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[PeterDRG]

Hi
I´m Peter. I live in Istria and fortunately brought a lot of kit with me when I came here. It was just as well as, apart from the shipyards down in Pula, there isn't much industry here and consequently little access to the sources of materials that I was used to.
One thing that I am stumped for is drawings, or at least pictures of a similar milling machine vice that I need to make. The castings came from College Engineering (CES) 30 years ago and are nicely matured ! CES no longer do them. I've emailed someone on eBay who apparently did castings for CES but haven't heard back yet.
Has anyone made one or could point me in the right direction please ?

 

[stevehuckss396]

Hello Peter!

Cant help with the vise but welcome to the forum.

 

[PeterDRG]

Hello Peter!

Cant help with the vise but welcome to the forum.

Thank you !

 

[deeferdog]

I look forward to seeing what you do with the vice Peter, and thanks to you and Mr Google, I now know where Istria is. Good to have you aboard.

 

[awake]

I look forward to seeing what you do with the vice Peter, and thanks to you and Mr Google, I now know where Istria is. Good to have you aboard.

Likewise on both accounts - welcome!

 

[goldstar31]

Has anyone made one or could point me in the right direction please ?View attachment 125527View attachment 125528View attachment 125529

When I was a lad EVERY apprentice fitter in the UK made one as one of his tasks.

I recall picking up raw, part finished or poorly completely made vices at the local college.
I picked them up and threw them back as worthless scrap.

I did recall pickimg up about 90% of a poor set of the original Westbury mill drill, bought the headstock casting from Woking Precision Models then in business in Edinburh and machined them all at the evening class. I bought the part castings as scrap metal.
"ned' Westbury published the drawings both in Model Engineer and also as a blue print. I seem to recall that there was a vice and a rotary table in the publications
I was then an accountant- not an apprentice.
There should be plenty of inform,ation- if tou are persistent

Norman

 

[PeterDRG]

I am being very persistent ! I have checked all my extensive collection of model engineering books, Googled it and asked on forums, all to no avail. There must have been thousands made, yet none show up. I've even emailed Kirk at Hemingway, to see if he knows who did CES´ś castings. There can´t be many foundries left in their neck of the woods and they are not far from each other.
Thanks anyway.

 

[goldstar31]

Peter
Frankly, I can't see your reasoning as you have the castings and seem to want the drawings.

My thoughts are that there is very little work to make the ????????? THTREE bits of the vice.

Perhaps, I am missing something- or perhaps the WHOLE story is yet to be told
There's a somewhat cockeyed logic but the castings were made on patterns which allowed for shrinkage whe the metal was dropped and then enough allowances were created to allow for the final machining.

Regards

Norman

 

[PeterDRG]

Yes. I have the castings. I have had them for 30 years and now have a need for this vice as it is the right size for what I need. When I bought them, I would have had drawings, but these have long since disappeared. It is a pity that CES changed hands as I knew the previous owner well.
At the moment, it is not obvious how the sliding jaw needs machining. How is the sliding jaw prevented from lifting ? Dovetails ? Vaguely similar vices seem to run in straight slides rather than dovetails. How is the drive screw secured ? I can guess some of it but not all.
Why the strange comment about WHOLE story ?
It is a set of castings for which I would like to see the drawings !

 

[goldstar31]

Peter
Thank you for clarfying things for my aged brain

Best Wishes in your quest

norman

 

[PeterDRG]

Mine will be 74 next week !

 

[Steamchick]

Hello Peter,
So Goldstar is old enough to be your father...? He may be old, but has experience from the Second World war era - not many can say that now!
Respect to you Norman!
It does look like the vice should have dovetails to secure the slide: I have a small bench vice made by step-son when he was an apprentice: Do you want photos? Not quite the same design, so probably not relevant. There will be lots of pictures on the net, so browse a bit more and see what the "good ones" are like?
Here's a picture of one that looks to be square slides, not dovetailed:
And a tale of "lifting" vices...
https://www.model-engineer.co.uk/forums/postings.asp?th=123593Just a guess, but a correctly fitted screw supported in good bearings at both ends will considerably prevent "lifting". - But if made as a crude shaft in drilled hole will permit some lift.
Hope this helps?
K2

 

[PeterDRG]

Thank you. Yes, I would appreciate photos, please. Your links and links from them have turned up a lot of useful information. Sometimes it is just using different search criteria. If I cannot find the drawings, at least I am getting design information. I have been trying everything that I could think of, even to searching Companies House for former directors details to find a current address for Howard as CES have confirmed that they no longer have the drawings.

 

[Whittler]

Hello Peter, I was not an apprentice but the attached vice is one I made from CES castings and drawings some years ago, although I think I bought them off eBay, I can’t recall. The base of the vice looks bit different from yours, and the slide ways are square. Is this of use?



regards
Paul

 

[goldstar31]

Peter

What about an advert om Home Workshop.co. UJK?.
It is the advert site of the son of the late John Stevenson MBE ? Moror Bike Engineer_

I answered a weird ad for information on a bloke's compass and inclinometer which probably used by the Royal Observer Corps when the South Coast radar sttations were knocked out by Stukas in the battle of Britain. I worked out the trig and calulated on the possible wings[an as a side of a triangle on a He111K bomber/

Believe me, there are a lot of ild farts who can recall far more thi ngs like vices.

Now then Stubbs Gazette from the Olden Days will have lots of things like debts and b ankrupcies and liquidations. Where? Betcha Ken walked past it on the way to RAF Hendon.

The Magazine section of the British Library in Aerodrome Road in Colindale NW9.

ETC

Norman

 

[dnalot]

Welcome to the forum Peter

Soak those rusty parts in vinegar over night and the rust will be gone to the bone.

Mark T

 

[Steamchick]

You wanted some pictures of the vice my step-son made as an apprentice. It lives on the bench - used frequently, as a third hand.
K2

 

[PeterDRG]

Hello Peter, I was not an apprentice but the attached vice is one I made from CES castings and drawings some years ago, although I think I bought them off eBay, I can’t recall. The base of the vice looks bit different from yours, and the slide ways are square. Is this of use?

View attachment 125688View attachment 125689

regards
Paul

Thank you for these. Do you have a sheet with dimensions please ?
Cheers
Peter

 

[PeterDRG]

You wanted some pictures of the vice my step-son made as an apprentice. It lives on the bench - used frequently, as a third hand.
K2
View attachment 125694View attachment 125695
View attachment 125696 View attachment 125697

Thank you ! More ideas !
Cheers
Peter

 

[Whittler]

Thank you for these. Do you have a sheet with dimensions please ?
Cheers
Peter

Peter, I have the drawings for the vice I made. I will try to contact you directl.

Paul