thanks for the great comment :)
Nice result. Wouldn't it be great to have a surface grinder for this sort of work. Or a set of Lipton/Renzetti/Gotteswinter precision ground flat stones! We can only dream I guess....
Hi Mark - absolutely - although with the precision stones, I do have a set on order from a friend on the mainland. Some time in the next few weeks they should arrive, and I'll show them on the channel. PS: Your stickers arrived with me yesterday - thank you! I will get yours sent off very soon. Apologies for the delay! Cheers, Craig
Very nice. I mucho enjoyed 👍👍👍👍
Cheers Geoffrey, glad you liked it.
I wonder how many people were watching you file on all of the parts and wondering when you were going to show the shot of you filing your fingernails too, lol. Maybe Ive just been watching too much of this old tony....
Yeah, that would have been funny :)
Late entry here, but looks great. I don't think it is an Abwood vice (or vise, depending on where you live), which is what I have on my mill, but there are some aspects that resemble mine - less the "other jaw moves" - mine is the traditional way around.
Interesting. Thanks Mats! There seem to be millions of brands of vise which makes it hard to identify. Not to worry, it works pretty well :)
Good job Craig. Came up well. Cheers Rob
Cheers Rob. Should be usable for a few more years now.
Nice video got to do that soon to mine ... what kind of oil were you using?
Watching in Alabama
Hi Anthony, thanks. It's a standard single-grade (30w) motor oil with none of the usual car additives. Unsure what the colouring signifies, but it's pretty basic stuff. I also mix it with kerosene and make a cutting oil out of it. Works well. Cheers, Craig
I very envious of your milling machine, and it's vise too. Anytime you clean or service a vise is time well spent. Some vises are the most rigorously used tool in a shop, and in return they ask so little in the way of maintenance. I like your tap wrench. Who makes that? It'd be a great shop project.
Cheers John! The mill was a lucky find. I'd been looking for one in my price range for a long time. This one came up and I jumped on it. The tap wrench is a little moore and wright one. Take another look at the first couple of minutes of this video to have a closer look at it, and see what condition it was in when it came to me: th-cam.com/video/yqoR942ezkw/w-d-xo.html
PS: Mr Pete has a video on making a small tap wrench, could be used as a starting point to make a similar one to mine? th-cam.com/video/p7IBPqOHHZk/w-d-xo.html
SUPER job on the vice Craig it should last you your life time now. That looks to be a really high precision vice by its construction.
I bet it was very expensive when new with the unusual reverse anti lift type moving jaw, wedge slide ways and all those oil ways etc.
Looking forward to the video on the new vice handle build. It deserves it. Tony.
Yes - it had seen a bit of neglect, and had been treated like a bit of an ugly duckling perhaps. But - it's very well made, and the tapered ways are massive and well-lubricated (when clean). I do expect it to perform well, and I look forward to making a proper handle for it. If only I hadn't already promised to finish off my bandsaw enclosure and fit my mill DRO first :-)
Gday Craig, nice job mate, unbelievable the price difference in the oilers, makes you wonder some times, the vice definitely looks a lot better now, looks like it’s loved, thanks for another great video mate, ATB Matty
Yes strange pricing - though - honestly, I'd be keen the 50c ones. If only my oilers weren't in through holes. The way my vise is set up, I need those upper lips to stop the oiler being pushed into the hole.
I guess I could have bought a single oiler to replace the missing one, but the the postage would have cost more than one oiler... I think replacing the set so they all match is a reasonable thing, for something I hope to last a few decades more. :) And - I have three spare oilers for future machine builds and rebuilds.
Nice job Craig, thats a good looking vice 👍 kinda preferred the green tho. 🤔 does this mean you now have a spare ? I know a bloke thats looking for a mill vice 😏
Hey Bill - thanks. I knew some people would prefer the green. It had been added (badly) by a previous owner over flaking filler and so on, so it had to go. I might have considered redoing the green if I had that paint in stock, but I made do with the stuff I had. :) No spare vise just yet. If the big one proves to be as accurate as the 100mm wide toolmakers one (which I thoroughly recommend), then it may replace it, but for now the little one is the only known accurate one I have.
I could have given you some green, got some leftover from the lathe. Be interesting to see how accurate it is what with the oddball shim. I'll get a vice and some tooling soon, just need to rob a bank or something first.
Thanks Bill, I didn't think to ask around (and I had a hankering to mix up a lighter grey colour). Next time it needs a repaint, I'll give you a buzz :)
I left the shim out, and if it needs fixing, I'll soon find out. I mentioned in a separate comment, that if it needs fixing I'd rather correctly machine the jaw seat, than shim the jaw. It would only need a whisker at most (if anything..)
Hopefully it wont need machining but will make good content if it does
whats with the shims?
Yeah - presumably someone thought the thing was out of whack before? I'd rather mill the jaw seat to vertical, than shim the jaw itself. We'll see!
This vid is three years old, so my comment may not be valid for your current videos. I appreciate what you do and what you show. I’d like more commentary on what chemicals / primers/ paints you’ve chosen and why, and steps you are taking, such as stoning (are those precision ground flame stones? For example). I’d also like more commentary on things you learned and what you might do differently, if you had to do it all over again.
