Bench Vice?

Is this the lets see your vice thread now bonesetter has got one

Here is mine liberated from the dad in laws garage

That's big Chris. Nice having the quick release though eh?

Next one up from yours needs a bit of oil now .
the QR is great .
I cant imagine the abuse to break one like yours

is at well repaired

I managed to break a very similar record vice at school.

Step 1. Admire the cross hatch mrakings on the vice jaws, think wouldn't that look nice on the copper plate I am making into a candle stick holder.

Step 2. Put said copper plate in vice and do up as hard as a 16 year old boy can.

Step 3. Take out said copper plate look at it very disapointedly at the lack of cross hatch pattern (a good vice shouldn't mark the workpiece).

Step 4. Come to obviouse logical conclusion, put copper back in vice and with the help of a 4 foot length of scaffolding tube wind vice up considerably more.

Step 5. Keep winding vice up until the inevitable very load bang when half a vice lands between your feet.

Step 6. Find this incredible ammuzing not helped by the teacher ranting about never knowing of any student managing to break one of those vices in 40 years of teaching.

Step 7. Make candle holder out of piece of copper with a really nice cross hatch pattern on it and present to Mum with a bill for a £100 vice.

Here's an oily alternative to Friday Kylie and the A&A thread. I give you MC's Vice Collection

http://picasaweb.google.com/mcmoonter/MCSVices#

Dam. Can't join in untill I get home and get in the shed. So frustrating. The pressure is squeezing me like a …………. I'll get my coat.

mcmoonter – Member

Here's an oily alternative to Friday Kylie and the A&A thread. I give you MC's Vice Collection

http://picasaweb.google.com/mcmoonter/MCSVices#

Niiiice!

Is the 75 'bigger' phyically, with a wider spread than the 25 which looks the biggest blue, or has it got a deeper throat?

I like the idea of the flat rear area and small anvil

My Dad has got nearly a dozen vices (varying sizes etc.) in his garage. Some he got from his previous employer's Biproducts sales and the other he got when out family company folded 12yrs ago… Soon as I need one (or 3), I'll be light-figered when I'm back up seeing the Olds… 😉

Bonesetter, The 25 is a huge vice. Its way bigger than the 75. The 75 has a steel slide which makes it virtually unbreakable unlike the cast slides on the others. The 75 has offset jaws allow you to clamp someting vertically without obstruction. It also incorporates a pipe vice too and a bending facility. The anvil is replaceable and the jaws are bolted from the outside, so the jaw faces are free from countersunk screws.

Given the choice I'd use the 75 over the 25.

I can sense a 'what vice' epidemic here in the future.

bigsurfer,

They do indeed go with a pretty big bang when they break don't they?

I used to be the designer at Record and must have broken tens, probably hundreds of vices, when checking quality or designing a new one. First step, test the existing designs to destruction!

Mind, you did well to break it. The tommy bar is designed to bend well before the vice fails, even when using a scaffold pipe. We used to take them to handle bend, then chop it off and 2 of us would use the biggest Stillson wrench we made on the screw!

The lab had a dent in the wall where the back of the slide fired out and hit the wall when it failed.

Unfortunately the Sheffield foundry closed some years ago so they are no longer made in the UK.

Wow! The Record designer! I can hardly believe this.

Are Record vices now made in China then, and I did hear say cast iron, instead of steel which breaks more easily, is this correct?

In fact, are the Chinese made Record's, or any Chinese vices (if you know) different in any way than the Sheffield/UK made ones?

Also, Record don't seem to make one with an anvil now…?

Just checked there, its a 24 i have like Trout's. Where i got 74 from i don't know.

A wee hint when mounting a vice is to always ensure the back jaws are slightly forwards of the front of your bench. Otherwise you cant clamp tubes etc vertically in the vice.

trout – Member

Next one up from yours needs a bit of oil now .
the QR is great .
I cant imagine the abuse to break one like yours

is at well repaired

It has been arc welded and gobbed on a bit, both inside and out – not the most skilled job. And it is a bit tight closing on the winder, fine on the unwind.

