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What's inside a Wilton vise?


stainlessstroker95

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I know it's a vice and not some precision instrument but I'm disappointed and it's not even mine. Makes you wonder how bad the cheap vises are in comparison. What are you planning on doing? I'd personally clean it up, break out the file and then re-grease it...but I'm also a little(a lot) more OCD than the average person.

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That's pretty lazy, but I don't think even after 300 years of use that would have any negligible effect on a corkscrew gear like that. The shavings would turn to powder before so much as marking the gear.  

 

Just being realistic. It wouldn't bother me past the first 30 seconds. 

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Wait until you remove the lead screw from the dynamic jaw. There's probably a bunch of those chips.

Remove the 3 Phillips screws around the horseshoe collar on the nose of the vise. Once you remove the collar you can turn the lead screw out of the dynamic jaw. This should be all the disassembly you need to do.

You don't need to do a full tear down for cleaning. Just wipe all the grease and chips out of the threads on the lead screw, re-lube, and re-assemble.

IMPORTANT: When re-installing the horseshoe collar do not run the Phillips screws all the way back in. you need to make sure it has a proper amount of play. When the jaw is ran in you should be able to wiggle it just a bit. It's only under load when opening the jaw. Use a good business card or matchbook cover to set your gap like so:

post-515-0-37345200-1445526904_thumb.jpe

Also, remember to use blue locktite (removable) on these screw and the hex jaw screws any time you are re-installing them. There are lots of videos on YouTube dealing with Wilton disassembly. Half are from people who have no idea what they're doing, but it will give you an idea and you can adapt your method accordingly.

Also, if you ever need to remove the butt cap, do not beat it out with a drift punch like most of these YouTube morons. Simply remove the lead screw from the dynamic jaw, them run it in the static jaw by itself to pop the cap out. If your careful, it won't damage the cap at all.

Wilton still makes the best vises available. Yost USA vises are great vises too, but the don't have that Wilton sex appeal.

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And yes, I'd file that nub off the lead screw. My tool OCD would'nt let me sleep knowing that thing was there.

Neither the nub nor the chips are going to impact performance or longevity, but it's pure laziness. How long does it take to blow chips out and grind the end of the lead screw?

The Tradesmen are the exact same iron as the more expensive Wilton's at half the price. Quality control is the obvious difference. Even so, you'd think an extra 30 seconds of manufacturing would be feasible on a $500 vise.

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And yes, I'd file that nub off the lead screw. My tool OCD would'nt let me sleep knowing that thing was there.

Neither the nub nor the chips are going to impact performance or longevity, but it's pure laziness. How long does it take to blow chips out and grind the end of the lead screw?

The Tradesmen are the exact same iron as the more expensive Wilton's at half the price. Quality control is the obvious difference. Even so, you'd think an extra 30 seconds of manufacturing would be feasible on a $500 vise.

 

I'm glad I'm not the only one! I'm worse with my hockey equipment, I will get out small sewing scissors and clip long threads...won't ever effect anything but it still bothers me for some reason. I may have just been born in the wrong era, I really appreciate the details put in old USA made everything. You see industrial machines with elaborate designs in what would now just be a flat MAYBE dimpled plate of steel. You even see it in some old vices, some are very art deco.

 

Example:

dWEOdxF.jpg

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IMPORTANT: When re-installing the horseshoe collar do not run the Phillips screws all the way back in. you need to make sure it has a proper amount of play. When the jaw is ran in you should be able to wiggle it just a bit. It's only under load when opening the jaw. Use a good business card or matchbook cover to set your gap like so:

 

Good to know! 

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  • 1 month later...

maybe way back they sold them by the pound, leaving the chips in helped their bottom line.....lol....

if you are pulling apart a 65 yrs old vise and find chips or filings it obviously didn't hurt it.......

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