Thanks for the comment. The paint was an epoxy primer (hardware store variety), and yes the stones were precision ground flat stones. I can't think of anything else to add right now. In recent videos, I have a voiceover explaining the small details. If you have any more questions, please ask 👍 Thanks for watching and commenting!
Great video! You’ve got a new subscriber 👍😊
Thanks William! New subscribers always welcome! Where in the world are you viewing from? Cheers, Craig
Craig's Workshop I saw the link to your sight while viewing a video from Cam. I’m in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. I’m a 66 year old newbie who’s teaching himself machining. I’m a retired (45 yr) sheet metal worker. I’ve been making knives on and off since 1982, but for the last 15 years, I’ve been repairing and customizing other people’s knives, making custom scales, titanium bolsters, etc. it’s a great hobby and it keeps me off the streets! Lol
@@priority2 That's great William. I'd love to try a bit of knife making one day. If you'd like to get a channel sticker, just flick me through an email at craig9@gmail.com - Cheers, Craig
Very unusual design, quite expensive to manufacture. Great job.
Thanks for sharing and best regards from the UK.
Indeed - I haven't seen a vise at all like this before. Closest thing I can find is much more modern vises designed for CNC use. Cheers Bosted Tap, Craig
Nice job. I cleaned up a old BP vise a year ago or so.. it looks so much better. I dont use it, was just a weekend project.
Thanks. It's good to preserve high quality stuff that's maybe been neglected. At least it's ready when you do want to use it, or for the next person that owns it. This one will get used a lot though. Cheers, Craig
Nice work Craig!
Cheers Mike. Thanks for commenting.
Nice job!
Interesting design of vise too. :)
On the topic of the oilers, aside from the lip, are there any other differences between the LPR and the eBay ones? (for me, visually I prefer no lip so I can push the oilers down flush or just a bit below, and loctite them in)
Cheers Adam! To my knowledge, no other differences between the two styles. I previously had an optimum BF20L mill, and I noticed that it used the style with no lip, because when I first used the oiler port, it slid into the bore. This put my off that style. That and I wanted to match the lipped style it had before. The holes in the mill vise were actually countersunk just enough so that the oilers can be pushed flush. Honestly though - I didn't think of loctite. Using that would have saved me $18. Good thinking. Thanks for the comment Adam! Cheers, Craig
Good job man, looks great. I need to replace the oilers on my lathe, they are identical to those. Thanks!
Thanks Eddie! I hope you can find some cheaper than I did! Or - go for the lip-less ones like Adam just suggested, and loctite them in. Not a bad idea. Cheers, Craig
Looks good!
Thanks Craig - let's hope it works as well as it looks. Haven't had a chance to check the jaw accuracy just yet.
Late to the party here - can you post a closeup of the logo on the vise? Someone might be able to ID the maker for you.
Hi again Paul. I will try to do exactly that. Thanks for your help by the way with the vise jaw springing, and this logo suggestion. Cheers, Craig
Re: the shim and squareness - you want the jaws to be square WHEN THE VICE IS UNDER COMPRESSION. If there's any flex at all, square when not loaded will not be the same as square when loaded. Be careful.
Yes - it's wide at the top when unloaded which is the complete reverse of what I'd expect. Under a reasonable torque it should spring out slightly, so at rest I'd hope it was slightly closed at the top.
@@CraigsWorkshop On a loosely related topic, I was once re-tuning and old woodworking blade. I checked the blade, and the edge was badly out of square. So I marked a line, ground precisely to my line, and rehoned to a mirror.
I then put the blade in the blade, and the edge was not parallel to the sole ?!
So I checked, and there was a twist in the bedding surface that the blade rests on - a twist which had been precisely cancelled out by the previous owners slightly non-square blade...
From Melbourne to Tassie via Joe Pie (Texas) - subbed.
Ha! That's cool. Thanks for subscribing Michael. Cheers, Craig
very nicely done! Thanks for sharing
Thank you D K! I appreciate your comment. Cheers, Craig
13:41 is that a push-back center drill? ;)
:-) Yes - I paid extra for it! (Strangely, I didn't notice this happening until I saw it on video)
Hi Craig, A good solid vice. Nice restore. Look forward to seeing it in action.
Stickers on its way...........
Regards MachineNZ
Thanks Kevin. Looking forward to sticking and sharing the sticker. Cheers mate! Craig
No iam Craig. Lol
Hi Craig, thanks for dropping by :-) Just saw you have a logan lathe video, I'll have to put that on my to watch list. Cheers, Craig
Joe pie sent me here, subed👌🏻
Thanks Darren (and Joe) - hope you enjoy! Cheers, Craig
Looks good, video footages looked great too! 👍
Thanks Yuchol! And - thanks again for the help you emailed through to me. I have purchased an LED work lamp, i just need to get some colour gels for it to help it blend in better with my existing lighting. It will be coming soon in a video near you! Cheers, Craig