/diy/ - Do It Yourself

>>1991717
Buy a shit used non-chinese vice and do link related
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPpmIDlBQkI

>>1991736
Oh sorry let me get out my sandblasting machine

Looks like chinkshit, though the lines kinda remind me of a record. Look at picturs of harbor freight vises to get a idea of what the chinkshit patterns and styles generally look like, it's obvious when you've seen a few.
Exposed screws are lower end lighter build consumer stuff, grit and filings can get into the screw and cause more wear than a encloused jaw. First thing I would do is pull the dynamic jaw and check the ledge that supports the jaw when it is opened. Look for cracks where it meets up with the main body of the casting, I thought I got a deal once, butit was cracked all along the entire body, another one was completely broken off by the time I got it. The screw is below the jaws, so if there is something incompressable in the jaws, the screw is coninually tightened, the bottom of the dynamic jaw pushes into the ledge and puts a lot of stress into it, perhaps causing it to crack or outright break off.
Bent handles are the easiest tell of abuse. Look at the screw in the slide and the nut in the static jaw to see if they look worn. Look for welds or brazing on the body and slide. Peening marks on the slide if it is exposed, some people use the slide as anvils, so that as well as cracks can form.
Depends on your usage case on if something is too light duty to work, don't use any as a press in general because that's how all of them broke and needed to be welded in the first place.
Don't assume you'll ever be able to get parts.
God knows what the european market is, but basically any I've seen for sale is boomers sitting on their horde with ads up for years trying to sell a wilton that isn't even a machinist version or $600, or slapping paint on one and declaring their labor worth a $200 premium for putting some oil on the screw.

My Wiltons...

>>1991748

>>1992002
looks like a row of puppy dogs

>>1991748
>Oh sorry let me get out my sandblasting machine
ngmi with that attitude

>>1991717
>How do I buy a non shit used vise?
Look for cracks or repairs, check the backlash, remove the moving jaw and look at the threads, make sure they're not worn out.

>>1991748
>>1992046

>>1991748
>not having a sandblaster

>>1991748
A "sandblaster" is an air compressor, a gun, a bag of sand, and a box to keep the sand in.

Its not that expensive or hard to acquire.
Ive seen people literally just spray shit outside and let the blasting media fly away instead of trying to keep it, so in that case you dont even need a cardboard box to collect it.

Maybe you dont need a vise afterall anon

>>1991717
Check if you can find replacement jaws for the vice since they are likely to be worn out.

Here's my old ass vise I got for 20€ after my shitty chinese vise broke on me. Jaws are pretty fucked up for a while I wanted to add some flat iron on them but in the end I use two pieces of wood when I need more grip.
I had no idea if it was good but by the abuse it obviously underwent I figured if it was going to break it would have broken already.

>>1992002
Wtf man how many vises do you need?

>>1991748
You don't need one nor would I blast a vise anyway lest that munch machined surfaces. Vises don't need to be pretty and a hand wire brush will do the job cheap. So will a knotted cup style wire brush on an angle grinder and you need those even more than a vise. I have many vises and reel in all the industrial sort I can.
The least known and most based vise is a milling machine vise. Most sellers are greedy but I look for crusty ones since rebuilds are easy. (I got four Kurts and two good older Taiwan clones for fifty each because they looked hideous.)

>>1991755
is wise.

Jaw inserts are easy to make from aluminum or plastic (depends on the work) and you can buy jaw inserts then drill them to match your vise. I'd look for milling vise inserts on Ebay as they're plentiful.

>>1992715
All of them dispersed as needed. For example he could align two on a long bench to use with long stock or separately. He could (and I did) mount one in a tristand which beats a bench for some work. He could leave one outdoors suitably lubed (I've had one outdoors for twenty years) and painted with waste paint as it chips for outdoor tasks like torch cutting, grinding etc.

Pipe vises are nice tool. Get ALL the vises.

>>1991717
if you want cheap buy DDR shit
Id make sure the jaw screws are somewhat intact
>The least known and most based vise is a milling machine vise.
Not in euroland
be prepared to pay >200 for one with 100mm capacity

>>1992751
Can confirm, might as well lurk the local used market for a while for an actual old vise. Boomers die and their yuppie children sell their stuff for peanuts.

>>1991717
>non shit used vise?

