[TheForge] Re: Vice repair

[Mike Spencer]

> ... a really close look at the thread box and discovered that it was
> just a piece of steel pipe that had been swaged around the screw.

You mean that it's just a piece of pipe, like, rudely mashed into the
male threads?  Yow.  That's a new one for me.

> ...I heated it up and repeated the process using a half round
> section on the block that was the closest fit.  Well it seemed to
> have worked.  The threads are tight again and seem to work just
> fine.

Amazing.

Recently I made a square-threaded tube for a woodworker's vise.  Filed some
1/8" sq. to a kind of / \ cross section, hot-wrapped it on the male thread
narrow edge in (to allow for the swelling on the inside of a bend).

Hammered it lightly all over and wound it off, slipped the little
pig-tail-like thread into a piece of pipe and brazed it in place.  Had
to grind out one blob of excess brass with a dental drill.  Then
lapped the male thread into it with abrasive paste.  Seems to be fine.

I got this idea from Dimitri Gerakaris year ago.  He did it with a leg
vise.  He later reported that it hadn't stood up to heavy use but I
don't recall that he elaborated on just how heavy the use was.

Let us know how your fix works out after a month or three.


- Mike