bench vice not releasing

[disco_monkey79]

Hi

I was given a woodworking bench vice that I fitted and was using quite happily.

However, it has recently developed an issue. It winds up tight absolutely fine. However, when I try to undo it, it simply "clacks", and the jaw doesn't move out.

Holding the quick-release lever and yanking hard will often get it to undo, but it's obviously not right.

Any tips for servicing/fixing this issue? I tried googling, without success, but perhaps my search term wasn't very good.

Thanks

 

[bugbear]

The q/r thread has far less "pull" than "push", so the half nut is slipping on the thread.

Either your slides are very dirty and sticky - curable by a good clean.

Or the spring that holds your half nut in place (via the q/r bar) is very weak. Possibly curable by doing it up another half turn, which is quite a tricky operation, involving near complete disassembly of the entire vise.

BugBear

 

[ED65]

I was given a woodworking bench vice that I fitted and was using quite happily.

What condition was it in when you got it and how much cleaning did you do 'under the hood'? I got an old vice myself recently which I thought was quite dirty, but just in the last week I've seen photos of the undersides of a few other vintage vices and it is quite amazing just how much gunk can be crusted onto the mechanism.

If you check and the threads are fouled by greasy wood dust then a good washing or steam clean should do wonders. Shoot it with WD-40 immediately after and later on re-grease with Vaseline or an equivalent.

 

[Bod]

Strip out and clean the half nut, and screw threads. Probably been over oiled, which mixed with sawdust, makes a solid black "gunk" which needs removing.

Bod

 

[disco_monkey79]

To be perfectly honest, I dodn;t do anything to it other than fit it and use it.

I looked it over, and it was greased, but I figured that was intentional to stop it from wearing.

I'll drop it down and give it a going over.

Thanks all