I picked up this vice on eBay for a tenner a couple of months back. It's in cosmetically poor condition, but underneath the "patina" it looks to be OK. So for some reason I seem to have a lot of time on my hands, I thought it would be the ideal opportunity to make the thing a bit easier on the eye.

 

RULES OF THE THREAD:

 

#1: No telling Chris to tidy up the conservatory. Chris acknowledges the conservatory needs tidying and has promised to tidy it. There really is no need to remind me every 6 months.

#2: No more rules.

 

The vice was pretty seized when I got it, the only thing I've done with prior to today is to give it a liberal dose of WD40 and get it moving again. It's filthy, rusty, but the handle is intact and the only wear seems to be to the jaws, which aren't in good shape. 

These screws aren't coming out easy 😞

 

Thankfully I have an impact driver and plusgas 😄

They sure put up a fight, but I'm not easily defeated. I actually broke one of the bits for the impact driver!

 

 

With the jaws off, it's time to get the handle out. This vice has a split pin holding the tension on the spring/washer, last time I took a vice apart it was a roll pin.

 

Edited 28 March, 20206 yr by chrisund123

Squeeze the pin together, then take the tension of the spring off the pin with some vice grips, and you can drift the pin out with a punch. This vice has a nice recess for the pin to move into so getting it out was straightforward.

So with the vice reduced to its constituent components, time to give it a quick clean in some hot soapy water. Underneath the crud far more of the original paint is still there than I'd realised. I don't know what make this vice is, but the standard paint for a record vice is "Roundel Blue", and this is close sort of match I think. I guess the vice is a cheap knockoff of a Record, it looks very similar.  Despite being a knockoff it's a pretty hefty bit of kit in it's own right. 

 

 

The acme screw cleaned up OK with a bit of sanding and wire brushing, no chunks missing out of the thread and the handle is pretty straight, all signs the vice hasn't been abused too much. The moving jaw, although rusty, doesn't seem to have been used as an anvil either which is a bonus.

 

 

A bit of wire wheeling later and the handle is looking a lot better. I want to stop it getting rusty, as it's a moving part painting it isn't an option, so what shall I do...

 

 

 

Time for some nickel electroplating! This is actually really easy to do at home. Sadly in this case, my electrolyte is contaminated (I tried electroplating some cast iron a while back, which I've since learned isn't a thing) and while the handle has certainly been electroplated with something, it doesn't look very good.

 

 

I shall make some more electrolyte in the future, it's quite simple - just white vinegar, salt , nickel and electricity. Usually it's a lovely shade of electric green, not looking like the contents of the toilet that mine looks like. Sadly there's restrictions on buying loads of food items at the moment, so it will have to wait!

 

 

While I was waiting for the handle to electroplate, I wire wheeled the vice jaws. Pretty sure these have had it, I shall make some nice smooth soft jaws out of brass bar, and some new screws too. The screws are a strange thread (3/16 BSW I think) and not easy to come by these days. Most cost effective way I found last time was buying them from china on ebay, and putting up with the delay.

 

This concludes today's escapades in vice refurbishment, stay tuned for the next episode where I rip into the old paint with a wire wheel and get it looking like new...

Nice to see, thanks for sharing.

1 hour ago, chrisund123 said:

These screws aren't coming out easy 😞

 

Thankfully I have an impact driver and plusgas 😄

You have got them out now but the way to do it is use the impact driver bit in the screw slot but with the jaws clamped on it then release the screw 1/4 of a turn with a spanner on the flats of the bit.

 

I have restored 2 vices in recent years, very satisfying, one was huge to replace the one on my steel coppersmiths bench that I broke 42 years ago & replaced with a smaller one, never in all those years did I find one the right size but got one locally on e-bay for peanuts because it was collection only, too heavy to package & post.

1 hour ago, J.R. said:

You have got them out now but the way to do it is use the impact driver bit in the screw slot but with the jaws clamped on it then release the screw 1/4 of a turn with a spanner on the flats of the bit.

 

I have restored 2 vices in recent years, very satisfying, one was huge to replace the one on my steel coppersmiths bench that I broke 42 years ago & replaced with a smaller one, never in all those years did I find one the right size but got one locally on e-bay for peanuts because it was collection only, too heavy to package & post.

Thanks for the tip, I'll remember that if I ever take on a 3rd one!

 

I bought the impact driver for the first vice I did up, a record no.4 with screws in a similar sort of state. Much to my surprise they came out really easily, unlike today!

 

I keep looking out for cheap vices, I refuse to pay more than £15 for a basic one, but if I found a nice quick release or something I might be persuaded to spend a bit more! My no4 was £15, and this no4 was £10, both on eBay.

Another day in quarantine, another day of vice restoration

 

 

The machined surface of the moving jaw has a "lovely patina", time to rip into it with some 240 grit wet and dry (wet)...

Much better!

 

 

I don't like to rub too much away, just enough to make it slide smoothly. I like the way the patina lives on in the nooks and crannies, it's a nice contrast. Once I'm finished painting it I'll no doubt go over the surfaces again, so it will look a bit brighter yet.

 

 

The machining marks on this vice are quite a bit rougher than my slightly more upmarket record no4...

 

The fixed jaw where the moving jaw slides through is of obviously lower quality, the machined surfaces aren't as good. Plus, it has an obvious weld going on. I suspect this is due to an inferior casting rather than actual damage from being done up too tight. I beleive it's fairly common on cheap vices for imperfections in the casting to be tidied up/filled in with welding.

Turns out it used to be red! Explains why there's so much of the blue colour intact, it's been painted over at least once before. There's also traces of a darker blue, although that could just be how it looked where it was being rubbed off.

