Bench Vice

[Garno]

I have an Irwin Record bench vice and would like to know is it ok to leave something in it for a few days at a or would the tension cause damage to the thread?


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[Tasky]

I cannot imagine how this would be a problem, unless it's a reeeeeeeeeeeally cheap vice or if you left it reeeeeeeeeeeally tightened up?
You keep your vice properly lubed and everything, right?

 

[Garno]

You keep your vice properly lubed and everything, right?

 

[MikeG.]

You can abuse those things just as much as you like. You can't do them any harm. leaving it cranked up tight isn't abusing it.

 

[Tasky]

I imagine there comes a point where the cast iron will eventually crack?
Certainly a PO looks to have dropped mine at some stage...

 

[ED65]

I imagine there comes a point where the cast iron will eventually crack?

I'm not sure that's necessarily the case. It's certainly nothing to concern oneself with, regardless if the vice is quite old. In the normal course of events the lifespan of vices can stretch to more than a century even with heavy, sustained use.

We've all seen pics of some of the classic early vices made by Parkinson and others (numerous members here have one fitted to their benches) and vices like this could easily have had a half-dozen users in their 80+ years. And I believe the typical mode of failure for older QR vices is not in the cast iron components, it's in the spring.

While the above can't all have been heavily used in the US there's the Emmert patternmakers' vice (pat. 1891). Virtually all would have gone into production environments which could mean a few generations of workers using the majority full time 5-7 days a week for 50 or more years. In addition to the sheer amount of use, patterns can stay clamped in the vice for extended periods.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I sold a 53 to a guy who had cracked his - he was a retired joiner who admitted he should have known better. He was about eighteen stone and tried to bend something in his using an eight foot scaffold tube as a lever.

 

[DTR]

I think it says in Planecraft that you shouldn't leave a vice tightened up unnecessarily, I'll have to check that.

I was taught to leave the vice slightly open with the tommy bar vertical, because if you walk an immovable handle sticking out at a funny angle, it hurts!

 

[Racers]

If its less force than what's needed to cause damage, you will be fine.

I had a Parkinson's vice that I had to knock out the swollen wooden jaws before it would work, and it had been like that for years and it worked fine.

Pete

 

[dynax]

i've had a piece of 4x2 attached to an outboard motor held in mine for over a month, no signs of any damage i can see,

 

[Tasky]

I'm not sure that's necessarily the case. It's certainly nothing to concern oneself with, regardless if the vice is quite old.

I mean regarding Mike's remark on abusing them as much as you like... I'm sure it's possible to eventually overtighten a vice and break something, no?

 

[Bm101]

As Phil and Archimedes both mention Tasky, 'Give me the place to stand, and I shall move the earth.'
It's possible to nause anything up if you try hard enough and have a means of applying more force than it was designed to stand.
Under usual use it's not an issue. I have a lump of a metal working vice that about 30 years worth of daily abuse by kids couldn't manage to mess up. I think you'd generally always bend the handle before you bork the thread as it's so much thinner, which would make most right minded people stop what they were doing at least. The handle on mine is bent. Little sods. Thread is fine. It's fineeeeee.

Constantly racking a vice with over large faces fitted might affect it over a suitably long time possibly? Just guessing. :-s

(ed. to add comedy pic. Custard was too fast.)

 

[custard]

Constantly racking a vice with over large faces fitted might affect it over a suitably long time possibly?

+1

That's the real problem right there. You can always taper the wooden jaw linings to compensate, but a racked vice somehow never feels quite right.

 

[GarF]

At school, every woodwork lesson was concluded by sweeping off the benches and cleaning up before making sure all the vices were ajar. I'm certain we were told that in the event of a fire the tension resulting from expanding metal in a closed vice could lead to them exploding like mortars and would endanger the firemen.

I can't see any problem with the level of clamping pressure you're likely to apply to a workpiece in the vice. As long as your workshop doesn't catch fire (heaven forbid) - although in that instance, besides being wrecked the workpiece would likely absorb the pressure generated by the vice cheeks expanding and prevent the vice from exploding!

 

[nabs]

although it would never have occurred to me, the exploding vice phenomenon is surely quite plausible: the screw would expand and, having nowhere to go, would try to push out the base of the front jaw until something suddenly failed. Who knew!?

Re permanently 'racked' vices - what actually happens to the really abused versions? Do the steel rods bend or something else?

 

[DTR]

I must be missing something here.......

If the screw heats up and expands, surely it will push the jaws apart?

 

[MusicMan]

I agree, extra stress would be caused only if the base heated up faster than the rods. That's unlikely, and so is the idea of a explosion. Bending and cracking is more likely.

I don't think the OP need worry in the least, at tightnesses comparable to usual clamping pressure.

 

[Tasky]

I think you'd generally always bend the handle before you bork the thread

Would you not crack the cast iron main body first?
I bent a few of the tommy bars on my clamps when doing my workbench top, but they were cheap aly sashes...

I don't think the OP need worry in the least, at tightnesses comparable to usual clamping pressure.

Yeah, we're into the realms of theory again - Cue argument thread about how much pressure you should tighten your vice to when holding workpieces!

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I read an ad. (possibly for Irwin) that the tommy bars are designed to bend before anything else gets damaged.

 

[nabs]

I'm still not convinced that my vice won't explode in a fire so I will DEFINITELY NOT be keeping it tightened up any longer. I have also taken the precaution of slightly loosening the thumb lock on my mortise gauge as if it also "went off" in the fire the little metal pins could have someone's eye out.

Has anyone ever seen an old QR with bent steel rods? I suppose it must be possible, but I'd hate to think how much force it would take.