# Screwless vise woes



## smfr (Nov 14, 2011)

I bought a 2" screwless vise off eBay. It's a cheap import, and has the most annoying problem with the underside clamp thing. Unless I'm really careful, every time I tighten it up it binds like this:





Does anyone have a remedy? It looks like a hardened pin might help?


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## GailInNM (Nov 14, 2011)

smfr,
Perhaps you could do something like this that I used for a one inch vice with similar construction. The bracket can be very thin as it takes no load. It just keeps the pin square with the notches. Makes life a lot easier.

http://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/index.php?topic=10480.msg115163#msg115163

Gail in NM


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## mzetati (Nov 14, 2011)

A portion of the shank from an 8mm broken mill worked for me.
Marcello


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## Ned Ludd (Nov 14, 2011)

Best thing to do is junk the little pin and make one long enough to go through from one side to the other. These vices are very useful but are a pain, as supplied, because the teeny little pin keeps coming out of its slot when you loosen the screw, but having a long pin solves the problem. 
Ned


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## pete (Nov 14, 2011)

I built a new nut? for my cheaper screwless out of mild steel and then flycut the sides till it fits the slot a lot tighter. Problem solved. In hindsight you could probably rough up the sides of the original nut and just epoxy some metal to each side and then fly cut that to size. There's no real stress on that area, It's just to keep the pin aligned with the slots. As an upgrade to these cheaper screwless vices, I bought an Accupro 4" a few years ago. I'm still impressed with it's quality and smoothness of operation today. One more tip, For any high use threads like on these vices, machine tool axis locks etc. It's a good idea to keep the threads lubed with a light weight oil. They work better, And the male/female threads will last far longer than if their run without lube. 

Pete


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## /// (Nov 14, 2011)

GailInNM  said:
			
		

> smfr,
> Perhaps you could do something like this that I used for a one inch vice with similar construction. The bracket can be very thin as it takes no load. It just keeps the pin square with the notches. Makes life a lot easier.
> 
> http://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/index.php?topic=10480.msg115163#msg115163
> ...



Gail that is worth karma!
Definitely will be making one of your carriers, thanks!


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## ironman (Nov 14, 2011)

I did mine like Ned said. Haven't had any problem with it for years.

Ray


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## /// (Nov 15, 2011)

Not being critical, just wondering, perhaps I missed something....

With Ned's method, when you need to open/close the jaws further and are forced to extract and move the pin to another hole, isn't the 'nut' now free to move? Don't much like the thought of having to 'thread the needle' as it were... or maybe you need to un-clamp the vice? 

If that is the case, I'm definitely going with Gail or Pete's method.


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## Ned Ludd (Nov 15, 2011)

Hi Guys,
I suppose it depends how you use your vice. I use mine for repetition jobs, so I don't need to remove the pin till the next operation comes along. Even then it is no great problem to thread the pin in, all it needs is a taper on one end.
I still think the advantages of a long pin outweigh the disadvantages. (sounds like the basis for a bad joke, but I will leave that to your imagination)
Ned


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## BMyers (Nov 15, 2011)

I fixed my by making a new pin with a flat that the grub screw could engage. I also added a small bushing to keep everything from moving.
First photo shows the vise assembled
Second photo shows the modified clamp.


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## Mosey (Nov 15, 2011)

Thanks, Gail! I have the exact same problem. Cheap vise, had it ground on top, but you gotta make the piece to keep it straight. I'm gonna run downstairs and make it now.


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## smfr (Nov 19, 2011)

Here's my repair. Used a bit of 3/4" stainless (not sure which alloy; it was an estate sale find, but it machines really nicely). Chucked it up, turned a portion to about 0.5", and threaded M6 1.0:





Put the cross-slide at 45deg and did the shoulder, which resulted in this:





Chucked it up the other around, indicating for center (my 3-jaw doesn't have reversible jaws, so working close to the middle is a pain, hence the 4-jaw):





and rounded the end in stages, with cuts at various angles obtained by angling the cross-slide, with some filing at the end. Now I have this:





Put it back in the soon-to-be-less-annyoing vise, and milled about 90thou off each side:





and made a pin from 1/4" drill rod. Oddly, the holes in the vise are just under 1/4" (maybe distortion from heat treatment?) so I had to turn down the ends of the pin a little.

I then drilled and undersize-reamed a 1/4" hole, and pressed the pin in:





It then took some fiddling to get it to fit the vise smoothly; the slot in the vise actually wasn't centered, so the pin has to stick out one side a bit more, and I had to stone down the vise slot at one end so this part can slide all the way to the end. Boy the vise metal is hard!

It seems quite a bit better, but time will tell if it solves all the problems.


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## pete (Nov 19, 2011)

An attaboy from me, Other than being stainless that looks very close to what I built. And yeah, Those vices are really hard. I had to stone off a few pimples also from that internal slot.

Pete


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