I took a chance on it being £20, I'll see how long it lasts. For what I'll mostly be doing it should be OK

Anyway, now I know there's so many choices out there to choose a 'new' one from 8)

I have a few vices. Record are pretty good for most jobs.
This is my 112 vice, It's quite large but can do loads of jobs.

Stupid boy. Bolting it on top of your tea tray! Now what are you going to do when it snows. But seriously, it may catch odds and sods but you can't get a long length vertically in the jaws.

I didn't work directly on vices at the time they were resourced but the spec should not have changed, simply the place of manufacture.

It was a sad day when the disamatic foundry was loaded onto a wagon and driven out of Parkway Works!

Regarding materials, the lower priced Mechanics ones are plain grey iron but the engineers and fitters vices are SG iron (spheroidal graphite) which is ductile, shock resistant and virtually unbreakable.

I'll have to get a picture of my South African made fabricated steel vice with 8" opening and nice parallel steel jaw faces. Perfect for headset pressing!

Niche vicetastic!

gravity-slave – Member

I didn't work directly on vices at the time they were resourced but the spec should not have changed, simply the place of manufacture.

It was a sad day when the disamatic foundry was loaded onto a wagon and driven out of Parkway Works!

Regarding materials, the lower priced Mechanics ones are plain grey iron but the engineers and fitters vices are SG iron (spheroidal graphite) which is ductile, shock resistant and virtually unbreakable.

Good info, thanks

TheSwede – Member
Stupid boy. Bolting it on top of your tea tray! Now what are you going to do when it snows. But seriously, it may catch odds and sods but you can't get a long length vertically in the jaws.

You do your thing. Snow ? baking trays that are used for giving out tea! as for not getting a long enough vertical item in it. I have more than one vice genius and I'm smart enough to slightly alter the angle of the item being clamped so that it missed the tray.

To be honest, Aldi & Lidl both do vices for very little cash on occasion. They're the swivel kind with a little anvil on the back, and I'd be amazed if they could be broken doing anything bicycle based.

I think he's found a vice!!!!!

I have two of these from when I was a blacksmith. One of them is on a 3 inch by 3 inch by half inch angle iron base (it only takes two people to lift it.) Proper job.

Check out this beauty.

Points of interest (gadget (= nerd) mined riders only)

Release clamps allow vice to swivel on fixed base
Integrated pipe bending former (can be seen towards bottom both halves)
Pipe grip attachment (seen located just under jaws), and detachable if needed
Cast steel 'Guaranteed not to brake' body and slider
Rear mounted 'anvil' with hardened steel 'work' area, detachable for changing if needed
Jaws offset from centre to allow larger clamp area for larger upright object
Jaws open to 7 1/2"

38 years old. Used, but very well looked after. Sweet working action

Is that your latest one nige. It's awesome. So you have two now? I feel slightly guilty for starting you off on this ultimate vice hunt. Now back to clown bikes 😉
kaesae
Stupid tea tray idea any hoo 😉

You'll never need another vice.

This is a smashing thread. Here's my Record 36. Ive mounted it on a plate so that it can swivel.

Maybe we could have a new thread featuring specialist tools such as bearing pullers, soldering irons, Stilsons etc.?

Stu – yes, latest acquisition 🙂

You've got to be tapped to spend on a vice when you can buy brand new Records for ~£30 – 40

Makes me happy though

Fruitbat, you might like these

http://picasaweb.google.com/mcmoonter/MCSVices#5455140201587841330

http://picasaweb.google.com/mcmoonter/MCSVices#5455140246694003618

Ah, pipe jaws! I've got my name on a patent for a type of pipe jaws!

(Excuse the bragging. It's not often you get to brag about designing vices so I'm making the most of an opportunity!)

I have more than one vice genius

Is that like an Apple Genius? Wicked, I ought to apply…

😉

After reading this thread yesterday I just had to check the garage workbench … and courtesy of my father and closure of his old school and workshop – a Record No2 😀 … can I join the (undersized) vice club please? My other vice is a Lidl "special" (but it does pivot).

Just bought a second (or umpteenth) hand Record 23 (with quick release). I want to take it apart and give it a good clean but am wary of the spring and how I will get it back together. Any advice on how to dismantle it or should I leave it in one piece?