Pay attention when places like high schools, vo-tech centers have sales. Those idiot often have no idea what they have. I bought a super fancy Hunter tire changer and 2 Wilton vises for 3200. I sold the changer for 8 grand, kept one vise and gave the other to my brother.

>>1992002
I came

>>1991717
The local surplus shop here always has a couple a great vises for very cheap.

>>1992093
The wire brush in >>1992046 would do the job in a tiny fraction of the time of your dremel and its wire wheel. Have you ever actually done anything? An angle grinder and a wire cup or wheel could be faster, but the complex shape of many vises can make an angle grinder awkward, which is faster mostly comes down to your experience with an angle grinder.

How can a vise be bad?
How could a manufacturer fuck up a vise?

>>1992715
>Wtf man how many vises do you need?

All of them... I have 11 mounted so far. 3 more that are rebuilt that I need to mount, and probably 6-8 more that I need to clean up and rebuild when I get some time.

>>1994014
They can be weak and loose. Check some vise shootout videos for examples. Some can be quite decent though.

If you don't abuse them cheap vises can work well enough but the industrial quality sort are a joy to use and withstand considerable force. That's why heavy equipment mechs etc buy the expensive vises because in their line of work a thousand dollar vise is cheap for what it does. Most home gamer vises break due to being overtightened to press shit like ball joints.

I avoid rotary vise bases for bench vises as they're a weak link unless the vise is industrial grade and even then I've no use for them as they don't do anything useful in that role. You can sometimes find a good vise with a busted rotary base. I discard the base then bolt the vise in place.

>>1994047

A Columbian I rebuilt and have mounted to my service truck now...

>>1994047
You sound like a good candidate for milling vises too. Not the shite old Bridgeport style though they're better than nothing, but a Kurt (they sell rebuild kits) milling machine vise. They can be surface ground if you need to use one on a mill and you can match grind pairs to match heights (custom is to mark the bodies to keep pairs together).

>>1994052
Service truck porn always welcomed and it gives mobile noobs who may not have a shop but do have a truck or trailer useful ideas.

>>1994052

A nice little Suregrip I have in my garage. Smooth as silk. I usually add thrust bearings to them when I fix them up.

>>1994055

An old Meadville vise.

>>1994056
A cheap piece of shit CTT vise that I have busted a couple of times and fixed it up again. It's actually pretty stout now and lives outside on a cutting/grinding bench. I use it quite often when doing dirty work that I don't want to have to clean up after.

>>1994058
A Paramo (I think that is the brand) vise. Made in England. Nice little vise.

>>1994064

Can't remember what brand this one is... It's an odd looking old vise.

>>1994052
>painting the jaws

>>1994066

This is one of those 4 Wiltons that I rebuilt. Scored it along with 10 other vises for $15 a piece. This one had a hydraulic cylinder on the back of it for clamping. You would use your screw for coarse adjustment and then use the hydraulic cylinder for quick clamping multiple items in repetition. I removed that and built my own back cap for it to turn it into a normal vise, but I kept the cylinder in case I ever wanted to put it back on. You can also see a bunch of the other vises I got from that same guy in the background. Most all of those I still need to rebuild someday.

>>1994069
Meh. If you actually use them the paint will wear off the jaws in no time flat... On the ones that have easily removable jaws I will take them off. I actually built the jaws on all those Wiltons out of some tool steel. Some others that had built in jaws I had to re-groove them. I just used an angle grinder and cutoff wheel to cut the grooves in.

>>1994082

>>1994054

Still haven't 100% finished it yet... You can see that old Columbian mounted on the back there though.

>>1994077
All outstanding vise porn, and congrats on the scores. I'm in the Southeast where the pickings are slim.
For those not familiar all the pics would be several thousand dollars new easily and once overhauled a vise is good as new.
This is becoming an excellent thread.

Pipe vises are quite handy too for more than pipe.

What sort of thrust washers do you add?

>>1994097
>What sort of thrust washers do you add?

I add needle thrust bearings. I have an assload of them in different sizes that I got to have on hand for different projects. They come in handy once in awhile. Really pretty cheap too. I don't remember where I got mine, but they are similar to this:

https://www.vxb.com/NTA1220-Thrust-Needle-Roller-3-4-x1-1-4-x5-64-inch-p/nta1220.htm

That one Wilton that I got for $15 I absolutely stole. The big Columbian that I mounted on the service truck was with it too so I stole that one for $15 as well. The other two shorter Wiltons I think I paid $200-250 for at an auction, which really wasn't too bad. That deep jaw Wilton I had to pony up $400 for, but even then it's like a $1200-1500 vise if bought new. It was practically in perfect shape when I got it other than the paint.

