Made alum. vise jaws... and now I see how wildly off my vise is...

[mmcmdl]

You know I have vises down here .

 

[woodchucker]

I would take it over to a hydraulic press, rig it up so that you can take that bend out, and slowly put pressure on it. I would cover it with a few towels, so that if it does go, it's controlled.

 

[r-mm]

Regardless of whether the beam is bent there is a tremendous amount of play in the movable jaw you can see perhaps in these two photos that I can lift it easily a half inch or more. Normal?

 

[woodchucker]

lift doesn't matter. when there is pressure on the jaws, it's pushing the moveable jaw down, it's not usually lifting it up.

 

[mmcmdl]

Looks like a Wilton 4500 I have down here . Is that a Wilton ?

 

[MrWhoopee]

I bent my Littletown (?) bench vise while attempting to straighten some 6mm plate pieces on my wood splitter. I straightened the beam of the vise as best I could, then milled the jaw pocket parallel to the fixed jaw. Closes better than it has since I've owned it.

 

[Larry$]

I'd put it on the mill, clamp something low in the jaws and mill them straight. Take a top cut to even them up. Wouldn't take long. Cast mills easily. Won't be like new but will work. I suspect the wear is significant.
Straightening looks difficult and cast is prone to breaking. I'm surprised that isn't broken. Must be good cast iron.

 

[brino]

Is that a Wilton ?

No Dave I believe he said Columbian, but I do see many similarities.....

Brian

 

[silence dogood]

I've sometimes wondered why a vice squad never goes after vise abuse. Seriously though, I think that the vise is the most abuse tool in the shop. People beat on them, use them as bending brakes, anvils, arbor presses, etc. etc. Though the years, I have acquired a number of vises that people have thrown out. Have taken apart to clean and repair if possible. Bent handle the most common. Second, a broken or stripped nut. Related to the nut, a stripped screw. A bent or twisted jaw in relation the ram. This bent ram is a new one to me. Never came across a broken jaw, but I know that has happened. Another weak spot is the so-called anvil on the vise. There is only about a 1/4"of metal there.
Conclusion, I keep nearby (1) an arbor press, besides it works better especially for bearings. (2) an anvil, even a small one has a lot more metal (3) a torch for heating thick metal for bending. Oh, yah. I don't use a cheater pipe.

 

[mmcmdl]

No Dave I believe he said Columbian, but I do see many similarities.....

Thanks Brian , I missed that in the original post . The Columbian looks identical to the the Wilton in the way it's made . Looks to be a channel and somewhat light weight beam . I could see that bending when cranking down on the vise . Looks like both have the two range widths also . I'll bet someone went over board while the vise was set out to 9" range .