Reed 204R Vise Restoration

"Restoring" this vise seemed like a nice little project to document on the blog.  It's a Reed model 204R, and having now disassembled it, I've learned that it is a marvelous piece of engineering.

After sitting for a few years

My dad had this vise in his shop for as long as I can remember.  I never thought to ask him where and when he got it since it was just always there.  In a last-ditch attempt to learn more about its origins, I asked my mom if she remembered when it came home.  She seems to think it belonged to my great grandfather, who gave it to my father at some point.  That'd be pretty neat if true.

I've been unable to find any markings on the vise that may indicate the year that it was manufactured, but the patent number on the casting indicates that it was poured after 1938.  P.S. I love the artwork in old patents like this.

Disassembly

All disassembled

Disassembly was surprisingly smooth.  Thankfully it turned out that all of the work that the vise needed was superficial and cosmetic.  There were, however, just enough dings and dents on the slide to require the use of a small jack to force out of the body (after removal of the lead screw - obviously).

Removing the lead screw from the slide was educational.  This vise uses a two-piece threaded ring to hold the what (appeared to be) a one-piece leadscrew / handle assembly in the slide.  A pin spanner would have made quick work of removing it, but I had to settle for a punch and hammer - and some caution.  After I got it removed and cleaned up, I was tickled to see that this ring was cast and machined as one piece. After machining it was split by fracturing it at a predefined location thanks to two thin sections cast into it.  Pretty clever use of the brittleness of the iron used.

After separating the vise from its swivel base, I noticed yet another slick design feature.  The swivel-lock stud is serrated, and it locks into a serrated pattern in the base.  The design requires far less force on the swivel lock handle, and makes it nearly impossible for the vise to swivel inadvertently - saving knuckles!  I also noticed that the stud on the swivel lock is a double lead thread, which is one of the few that I've seen outside of a book.

Swivel Lock, after a little clean-up

Stripping and Repainting

After disassembly, it was time to start stripping the decades-worth of rust and paint from its surfaces.  A wire cup in an angle grinder made quick work of this task, although it did start to slow down towards the end of the project...

Ooof

I'd like to think I got my money's worth out of that cup.  After I plucked the wires from my shirt, I ordered a replacement and was back up and running a few days later.

Once the paint and loose rust was removed with the grinder, all of the surfaces that were going to be repainted were shot with primer.  Then two fairly heavy coats of a deep blue that I had sitting on the shelf.  All rattle-can stuff - I'm curious to see how it holds up to the abuse that a vise typically sees.  If I'm feeling spunky one day, I may highlight the letters on the casting with some white paint and a fine brush.

After the paint was dry, but before it had a chance to really harden up, it was time to clean up the surfaces that were not supposed to have paint.  Some hand sanding with 100-grit in the nooks and crannies, and some time with the orbital sander on the large flat areas brought some shine back to those surfaces and knocked down the burrs and high spots.  They're certainly not polished - in fact, they still have the scars of decades worth of work, but all the pieces slide together as they should now.

The two handles were chucked up in the lathe and rotated to make sanding easier.  This worked very well and made quick work of cleaning them up.  I started with the wire cup, and then moved on to 100-grit paper, then 240-grit, and finally some high-abrasive polishing compound.  Again, not a mirror finish, but much better than what I started with - and it still gets to tell its story.

Just finishing up the handle on the lathe

All of the unpainted surfaces were all coated with Minwax Paste Finishing Wax to add some lubricity and slow down the formation of new rust.  Because of the threat of condensation, I've gotten into the habit of waxing just about all of the bare iron and steel in my shop.  It's great on woodworking tools like the table saw and bandsaw, and it seems to work well on polished handwheels, too.

Reassembly

After the paint had some time to cure, it was time to put it all back together.  This was pretty easy, just the reverse of how she came apart.

A little dab will do ya

To keep things moving smoothly, I added some grease to the running surfaces between the body and swivel base.  I also precoated the thrust-bearing surfaces and leadscrew with oil.  The vise has two holes for oiling, so I decided to forgo the grease and give it with what it wants.  If anyone knows more about what kind of lubrication these things like, please let me know in the comments.

The leadscrew went in smoothly, and the threaded retention ring was a breeze to install - although just like during disassembly, I needed to tap the ring around with a punch and a hammer, since I don't have a pin spanner.  Even so, adjusting out most of the backlash was no problem.  Once I was happy with it, I snugged up the set screw that prevents the retention ring from spinning, and that was it.

This was a fun little project and a great excuse to spend some time in the shop.  It's going to be a treat to start using this vise again.  Now I just need a solid bench to mount her on.

All done

Thanks for reading!