|
 posted by
Cutter 05-01-2004
Yup, it's pointing to the broken bolt
with nut that had been holding the chains to the beam on the side. The
canvas just happened to be in the right spot; otherwise, I might never
have found it. And the bolt on the other side was just about ready to
erupt as well:
I had to saw off the bent bolt to get
it outta there. And that was the end of round 4. Round 5? I have lost
track, all this begins to run together after a while. But I was not really
very surprised to break the bolts, they were only 3/8ths inch. The ones
that held the chain that wraps around the back upright were also 3/8ths so
I removed them too. Also bent all to hell.
So I spent the rest of the evening reaming out the holes and dug up some
1/2" hardened bolts which also required that I cut my best old chain into
short lengths so the the bolts went through the very ends because they
were too big to fit between continuous links. I hated doing that because
it pretty much ruined that chain for any other purpose. But some things
just have to be sacrificed for noble causes, right? Actually, this was
where I quit for the night. All this didn't go as quickly as it sounds.
I had to rediscover my Drill Doctor (don't even start) & sharpen a 1/2
inch bit, I miscut one of the chains & had to cut another, yada yada, so I
did part of this Saturday evening and the rest on Sunday afternoon. And it
is 2:26 am where I am sitting so I will continue into the next round later
in the day - maybe. Dunno for sure; my mind is pretty numb right now.
posted by: 7018
Well cutter im getting really
interested in this been wondering when we would see more on this vise! and
im sure u'll get it working.cause the whole world is watching,maybe we can
get it put on the world news!!
posted by
Cutter 05-01-2004
Having killed and
eaten the insubordinate Klingon, I had Scottie beam me aboard the badly
damaged Enterprise. I found First Officer Spock directing a crew of
Sarilian slaves in repairing the forward photon torpedo bays. He estimated
they would be battle ready within the hour. Proceeding to the bridge I
noticed part of the crew missing so I demanded to know the whereabouts of
Mr. Chekov. Sulu smiled, "Ah, you know Captain - the barrel." Sheesh,
these guys get more & more difficult to deal with after a few months
...... Lt. Uhuru interrupted to tell me that those clowns at Travelocity
said they still didn't want me back & I told her for the last time, "Get
your finger out of your ear!" She's been this way ever since that last
bridge Christmas Party. I never should have been at that damned thing to
begin with .... "Message for you, Captain. It's Donald Trump, says to tell
you 'You're fired!' They're going with the prissy bald guy."
POOF!
After a couple hours sleep I woke up thinking about the vise so I
guess I may as well take the hint and finish this report to get it off my
mind so I can go back to sleep.
Sunday afternoon I finally had the old Wilton lashed back onto the rail,
all bolts replaced with the half-inchers and the ones holding the chains
were those gold-toned 5mark hardened ones. I noticed that the backing disc
was beginning to distort a little bit so I decided to position the jack
down low and push against the bottom part of the slide since that is
probably where the worst rust is located. I was hoping that might also
spare the disc from further damage. I jacked the tension up until the
chains were all tight enough to feel like solid bars.
I lit the torch and heated things up
for maybe ten minutes, concentrating along the lower parts of both sides &
winding up going all around the back end where I imagine the real problem
is. When I had it radiating pretty good I used a Sharpie to mark a
starting point on the ram then tossed the canvas cover back on it and
started leaning into the cheater. This time I just kept at it, not
bothering to pause to check on the jack, vise, chains or bolts. I had made
up my mind to either break it loose, break another jack - whatever. It
took about 5 minutes, I'd guess because this jack really does move in
small increments. Then there was a loud snapping sound and it startled me
into jumping backwards. Everything jumped - beam, jack, vise & all. Only
the cheater pipe stayed in my hand.
I guess this ten dollar chinaman jack
is ok. It snapped one of those 60cent bolts like it was a candy cane &
bent the other one. The ram moved nearly an inch. And it nearly sheared
the backing disc into a washer. I took ten pictures of that danged disc &
for some reason, never did get a clear closeup, but you can get the idea,
sort of. I guess.
As to the vise? It moved nary a
fraction other than to jump up in the air & fall on its nose. Before all
this activity I etched a mark just behind the slide. I took this picture
after the tumbling act. No difference at all. However you can see where
the disc began to wear into the inside margin of the slide. So I dunno
what its gonna take but I do not think force alone is going to open this
thing up.
Oh, by the way, the welds still held.
