Restoring a post leg vice

[Arclikeharrypotter]

That was run at 125 dcep. Sounds a little low on juice but I could really see it burning in. That was v up

 

[Kent]

Not sure what these are made of but I should first of all warm it up a fair bit to help with cold cracking and use a 6013 rod to hopefully get some "dilution?" electrode positive for sure ep is when your bodging up a big gap not fixing vice Jaws.

Just a punt mind without knowing exactly what it is. I have two peter Wright post vices and had to do a fair bit of reforging on one but no welding..

Best of luck, I think under the level of damage to the Jaws it had I would have kept the good bits as parts though.

 

[Screwdriver]

Well unfortunately, despite all the research and helpful advice, nothing really changed.

By a sheer stroke of luck, everything was set exactly as it should have been! 140A, DCEN. I don't know how that happened. I was twiddling the amperage during the video but the machine is nearly always set to AC for TiG welding aluminium. I must have done some DC welding steel bits last thing before it got forgotten about.

So I think it boils down to inexperience. I just don't do that much stick, not that my TIG or MIG is any better mind. Anyhow, here's a slice:

It all gets ground off next and I want to give it a good grinding to see if there's any spots need filling up. Whatever happens though, I can't see that jaw falling off any time soon.

<edit> actually you can see the "undercut" I am referring to on the main body. Out of focus in the picture above but it's there. I "know" if I try to fill it, the next run will produce a result exactly like that and just "dig in" to the soft casting. Maybe I should MIG it and/or grind it down to remove the stress riser at such a critical point.

 

[Richard.]

Not sure what these are made of but I should first of all warm it up a fair bit to help with cold cracking

This.
That should of absolutely being heated up to 100°c and held to soak for an hour. It’s obviously a high carbon steel to break like it did. My first thought was cast iron but your grinding sparks confirmed probably a cast steel. Still should of been heated though.


Also I don’t wanna come accross like a HnS **** but welding in an area like that is just asking for trouble. That bench was a total tip and fully loaded with combustible materials. I know you don’t do loads of welding but oily, greasy materials, rags, packaging etc will soon see your pride possessions up in flames if you make a habit of it. You want a nice clear bench if your going to weld and grind.

 

[Screwdriver]

This.
That should of absolutely being heated up to 100°c and held to soak for an hour. It’s obviously a high carbon steel to break like it did. My first thought was cast iron but your grinding sparks confirmed probably a cast steel. Still should of been heated though.


Also I don’t wanna come accross like a HnS **** but welding in an area like that is just asking for trouble. That bench was a total tip and fully loaded with combustible materials. I know you don’t do loads of welding but oily, greasy materials, rags, packaging etc will soon see your pride possessions up in flames if you make a habit of it. You want a nice clear bench if your going to weld and grind.

Interesting observation re: sparks. I'll have a look myself.

You're dead right about the state of the bench and I do have to pop out every so often to make sure it's not on fire (I'm not kidding).

But speaking of HnS, I managed to ping a huge chunk of slag right into my boot. Damn shame I didn't have the camera rolling, probably the funniest thing that's happened in there. Burned a hole through the sock, into the boot and into my leg!

Hopped sharpish to the bathroom to pick out the plastic, clean it, run cold water. I think I'll live but that was one of my favourite legs. It hurts like, well, it hurts a LOT!

Here's some of the shrapnel.

I get surprisingly thick slag off these rods and this was a particularly big one. I was practicing boobies and managed to create a really decent one.

That's it for today though. I was trying to level up the jaws because they're off. Probably took some effort to break the thing in the first place and I had assumed they'd match if I was careful to reposition the jaw where it had been.

Oh well. Live and learn. I think I'll get it back together and do a really good tidy up before disaster strikes (again).

Better nip back out and make sure it's not smouldering anywhere. Like I say, I don't do much stick, I'm basically all TIG. These dangers have literally caught me on the hop...

 

[Screwdriver]

Oh and while we're at it, there must be some expert opinions here, based on experience: what's the best way to treat a minor burn like this? Other than not setting fire to yourself in the first place. Richard has covered that...

 

[Richard.]

Interesting observation re: sparks. I'll have a look myself.

Yeah they looked quite yellow/orange and plenty of them so I’d say almost certainly a steel and the fact it’s a brittle break would suggest a cast possibly high carbon. Some research would probably confirm. Based on this limited observation in the video I’d say you’ve hit it with a good consumable 7016.
I would of definitely pre heated given the thickness of it and possible higher than normal carbon content to reduce the fast cooling and cold cracking just as Kent pointed out. It may very well crack again under loading who knows.
Yes the hns thing wasn’t me being an **** I just know how easy it is for a single spark to ruin your life. I had a rag go up the other week that was laying on the side while mig welding. My place is always clean and clear mind so I just flicked it on the flooor and stamped it out.

 

[Richard.]