 

I guess the original owner wanted a record, but decided the cheap knockoff and a tin of roundel blue paint was better value for money. A man after my own heart! 😆

Now for the noisy, messy and tedious bit - cleaning off the old paint. Here is my setup:

 

Cheapo screwfix grinder mounted to a bit of ply with a batten of wood underneath, means I can do the messy grinding jobs outside on a sturdy (ish) platform.

Much swearing later, here we have a vice almost devoid of paint. There's a few traces in the nooks and crannies, but it's adequate for what I'm doing with it. I've seen some vices passivated with rust remover then oiled, which gives a wicked black finish. But I like the wipe clean (oo-er) finish from painting, which makes keeping things tidy a lot easier. Ironic, considering the state of my conservatory, but there we have it...

Much to my dismay, after all the hard graft of stripping off the paint, I found I don't actually have any suitable paintbrushes at home. I could have sworn I had plenty, but alas I must have used them more than I'd realised and chucked them out at the end of my last project.

 

I managed to find a crappy 2" brush, which is no good for getting into the tight spots, but it was OK for slapping on a quick coat and hopefully preventing it from rusting up.

 

I don't bother with masking it up, I'll sand any paint off the machined surfaces when I'm done and tidying it up.

 

I'll give it another quick going over tomorrow and touch up any spots I've missed, but I'll save any further painting for when I'm able to get a better brush.

 

The paint I'm using is hammerite smooth blue, which is less than half the price of the roundel blue I could find online. Thankfully this isn't a Record vice, so feel absolutely no obligation towards what colour I'm painting it.

 

My cheapness got the better of me when I was doing up my record No4, and that got the hammerite too 🤣

Looks like you have been busy and have something godd to show for your labours.

I have a Record 35 on my bench that I got second hand many years ago. I could tidy up the paintwork on it but I know that the first time that I put something in it for "shape alteration" I would miss with the hammer and chip the paint off again.

I'm chuckling now as over on another (bike) forum a chap is doing exactly the same thing - renovating a vice.  It involves soaking in vinegar!

 

Good luck.

1 hour ago, Liger1956 said:

Looks like you have been busy and have something godd to show for your labours.

I have a Record 35 on my bench that I got second hand many years ago. I could tidy up the paintwork on it but I know that the first time that I put something in it for "shape alteration" I would miss with the hammer and chip the paint off again.

 

A 35? That's an absolute beast! I would love one but realistically I'd never use it to full potential.

 

1 hour ago, BoxerBoy said:

I'm chuckling now as over on another (bike) forum a chap is doing exactly the same thing - renovating a vice.  It involves soaking in vinegar!

 

Good luck.

 

Restoring crappy old tools is all the rage these days, YouTube is inundated with vice videos... Definitely not where I got my inspiration from, honest guvnor!

 

I've used vinegar for de-rusting before, with limited results. The best thing I found as far as soaking goes is something called "deox C" by Bilt Hamber. Great stuff, but wire wheeling is usually quicker and easier. Not to mention cheaper!

 

I did consider trying to de-rust some bits using electrolysis, but decided it was a bit unnecessary for this project.

2 hours ago, chrisund123 said:

Much swearing later, here we have a vice almost devoid of paint. There's a few traces in the nooks and crannies, but it's adequate for what I'm doing with it. I've seen some vices passivated with rust remover then oiled, which gives a wicked black finish. But I like the wipe clean (oo-er) finish from painting, which makes keeping things tidy a lot easier. Ironic, considering the state of my conservatory, but there we have it...

 

That would have looked stunning just lacquered, that way it would have shown traces of all its colourful life (see what i did there).

 

I really like the suggestion of the kurust passivated finish then oil or maybe varnish, I have just the job in mind for it, if only I could remember what it is 🙁 seriously not long ago I was looking for that sort of finish, a light bulb lit up in my mind when you mentioned it but I have no idea what it was!

 

I see the weld, definitely fettling post weathering pre machining, standard practice in non stressed areas like that.

Edited 29 March, 20206 yr by J.R.

This is my Record 34p (plain, no QR) cast steel.

 

As bought from ebay:

 

And this after a bit of work - used the same paint as you!

 

 

Such a satisfying job, and cost about the same as an import vice of about the same size. This thing will outlast me, my son and probably his son!

 

 

22 minutes ago, edwards said:

And this after a bit of work - used the same paint as you!

 

 

Such a satisfying job, and cost about the same as an import vice of about the same size. This thing will outlast me, my son and probably his son!

 

 

 

A thing of beauty!

 

How heavy is it? I hear the steel ones tend to weigh less than their cast iron counterparts due to the additional strength, but can still take a good beating.

 

I currently have 3 vices:

A small model maker's vice I machined out of aluminium when I was an apprentice, which has come in surprisingly useful over the years!

A record No4 I got off eBay locally for £15,

And this cheapo No3 I'm doing up.

 

I actually have no need for the No3 other than keeping me busy, so I'll probably try and give it away to friends or family when I'm done with it, or keep it till one of my sons grows up and starts tinkering. It'll make a good door stop until then!

As a non branded vice it won't fetch much on eBay, even in freshly painted condition. Probably wouldn't recover my costs in brass bar and screws!

 

As always I'll be keeping my eye out for a good bargain, if I find a cheap vice I doubt I'll turn it down.

I think its about 15kg, which (to mix measuring systems) is not bad for a 4 1/2" vice. Its certainly strong enough  

 

I've got a 3" Paramo on the bench in the shed and a 6" QR Paramo on the other bench in the workshop. Somewhere I have a record pipe vice but I've only used it once!  Its possible I might be a *tiny bit* over-equipped for a Pharmacist who just messes about in the garage, but he who has the most tools wins, eh?