# Refurbing A Found Union Mfg Precision Vise.



## astroracer (Apr 17, 2016)

I found this vice Friday at a big indoor antique mall near Flint. $35 bucks to much?


The clamp jaw was rusted pretty solid and the whole thing was pretty crusty but I saw potential...


It took a couple of hours today to get the slide loosened up and removed. You can see where it was sitting. 


I used a bunch of steel cutoffs and a wedge to get it apart.


With everything stripped off it was time to start refinishing. The bottom of the slide was nasty...


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## astroracer (Apr 17, 2016)

The process I used to clean this up was to soak the parts in Simple Green for 15 or 20 minutes then scrub the parts with ScotchBrite and a toothbrush to degrease them.
 After degreasing I hit most everything with a flap wheel on the 4" grinder to knock off all of the big rust.
 Then I soaked everything in Metal Ready to remove the left over rust and get the parts ready for Black Oxide.


 Starting the Black Oxide dip.


 This went pretty quick once I got the thing apart... Everything is Black Oxided and sealed.








 I wire brushed and Metal Readied the handle to get it ready for paint. I sprayed it flat black to sort of match the rest of the body. That will be the only thing I have to finish tomorrow. I will spray a couple of heavy coats of matte clear on it to seal it up.
It's still wet in the pic.


 I'll post up pics after asm tomorrow.
Mark


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## T Bredehoft (Apr 17, 2016)

Not only is your presentation top notch, your vice is unusual. It appears to be an adjustable quick lock vise used for production. Put the part in, located against a stop (not present, or built into the interchangeable jaw inserts) clamp, preform the operation, (drill, tap, mill, grind, whatever) open, remove part, insert new part, clamp release.
That would be a nice vice to have for short runs. 

Nice find.


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## John Hasler (Apr 17, 2016)

I hope you didn't use the flap disk on the sliding surfaces.  The phosphoric acid would have removed all the rust (though it's quicker if you wire-brush the scale off).


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## John Hasler (Apr 17, 2016)

T Bredehoft said:


> That would be a nice vice to have for short runs.


That would be a nice vise to have, full stop.


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## LucknowKen (Apr 17, 2016)

That would be a great addition to any metal shop.
Great thread pics. Thanks for sharing.


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## wawoodman (Apr 17, 2016)

Obviously, you paid too much. But don't worry; I'm such a nice guy, I'll give you $40!


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## astroracer (Apr 17, 2016)

John Hasler said:


> I hope you didn't use the flap disk on the sliding surfaces.  The phosphoric acid would have removed all the rust (though it's quicker if you wire-brush the scale off).


Hi John, no flap wheel on the sliding surfaces. Actually I scrapped those a bit before the acid bath. There was a lot of build up and it needed to come off. Especially around the slide where it was rusted down. I have it together now and it works great! I'll post up some pics later after I get them loaded.
Mark
Hi Mike, just saw your offer...  I knew 35 was a bit much but now I have about 10 hours of work into this thing so I would have to ask at least 45... Sorry.


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## astroracer (May 21, 2016)

I just noticed i never posted pics of the finished vise.
 Here they are you wouldn't even recognize it from it's former sadness...
 When I brought it home Friday afternoon...


 And two days later. All cleaned up and fully useable!


 It went back together easily and the slide NOW works as it is supposed too. It does take some effort, which is good, as that means it is still pretty tight. This is a very fine addition to my collection.





Thanks for looking.
Mark


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## FOMOGO (May 21, 2016)

Great job on the restoration Mark. Always nice to see an old, neglected tool brought back to life, and put back to work. Let us know how it works out on the mill. Cheers, Mike


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## bfd (Nov 2, 2016)

anybody can buy a new vice but to restore is special


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## astroracer (Nov 2, 2016)

Thank You Guys. The vise works great. I think I am going to make a mounting plate for it like my other milling vise. The "plate" is dowel pinned to the table so it is a no brainer to get the vise squared up after removing it. Just pop it back on with the doweled plate.
Mark


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