Oh and while we're at it, there must be some expert opinions here, based on experience: what's the best way to treat a minor burn like this? Other than not setting fire to yourself in the first place. Richard has covered that...

Cold water 10mins. Keep it clean, try not to break the skin. Burns are the worst for getting infected once the skin has broken

 

[Screwdriver]

No I appreciate the telling off. You are dead right, it's not a suitable space for stick welding. I had been tempted to move the project into Ye Olde Forge which is essentially being fireproofed (well there's a fully concreted/brickwall section for hot stuff).

I ran it under the cold tap for a few minutes, washed off with medicated soap. The skin is not broken, looks like a plastic burn, I certainly had to rip something off in a hurry. I thought it was skin, might have been sock!

A fire in there would not be funny. I daren't say what's in there to be honest and am too embarrassed to say what was within hot slag distance. I'm going to call this an epiphany and a watershed moment for the, err, shed. It really needs a damned good tidy up. I keep saying it and I keep not doing it. Now is the time...

 

[MattF]

That's it for today though. I was trying to level up the jaws because they're off. Probably took some effort to break the thing in the first place and I had assumed they'd match if I was careful to reposition the jaw where it had been.

It looked like you'd left a large gap between the rear of the insert and the jaw. That's likely why it's off kilter, as it'll be facing downwards.

 

[Screwdriver]

It looked like you'd left a large gap between the rear of the insert and the jaw. That's likely why it's off kilter, as it'll be facing downwards.

Yeah, in hindsight I think you may be right. That's a better scenario than it having been horribly mullered. I can fix it with a bit of build up but I'm not going to fuss with it too much. It will do for what I need.

 

[Screwdriver]

Anyway, for the record, even a small wound like this has the capacity to go bad or be a pain in the **** for weeks so I hit it with everything I've got. That includes a decent St. Johns first aid kit.

Sterile wipe (it had started weeping).
Sterile Burnshield pad, for which I just ordered up some replacements.

Simple dressing (actually used an eye patch bandage/pad which was the best fit).

Feels right this morning, dressing still looks good. I'll open it up and re dress it this evening. Sounds like overkill but burns are a law unto themselves and can go horribly wrong if you don't treat them seriously.

I'm selling some stuff and meeting up with my overseas buyer later this morning. Then the workshop tidy begins...

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

Those vices look good when finished polished with high graphite fire black paste.
I still have 3 in the garden to clean, strip the paint and make good.

 

[mrsbruce]

Anyway, for the record, even a small wound like this has the capacity to go bad or be a pain in the **** for weeks so I hit it with everything I've got. That includes a decent St. Johns first aid kit.

Sterile wipe (it had started weeping).
Sterile Burnshield pad, for which I just ordered up some replacements.

Simple dressing (actually used an eye patch bandage/pad which was the best fit).

Feels right this morning, dressing still looks good. I'll open it up and re dress it this evening. Sounds like overkill but burns are a law unto themselves and can go horribly wrong if you don't treat them seriously.

I'm selling some stuff and meeting up with my overseas buyer later this morning. Then the workshop tidy begins...

You can almost guarantee that burn will get infected if ignored. Feet, socks, and boots are happy breeding grounds for bacteria, so you are not being excessive.

Never underestimate burns, and never ignore them.

Mother/matron talk over, back to work......

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

Once it is scabbed over, use E45 cream on it.

 

[mpats]

Once it is scabbed over, use E45 cream on it.

This is good advice.
Keep it clean, keep an eye on it and when its scabbed over apply e45 to reduce scarring.

Nice work on the vice by the way. I quite enjoyed your video.

 

[Screwdriver]

Ok so while it's fair to say my welding could hardly get much worse, it did actually get quite a lot better.

Obviously the build up isn't as hard as the original jaws but they're still under there somewhere so we'll just have ti see how they stand up to abuse.

First time ever it seemed a shame to grind off the weld rather than grind it off to avoid being shamed.

The rest of this ancient mechanism is in surprisingly good condition.

The monster lives!

Now I just need to build a similarly over engineered stand for it and find a spot in Ye Olde Forge.

S.

 

[Richard.]

That’s a nice clad repair.
It’s cleaned up well.
Doesn’t matter if it’s not as tough as the original. You’ve built it up with weld so once you’ve banged a few dents in it you weld it again.

 

[Screwdriver]

It IS a monster too. Proper six inch vice weighing in at way over 50kg. Here it is next to a typical four inch post leg vice.

Looks like a parallax error or a trick of the camera. It's not. You can pick up a couple of those four inch vices with one hand. The six inch is a struggle to lift at all. I'm vacillating between having a movable stand or just bite the bullet and bolt something into the floor. Bit tricky with pavers so it might end up being semi-portable on a floor plate.

 

[Screwdriver]

That’s a nice clad repair.
It’s cleaned up well.
Doesn’t matter if it’s not as tough as the original. You’ve built it up with weld so once you’ve banged a few dents in it you weld it again.

Thanks. Not bad for twenty quid.