Thanks to this thread I just picked up a made-in-England Record No 4 from Farcebook Marketplace for £20.

Scruffy but usable, immediately improved by a good dousing of the moving parts with TF2, and in lots better shape that this one.

bargain!! 👍

Reckon!

Of course what I don’t have is drill bits big enough to put mounting holes in my bench, M14 bolts and nuts to mount it kicking around etc. Being a sucker for stainless steel and with a general attitude of ‘never pass an excuse to buy new tools’ I’ve already spent £50 on other gubbins.

🤣 make sure you post up pics when it’s all done!

Has anyone ever seen anything like this, i stumbled across yesterday.
Stunnin’ like a young Burt Reynolds.

Stunnin’ like a young Burt Reynolds.

😀 Raymond the Bastard, I presume?

I NEED that fractal vice. It’s the vice I’ve always needed, yet never knew existed.

I NEED that fractal vice. It’s the vice I’ve always needed, yet never knew existed.

it’s extremely cool, if you google it there’s actually a guy who’s designed his own version & is intending to make and sell them (although he’s not come up with a price yet!)

Kind of an unnecessary expense these days though when you can just run off some 3d printed jaws to fit whatever you want for a few pence though!!

Et voila!

Not very exciting really. I’m resisting the temptation to take it apart and restore/repaint it, not least because a) it works fine and b) I have plenty other projects on the go.

Stainless bolts, Nylok nuts and washers from Accu, mild steel plate from Amazon. The plate seemed like a good idea at the time, but I’m now thinking it should have been a lot bigger.

And I’m holding off getting a swivel mount for it, even though there still seem to be some actual English-made Record 4SBs around.

I did the same as above a while back, loads of decent vices on marketplace, folk just getting rid, or bought them in the wrong size, left them and then selling them off. That’s the only thing you need to really focus on with them, getting the right size you require, and having the appropriate bench to fix it to for the required leverage and balance, if it’s doing big jobs.

Mine gets used a lot for every day stuff, benches are what cost a fortune these days, i got an old solid wood table and modified it to work, so lashed to the wall and fitted out to store the approprate tools and have the vice and other tool stations.

Swivel mounts run into the problem of the handle fouling against the edge of the bench as you try to rotate the vice. Simple solution you think is to lift the handle up till it clears, but then you’re left with the handle sticking up, impeding the workpiece.

3D printed fractal vice

What do people do about jaws on old vices?

I’ve an old record but the jaws are knackered, dunno what the previous did with it but theres grooves in them and they are not parrallel in places.

A new set of jaws is more than the vice is worth…

So is there a way of filing them back? Or making new ones?

Jeez, where are you lot picking up these FB bargains?? I’ve been after a decent sized vice for ages and everything I see is daft money!! There must be loads rusting away in sheds and workshops around here (Sheffield!) but can I find one?? Can I buggery!

@argee

This one belonged to the seller’s father-in-law — I assume he’s no longer around, hence the silly-cheap price.

The bench is one of these, also a recent purchase. Seems sturdy enough so far, though I doubt I’ll be needing to give it any serious welly anyway.

@dyna-ti

That’s the other reason I’ve not gone ahead, along with not being convinced I actually need it to swivel.

@wzzzz

This bloke on eBay makes jaws for Record vices. £20 for jaws for mine seems reasonable.

@dashed

“Sheffield”. There’s your problem, folks up there know how good this old Record gear is 🙂

Some models do seem to go for silly prices too. I’d have kinda liked a Number 25, but the only one remotely close to me is £250.

That said, here’s a Number 34 for £45 and you can sing ‘For What is Chatteris’ by Half Man Half Biscuit song to yourself as you drive down to get it