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posted by: Franz

Wiltons were a bluish gray, almost Square D gray.
I think their secondary line, Columbia came from the factory red.

posted by: OlPilot

Cutter, just a thought on separating that monster. If you get your O/A going, you might be able to heat the outer portion so as to cause it to expand slightly. Be quick and use a big tip. Before the heat conducts through, and the inner gizmo expands, you might be able to knock it loose. I've done similar things, fact is, I use my O/A more for stuff like that than welding. Rust expands in volume about 10 times the volume of metal removed, so that's what's locking things up.

posted by: Jim314

This ain't no soap opera, it's Survivor. Man vs. Machine. Whose gonna last the longest, the frozen vise or the man trying to unfreeze it. Cutter wins and he gets a VERY nice vise. If the vise wins it stays locked up for ever and Cutter retains a year's supply of Arm and Hammer laundry detergent as a consolation prize.

posted by: Newb

OlPilot, if he heats the outside housing, what about hitting the inside with a blast of CO2 or dry ice? Maybe the heat on the outside and cold on the inside would be enough movement? Dunno, but it's my feable attempt to help.

posted by: Franz

Patience is the name of the game here, ok, maybe patience plus a Porta Power and an air hammer.
Now, if cutter can just get OP to ship him some of the dry ice foodpacks, he can cut em on his bandsaw to fit inside the vise tube, and shrink that while he puts the rosebud on the outer tube and jacks on the porta power, she just might brake loose.
Or, he could just cook it a few more days and knock it apart.
The longer it takes, the more commercials for Uncle Franz's secret derusting potion I can run.

backing up a few days

posted by Cutter    03-25-2004

I got off my feed for a few days & neglected to finish posting the details of the nut removal procedure. Ol Pilot had posted a photo showing the approximate location of the 1/4 inch steel dowels that secure the nut inside the body. Turns out they were located a little bit forward of where he was led to believe and once I really looked for them, they were pretty visible and turned out to be easy to remove. You have to use a long punch to drive one all the way through, forcing the other pin out then reverse directions and back the first one out the side it was in. The image on the left shows the dowel or pin after a couple of light taps with a 1/4 inch punch. I wound up having to use a transfer punch to reach all the way through but they really came out surprisingly easily.

Flash forward a few days to last weekend.

I hauled the vise out of the vat 3 or 4 days ago & let it dry off so I could make a cardboard template to use in
marking out a steel collar for the screw. I first peened out the rough shape of the milled surface of the vise jaw then went by my shop/barn & used a couple of holesaws to cut out a big washer from 1/4 inch steel plate. It is not perfect as my nearest sized holesaw was maybe a quarter inch smaller than might have been optimum but it will do.
While I was there I scrounged up a few 3/16ths x 32 screws to replace the broken ones.

Being scattered as I am, I brought the washer back home & cut out the opening of a c-shape on my old Delta
bandsaw so the collar would slip into the slot on the head of the big screw and tried in for a fit up in the jaw. I decided it would be better if I removed about 1/16 " from the thickness so I started grinding it down with a 5 inch grinder and polishing it out on a belt sander. Uncharacteristically , I had (and could find) both tools here . This process took a couple of hours but I wound up with a bright, shiny piece. The image on the right shows the difference in thickness and finish.

I cut a thin cardboard template & sprayed a coat of adhesive on it, laid it over the the milled surface on the front of the jaw and peened in the screwhole locations and the inner margin of the milled surface & began the agonizing task of locating & punching the screwholes, trying to keep them as close as possible to center and trying to allow just enough space to allow the big screw to turn without binding. This went on for a couple of hours before I decided to trust in "gumption flow" (see Zen & the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance). I have a little Harbor freight-type of 50 dollar drill press piece-of-junk in my garage so instead of trekking back over to the shop again, I used it. First I "carefully" selected a pair of drill bits off the top of my clothes dryer, squatted down in the floor & drilled 1/16th pilot holes, then the 3/16th screw holes. I got an amazingly close fit but fully expected to have to waller the holes out to get the screws to fit the screwholes in the jaw.

The damned thing fit perfectly!

To my total astonishment, the screwholes matched precisely to the vise & the collar bolted up like it was supplied
by the factory, no modifications at all. I just sat there on the ground staring at it for a little while, then strutted around drinking coffee & bragging to my dogs for half an hour. Of course, I only had two screws that matched each other so I had to go back to the shop & find a mate; while I was at it, I dug a little deeper and came up with a set of spares, having a curious notion that I may break a set before this stuck jaw finally gets free. So, I removed my new collar and the vise went back in the drink, and the big screw into the other vat. I guess I could have bought a new replacement collar from Wilton for maybe $20 or $30? But you know, why not have this $200 one which is about what I should pay myself for the time it consumed?

posted by: Banzaitoyota

But does it work yet?

posted by Cutter    03-25-2004

That depends upon what your definition of "is" is. If you mean what you probably think I think you think "works" means, then the answer is no.  That's why it's back in the gargabe can still hooked up to the charger. Besides, I need to sell more ads before it works.

posted by: fla jim

"Bill" Cutter!
Buddy, I think you need to get more sleep, even your dogs are starting to look at you funny

posted by: Franz

This is your lucky day. For the next 15 minutes we're running a special on Uncle Franz Secret Rust Removal concentrate. If you're among the first 50 customers to call, we'll not only double the amount of rust remover concentrate we send you, we'll sell your Master Card number to a Hatian scammer at no extra charge.
Call NOW, don't get left out. Our toll free number is 1-800-FAT-Chance. Hurry, operators are standing by.

posted by: Newb

Hey, I dialed that 1-800-FAT-Chance and got some chineese speaking man answering the phone as Hellof and thank you for calling Hobart's Offshore Factory 

Great collar Cutter. I'm going out to buy a new couch so I have a proper seat to see how this ends.

Franz, will I get my remover next week, or do I wait the typical 6-8 weeks for shipping? I will make sure to hold my breath out on the front stoop.