Record Bench Vice Restoration

Ulma Doctor said:
i'm seeing the same thing Ken
the base casting will need fill up work as well, i surmise.
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Yeah, Agree. I'm visualizing two worn grooves in the base casting about the width of the thin jaw rail. If that's the case, I would find some one with shaper and have them shape two flat grooves about 1/2" wide and just deep enough to accept a piece of 1/8" x 1/2" brass flat bar and compensate for the machining of the jaw. An bolt the brass flat bar in with some small brass flat head screws spaced about 1" apart on each end. Second though may not have enough room to do that on one end. Be no problem to glue down and use the jaw as a holddown to get the brass shims set in place.
 
Yes the moving raw just runs on the thin side walls I have just machined. They are about 8mm wide and there was a lot of wear at the jaw end where it obviously get used more (i.e. the jaws only opening a couple of inches, not the full 9 inch travel most of the time).
The moving jaw also only touches/bears on the base at a couple of places (the red circles - about 40mm long at the front and 20mm at the rear) with the rest of the base being recessed. And at the back only until the jaw is about 1/3 open then it 'tips' and lifts off the bearing area at the back bottom and touches at the back top.

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The more I look at the base though the more I think the vice has been abused in its past life and the whole yellow circled part of the base appears to have been bend down slightly - so the Jaw misalignment is not solely due to wear.

The plan for now is to:
- Machine the bottom of the base to ensure it is flat and level
- Machine the bearing surfaces in the base to at least give a flat surface for the shim to bed down on
- Make a shim/wear plate for the front of a thickness as necessary to align the jaws
- Make a shim/wear plate for the rear of a thickness to give just enough clearance at the top so that when the jaw extends past it's balance point it doesn't tip significantly.

Beginning to think I paid too much for this vice - But I'll get there and make it usable.
 
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Been pottering away here and there on the vice in the evenings. Milled the bottom and bearing pads of the body, and roughed up two brass wear blocks for the moving jaw to run on. Still have to attach them and mill them back to final size
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Also started the cleaning up of the quick release mechanism. This had been welded up so that the half nut wouldn't release so I had cut the operating handle free from the bracket with a few small cutting wheels in a dremel tool.

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Then a quick sand blast of all the component before I start removing all the weld remnants.

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Painted up the vice, ground the jaws to tide them up, greased and reassembled and fixed it to my bench - job complete.

It has been a much bigger project than originally intended:
- milled the bottom of the moving jaw to remove wear and flatten it up
- milled the base of the body to level it up and have it sit square
- un-welded the half nut and quick release leaver
- milled additional clearance under the vice for the quick release mechanism
- ground off the burrs on the half net and main screw
- made up brass blocks to align the jaws again (fixed with countersunk screws)
- milled the end and slot of the jaw screws to tidy them up (they are a strange thread so couldn't easily be replaced)
- surface ground the removable jaws to remove most of the scares
- drilled out the ceased oil hole set screw in the movable jaw, retapped and fitted a new set screw
- re-painted the vice in original colour
- made up some step washer for mounting to my bench

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Certainly LOOKS a lot better. Does the sliding member of the vise fit up to a good,sliding fit with the "tunnel" through the vise's body? Since you machined the whole length of the bottom of the sliding member,I'd think you need to shin BOTH ends.

Can the sliding jaw be shaken sideways,or TILTED sideways a bit? If so,shim the other side of the vise's body. I hope this is clear. You have probably figured it out anyway.

That fairly THIN sticking out "tongue" that holds the sliding jaw up is a WEAK design feature on that Record vise. Obviously it was not strong enough to resist bending down.
 
There is a bit of slop in the tunnel, I initially glued in a strip of 0.2mm teflon on each side but that was too much so it jammed and was ripped out. I will likely try again when I find some thinner shim stock.
In hindsight one thing I didn't check/correct was if there was any wear in the moving jaw guide (i.e. is the top unpainted part of the moving jaw). There may be some variation in width along its length due to years of wear.
 
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Normally I'm not a fan of reviving old threads unless there is further good information to share. I'll make an exception in this case.

I had read this thread and was a bit jealous of that nice old British vice. I had to wait while my daughter was at an appointment the other day. Lowes was nearby so I decided to pass the time browsing there. Lo and behold, I found a six inch "Irwin Record" vise - made in China priced at $79.00.

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Now that got me to thinking. I never thought I'd get my hands on a Record vise but I surely could afford that.


Made me think of another British product I know I'll never be able to afford - a Rolls Royce. However, if I wait until the Chinese version comes out I can probably swing it:

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