>>1993962
That's not a fucking dremel bit dumbass. It a wire brush for drills and they come in many sizes.

what would you guys recommend as a good size for general /diy/ use?
largest i can afford used but not garbage is 150mm for about 150€ but they weigh 40-50kg which seems like a lot
so I am questioning if i really need the biggest one possible and if a smaller 120 or even 100mm one would be sufficient
the smaller ones are significantly cheaper but i would hate to stall on a project just because my vice is too small

>>1994356
Buy the largest you can or face regrets later.

>>1994052
At this point you could just dunk them into a bucket of paint but otherwise good for you

>>1994562

Imagine not using a vise as god intended and painting it to just be pretty and sit there unused...

If I wanted it to be a piece of art I would have pinstriped it and airbrushed a mural on it. I painted it with the intentions of using it as a vise.

i hate boomers so much

>>1994836
>he doesn't remember the guy who had a ad for beat up wiltons for 3 plus straight years

>>1994788
All it takes is some masking tape mate, nice collection though

>>1994356
My 6 1/2" suits me just fine, if I need to hold something down that it can't fit I'll just ghetto rig something to hold it

>>1994836
>mfw i got two 5" columbians and an 8 inch yost for $30

>>1991748
t.whiny zoomie/millenial

So I looked through my pile of vises that I still need to go through and clean up. There was another nice Columbian, 3 rock islands, two Athols, a Prentiss, a nothing special Craftsman, and a few others I can't recall right now.

I also have all the parts except the main body/back jaw for a 4" Wilton bullet vise. Hopefully someday I'll run across one with a broken front jaw and can get it for cheap and swap parts around to make a complete vise.

>>1994356
>>1994484
>>1995026
So i bit the bullet and sucked up to some boomer who only kinda knew what he got and bought this old Leinen F150 for 150€
it's in pretty good condition i might even leave the old paint on and don't go through the trouble of grinding it all off and repainting
Next step now is to build an appropriately sturdy bench for this beast

>>1995387
was quite a fight to get it down the stairs into the basement
it's a heavy cast iron pig at 52kg
jaws are as the name implies 150mm wide and they open 250mm
that should be big enough for future projects

>>1995389
Struggling to carry something that is 52kg down some stairs... NGMI.

>>1995389
>basement
Don't locate the vise in a moist environment. A dry room or shop is better.

>>1995414
The basement is the only space large enough for a shop available to me
But moisture isn’t a problem it’s quite dry
I still have a dehumidifier running just for peace of mind but it only collects like 1l/month

So, I hope I'm not too much of a pain in the ass but since I have 0 experience buying vises I thought I'd whip up a pic and ask here. This is what I could find in the local market regarding vises. I want to by a pipe vise and a standard vise. From my very naive perspective it seems that the 130 EUR one and the 47 EUR pipe vise are the most "quality", but then again I might be just throwing my money away. I want to buy a vise now and not buy a new one hopefully in the next 40 years or till I die whichever comes first. Thanks for any help up front!

>>1995673

>>1995680
>Leinen
ok so it is based, I guess I'll lowball to 110 EUR and see if he accepts. What about the top right vise you cut out? the pipe one? I really do need a pipe vise.

>>1995673
I am >>1995387 who just bought the big Leinen vise
so i can fully recommend the top left although 130€ for "only" 125mm is a bit much so try to lowball or find a 150mm one
the center top is also the old euro style (there are a crap ton of manufacturers making essentially the same thing) so i guess it will be good as well
top right is too small
on the bottom left picture the first two also appear to be old european ones, but check the size, you want something big
the three to the right are chinese crap that will break soon, do not buy
the bottom row are nice as an extra for light duty small stuff but obviously no replacement for something "real"
>>1995683
>I really do need a pipe vise
then get one as a second vise, you can't replace a general purpose vise with it
and the pipe feature on some vises is only good for occasional use and can't replace an actual pipe vise

>>1995698
Yeah whats why I said pipe vise AND standard vise. Thanks for the advice. 130 seems a bit much I will try for 110 EUR. 150 mm one there is no chance to find, these were all the vises under 200 eur that I could find on every single site in my country.
Addendum:
The total expanded width is 210mm for the Leinen. There does seem to be a bit of rust but I think it looks fine.

