One of These Days – Repairing the Twin Screw Vise

On my favorite workbench, a 35-year-old torsion box top with an Emmert, a wagonwheel, and a 48″ twin screw vise, due to mucking about with the twin screw fittings in the distant past and very heavy use for all those years, the iron collars had become loose and no longer were tighten-able enough for the vise to work.  Given that the torsion box top is about 90% hollow this made the repair a nuisance albeit a simple one to address.

I removed the vise, the screws are held to the jaw by split collars, and set it aside.  The screw collars on the bench came off easily as the screws holding them to the bench were all loose, hence the need for the repair.

With the receiving collars off I fitted some pieces of 1/2″ Baltic birch plywood to the back sides of the bench apron, a tricky task made problematics only because my fingers were almost the same size as the opening.  Using white PVA I simply glued them in place.

The next morning I fitted them to the round opening with a rasp, then re-inserted the retaining collars and drilled out the extant screw holes with a smaller pilot hole.  Instead of using the previous screws I switched to some 2″ #12 slotted screws I had in my mini-hardware store, screws I bought from Blacksmith Bolt and Rivet.

I carefully installed the new screws, making sure to not strip out anything, and installed the 48″ jaw.

It is now better than it ever was.  Another checkmark on the list.