Vice Bank: too good to be true.

So the vise bodies cannot be separated from the common shared base at all short of cutting?
 
That is exactly the problem.

I have now hoisted the beast out of the boot of the Jag (if my wife finds out how I brought it home, she will not be happy) and set it on a work bench for cleaning. With a little wire wool and WD40 it's looking half decent now.

The base isn't actually solid. I think it's cast iron and it has a sort-of web-like pattern, so cutting might not be as much of a nightmare as I'd first supposed. I am, however, still reluctant to chop it up because I don't need to ( I have a decent machine vice already) and it seems a shame to destroy it.

The three vices have, I think, been used to hold a part with a specific shape. The rear, fixed, jaws all look to be original and are aligned. Each of the three moveable jaws has been modified. I guess that the vice bank was set up for making something that had a particular shape and, when the job was done, the company simply got rid it. Either that, or there were three milling processes, each requiring differently shaped jaws.

I think that one could buy, or make, more conventional square jaws without much difficulty, so that all three of the vices still have useful potential. I imagine that, if one wanted to work on a long part, the set-up could give superb rigidity.

If anyone is interested in the detail of the jaws, I'll go out to the workshop and take some more pictures.

It's a devil of a heavy lump. At one point I had it on a sack truck, with a chain around it to stop it from falling forwards. I laid the sack truck down and it nipped the chain against the truck: I couldn't even lift the end by an inch to get the chain free.... If nothing else, I've bought a cheap anvil!

Kind wishes,

Nick
 
"sack truck" = wheel barrow????
 
If the wife complains about hauling the vice in the Jag, remind her that a lot of bodies that weigh that much have probably been moved that way and nobody has heard of permanent damage being done to any cars.

Just trying to help...
 
Knowing that 6" vises weigh +/- 90 pounds and even a webbed iron plate that's m-o-l 12" x 22" is minimum 60 lbs; I have to ask. Picture isn't clear; is not the iron a subplate, with vises capscrewed & likely doweled to it?
No saw required, just an engine hoist to roll it over, have a go at the fasteners.
 
That vise bank might have some vital aircraft part.
Might even have been for hurricanes or spitfires.
 
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