Arc welding a broken vice

[Gareth J]

how that going to help if hes using a scafold bar

Ahhhh, but the stubby handle will be a visual reminder NOT to put a bar on it again!

 

[Rudi McAnichal]

I rather meant "gluing" to cover whichever metal sticking technique was chosen.!

Being perverse by nature, I was reading from right to left, so I picked up your phrase about plating over the join and spreading the load, and only noticed the “glue” word afterwards.

Possibly a simple steel plate on the top surface over the break, without removing any metal from the casting, would be sufficient. Could be very quickly stuck on by glue, welding, brazing, etc. Must be worth a try, especially as the broken object is a treasured family heirloom, that will presumably be treated quite gently in future.

 

[Rob85]

Rig up a forge, make up some rivets and plates and put it back together like how they built the titanic?

 

[Liam567]

You could try using a 299 rod for dissimilar steel

 

[Bsmith]

Can be successfully welded with oxy/ acet cast iron welding rods. I did one that was thrown out from a workshop a long time back, it's still lasting. Break was veed, propane torch till red around break area, then gas welded with square cast iron welding rods and flux. There is plenty of space where break is for extra build up of weld. I do believe that is the only way. One of my old bosses welded 2 vices successfully before I attempted that one.

 

[gordon stephenson]

Strange, In the original photo, Quite a heavy casting broken, but the handle , despite the scaffold tube is still straight,

 

[gt6s]

My old 114 and 25 take a battering without any complaints, anything really brutal happens in the 114.

Famous last words.

Laurence

 

[Rig Pig]

Famous last words.

Laurence

Maybe! The 114 is steel so it should be a bit tougher than CI.

 

[phill d]

well i went ahead and welded the vice back together with the arc welder wound up to full wallop (120 amp) , used cheap and cheerful 6013 rods and its perfectly good enough..ground down the nasty bit of weld where i went a bit mad and its now a useable vice again. i was not expecting it be anywhere near as good as it turned, but rather than try using this for strong stuff again i bought a realy nice fully restored Parkinson's SAMSONI PERFECT vice, ( i got two of them from same bloke, so i had one my mate has the other ) miles better than my old record vice, made much stronger material, and also since getting that i was giving another large RECORD vice that was in a terrible state due to being left outside half buried in a garden for many years, it was either me have it and make use of it or it webnt in the skip... (never let a vice go in a skip).... it took me nearly 2 hours to get anything moving so i could get it apart to clean it up. Smacking it back and forth with a club hammer to get the screw moving to open jaws etc, then using a manual impact driver to get the screws and bolt heads moving without snapping anything. could not even see the make of it at first.. after a bit of a clean up clean up its a RECORD 23 vice, big old chunk and like the SAMSONIA PERFECT VICE its a quick release vice !.......... now just needs a nice coat of paint and i think its going to be either dark green or light blue the same as my progress drill, only decent metal paints i have hanging around. below are pics of the Samsonia bolted to the bench (Blue vice ) and the record before and after a clean up then it sitting on top of the Samsonia....

 

[phill d]

Here's what I would do/suggest:

Touch the metal with a grinder, if the sparks are red then it's cast iron and it won't be so easy to repair. If they're white/yellow then use a 7018 rod to weld it having first spent a very long time V-ing it out so you get penetrated well in (ideally all the way). If you want you can then smooth everything over and add paint and make it look almost as though it never happened.

Then buy a much bigger vice to use for being rough with and keep this for sentimental reasons and small jobs which are within its limits - which are likely to be lower unless it welds nicely and you make the weld full thickness.

exactly what i have done, got bigger vice and use the repaired one just on the drill table for light stuff.

 

[zeppelin builder]

prep it set it up get it dull red and weld it with 7018 and keep it in the fire to cool amps will be a lot lower than normal of course
best on electrode negative .

 

[Shedendman]

It took you 6 years?

 

[Turbo]

It took you 6 years?

It is cast iron, you have to weld a small section at a time & let it cool before welding the next bit!

 

[JOEPRO]

Sentimental value didn't apply when the 4 foot bar was applied

Good used vices are cheap to be got it wasn't worth welding IMO and could snap when being used. Swap the jaw out for another and keep the welded one on shelf as a reminder but don't use it

 

[fizzy]

It took you 6 years?

Sounds like me

 

[Cobbler]

It took you 6 years?

Sounds like me

You have to let it season, a bit like fine wine …….. & wallpaper,

you can’t rush these things

 

[Alan Reynolds]

If you are going to do stuff like that get yourself a floor mount blacksmiths vice. Then let us see you break that.

Laurence

That was going to be my suggestion. I’d forgotten how heavy they are until I had to move mine the other day. I do’t think you can break a blacksmith’s vice, only bend the handle.

 

[zeppelin builder]

Rig up a forge, make up some rivets and plates and put it back together like how they built the titanic?

aye but not the same batch number

 

[500e]

Can be successfully welded with oxy/ acet cast iron welding rods. I did one that was thrown out from a workshop a long time back, it's still lasting. Break was veed, propane torch till red around break area, then gas welded with square cast iron welding rods and flux. There is plenty of space where break is for extra build up of weld. I do believe that is the only way. One of my old bosses welded 2 vices successfully before I attempted that one.

Are they silver colored and rough finish?.
If so I might have some but no flux

 

[Bsmith]

Are they silver colored and rough finish?.
If so I might have some but no flux

Yes they are, look a bit like tinmans solder sticks. They are not exactly square, squareish and you revolve them in your hand so you are stirring the weld pool and bringing the bright spots (which are bits of carbon) to the surface of the weld. I don't know if you can still buy the flux, IIRC my tin rusted till the bottom fell out of it.