So I hauled the blue trash can out to the alley & dumped the nasty black
glop out of it & started all over with nice clear water & washing soda -
and a clean mower blade electrode. I had begun to wonder if I was still
getting rust out of the vise or just out of the water or off the sediment
on the bottom. And this time I turned the vise 180 degrees and dunked it
face down to give the slide maybe a better chance to clean up. Besides,
this seems to be the best place to store it between workouts.
Suggestions? I'm wondering if about 8 hours baking in an oven at 500
degrees might do it but I'd like to hear Old Pilot's opinion on whether
that would hurt anything. I have an old Frigidaire cookstove buried over
at the barn that I could rig up to use. Need to throw it away anyhow. Or
I'm thinking there will have to be some other kind of chemical dunk to
penetrate between the parts.
What do you think?
posted by: fla jim
Cutter;
Thanks for the birthday wish.
At the risk of irritating Franz. I don't think that the electrolsis will
work to loosen the "vise" there's no clearance for material release
between the jaw and body.
I would recommend heating the vise slightly to get all the moisture out of
the vise. then Use "Kroil" . I'd place the vise nose down, apply some
Kroil every day for about a month, to give it time for capillary action to
get the kroil to penetrate completely through the vise. Also as a last
resort I'd try drilling a hole through the side of the housing. tap it for
1/8 NPT, screw in a zerk grease fitting. Fill an old grease gun with some
Kroil. and force it into the vise with pressure. again let it sit for a
few weeks. then use heat and pressure. I've done this before, as a last
resort, and it worked for me.
posted by: 7018
Well shoot when i got the e-mail was
hoping it was good news, sounds like fla jim mite has a good idea
there,ooooooo and happy brithday jim!!
posted by
Cutter 05-01-2004
Nope Jim,
I don't think electrolysis can do much more good, either but I have to
undo the rust and soot from all this torching anyway, and like I said, it
has to be stored somewhere. I just checked back to page 2 & this process
started on the 6th of March so it's been derusting most of the time for
nearly 2 months.
You're right again, the tolerances between the "sleeve & cylinder" on
these things is real close for castings. I doubt water even soaks all the
way through. However, I don't know what Kroil is? Explain that to me,
please?
About drilling a grease zerk into the side, I was thinking that
perforating it in several places really wouldn't hurt anything other than
the appearance & what the hell, its already so beat up and old that like
myself, that's no longer an issue anyway. We're "through being beautiful",
as my Dad said on his 75th birthday or thereabouts.
I'm thinking that the
worst of the problem is probably concentrated along that half inch keyway
that runs through the very bottom so tapping in a pair of zerks on each
side near the bottom on either side of the base would do the most good.
This metal seems to be very malleable & not prone to cracking so I don't
believe it would do any harm structurally.
And someday I would like to spend a little time on other projects again.
This thing has been taking up nearly all of my time & energy since this
all started.
posted by:
Mike W
I had a newer Wilton that was stuck
from being outside on a truck. I finally got it unstuck by using a sledge
and a short bar to hit on.
posted by
Cutter 05-01-2004
Yeah, that was a fantasy I had maybe a
month ago, Mike. But there is no telling how many years this thing laid
out in the weather before I stumbled across it. I think there is a lesson
here: if you're going to leave one outside, keep the internal parts well
greased and always leave the jaws open an inch or two so that you can use
the screw to pull it inwards. The collar can only stand a limited amount
of outward stress before it pops the retaining screwheads off, and warps
the collar.
quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted by Paychk
Cutter
I’m a believer in wedge technology now, if your jacks don’t work, maybe
you could set up a wedge to push the vise apart.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Paychk,
I've been forgetting to reply to your suggestion & I am familiar with
"wedge technology" but more as applied in woodworking. The problem here is
that there is nothing to "wedge against". This thing was designed to apply
force, not to take it. Even if the jaws were open far enough to work with,
I think it might snap the moving jaw off the slide before it pulled it out
of the body.
Never the less, I enjoyed your story. Thanks.
And thanks again to all the rest of you who read and respond to this
adventure. I can't even consider giving it up because of you; besides, I
have my local reputation as a stubborn extremist nutcase to maintain.
posted by: pjt
Realizing you have more experience on
vice rehab than the rest of us, I've been wondering:
1) Have you smacked it with a sledgeo'matic while the hydraulic cylinder
is putting a strain on it, and
2) Have you thought about leaving it under tension from the cylinder, say,
over the weekend?
|