>>1995698

Another pic, do you think the rails are fine? I mean I'll go check it out in person, hope he will part with it for 110 :D

>>1995709
>AND
sorry missed that part
>these were all the vises under 200 eur that I could find on every single site in my country
might want to check neighboring countries, yours must be quite small
when i was searching for mine i could easily find 30-50 within a 200km radius
>Leinen
you can't go wrong with them they are kind of the benchmark unfortunately everyone knows that so you are paying for the name
>There does seem to be a bit of rust
that's only surface rust on the most commonly used (and therefore usually unpainted) places a wire brush and some sand paper will make it look like new
>do you think the rails are fine
they look good enough but not perfect
you really have to check any vise out in person and get a feel
most important is the thread it should feel very smooth tightening the vise, "dead spots" are a big no no
try moving the "sled" by hand while untightened you don't want any back and forwards play
a little bit of side to side play is normal but it should disappear as soon as you even lightly tighten the vise
a good indicator of its past life is also the handle if it's straight and original the vise probably had an easy life
if it has been replaced or is bent someone abused the vise with a long pipe for extra leverage

>>1995731
>sorry missed that part
All good
>might want to check neighboring countries, yours must be quite small
I live in croatia to be exact and all the cheap shit is in bosnia and serbia which are:
A: way too far away to get to any central bosnian or serbian cities
B: outside the schengen zone
C: corona so can't get out
also I did find maybe 40 vises but 70% were under 10 kilo so probably chinkshit
>you can't go wrong with them they are kind of the benchmark unfortunately everyone knows that so you are paying for the name
Oh well if it lasts it lasts
>that's only surface rust on the most commonly used (and therefore usually unpainted) places a wire brush and some sand paper will make it look like new
ty
>they look good enough but not perfect
Thanks, I will check it out in person it's really near me. I will do the inspection as you say thank you so much for the instructions. Handle seems straight from the pics but we will see how it does :)

>>1995739
>serbia
topkek that reminds me of a serbian coworker of mine who decided to visit his family down there over the holidays
he said he's gonna travel only on small back roads to avoid all the quarantine bullshit
I wonder how that worked out for him and whether he'll be back to work (in Germany) on monday
>Handle
i just noticed that the top center in your original pic is a perfect example of a diy replacement handle so should you check that one out make sure to pay double attention to the thread condition

>>1995746
Lmao, good luck to him hahaha
I will probably not go look at that one since it both visually seems worse and it's kinda far away. From the other pic I see other replacement parts too.

>>1995683
>110 yurobuck for a vise
Jesus fuck, don't you have any scrap yards nearby to dig through a la The Post Apocalyptic Inventor? That's fucking larceny for a used vise

>>1996034
I have scrapyards but noone throws away vises. Apparently it's a good vice tho according to people here.

>>1996039
leinen vices are widely used in industrial shops.

>>1996034
even post apocalyptic inventor has a video where he shows a pile of vices the scrapyard owner separated from the scrap and wont sell them.

>open facebook market place again
>see ad first page with a wilton
>vise and drill press $30
>respond withing 13 minutes of it being up
>someones already driving here
nigger
Well at least it made me go out in rage to the garage to pull out and bother to mount the larger columbian in places of the smaller exposed screw one on the secondary bench.
I already have a wilton but am still ass hurt years later that one time I accidentally put a crack in the casting because of those pins at the back.

Go on Zillow find a house for sale with a workshop. Buy the house there will probably be a vise that was left behind.

>>1991717
I see these parked everywhere.

>>1995421
Don't sweat the moisture, just keep it painted and lube the screw (I used anti-seize). I've had one vise outdoors for sine 1997 which is undamaged and works fine. It's on an old Rigid tristand which has also not deteriorated.
They survive weather on work trucks too.
BTW I have one bench grinder I've left outdoors (covered by a plastic tub) for ~20 years which also runs fine. It's indoors now but not to protect it but because I changed how I use it.

>>1996034
Scrapyards even in the US know better and that vises are worth money. Only an idiot scrapyard sells them for scrap.

You mean all you Anon's don't have a wheelbarrow full of old vises???

Never gonna make it...