Athol 715 Vise Rebuild

[RUSH55]

Up until this point I’d been dirtying the Any Vise Collectors thread with my zealous vise lust. I want to thank @FARMAN33 for his excellent thread, insight, and patience.

My first “big boy” vise has turned into a real project. Before I get into that, maybe I’ll expand on my perspective a bit to give this thread some tooth. So for whatever reason, I’m really drawn to the larger Athol / Charles Parker / Morgan / etc…, turn of the 20th century vises, you know, the real beef-cakes. There’s something subconscious about them that spark these past recollections, like in a dream, way out somewhere in the middle of nowhere, 1970’s, some friend or family member, with a slab out by a shop or awning with a rusty steel table, and on the table is one of these old vises. And that’s it. That’s as much as it is. Could’ve been someone’s Grandpa. And you know it seems to me more and more to me that every Grandpa should have a big vise out on a bench somewhere at his house. I’ll probably be a Grandpa before too long.

So anyways, looking for a big Athol, ~4ish inch. Happens to be one an hour from me for sale on Craigslist. Watching it for a couple weeks, still there when I decide I need to just go get it.
Bring it home to meet the family.
715

 

[RUSH55]

What I didn’t know, was that 7xx model Athol’s use what we’re referring to as a “quick indexing” handle feature that allows you to reset the handle while tightening to best suit your position while addressing the work. Without having an actual working example, the best guess so far is that the meatball is spring loaded and requires to be pulled away towards the user in order to re-index. I’m sure that when new and fresh the feature worked like a charm. After 50 years or more however, when support for replacement parts no longer exists, you may find yourself like one of the PO’s did, and eliminating the indexing feature altogether by welding the ball to the shaft.

 

[RUSH55]

I have a hard time leaving well enough alone, and soon had this vise apart for cleaning and stripping the ugly white paint job off, and trying to see why exactly there was this wad of brazing on the end of the ball.
Oh, well, there’s the answer. This vise had obviously been gone through by a guy using a rusty old bench out under a lean-to, with a few scrap pieces of 1/8” steel and an oxy/acetylene setup. The screw retainer was a piece of old scrap, as were the shims under the main nut.
Trying to get the meatball free from the shaft resulted in the breakage of the thin sides of what was left of the shaft, where guy bored a hole through the shaft and other side of the meatball to run a standard style handle.

 

[RUSH55]

The only pictures I found so far of what the handle is supposed to look like, are these…

 

[TomH]

Here's a Garage Journal thread with some info.

Athol vise restoration questions

I inherited an old Athol 713 vise and while trying to learn more about it I've repeatedly ended up here. I love the restorations that everyone here has done on these old vises. I just took this one apart to strip her down and get it looking good again. It is a 4" jaw width, 6" opening, 3.25"...

www.garagejournal.com

Some nice pictures here;



Search for some of the other numbers on the list and you should get some more hits.

 

[RUSH55]

Thank you @TomH !
Great reading - guess I need to join the Garage Journal Forum.

This link is a perfect resource

US1012226A - Vise. - Google Patents

Pictures were shown that the end of the handle was threaded.

 

[RUSH55]

Was able to drill a hole in the pin holding the inner half of the cog wheel, thread it 8-32 run a machine screw in and pull it with a slide hammer. The wheel is then further retained by a shoulder on both sides of the shaft. I was hoping the yoke side would be a type of stub shaft that I had been thinking of creating as a fix, but no. The shaft was somehow formed against the wheel making it permanent. I ended up using a cut-off wheel and angle sander to cut the broken end of shaft off and remove the wheel.

 

[FARMAN33]

That is some fine work! Garagejournal is a great forum it seems modeled after MUD. LOADS of great tool information!

 

[RUSH55]

A fix (at least temporary) has presented itself.

Another Athol (614-1/2) has been on CL in AZ for the last couple months, tempting me.
I had the chance to take a look at it today. Unbeknownst to me, even after looking at the CL pics for the last couple of months, it has a major issue. Take a look…

So I was able to pick it up for a reduced price with the plan of using this one for parts.

 

[TomH]

Seems to be missing part of the base. I have a Parker just like it.

If you have any leftover parts when you are done I may be able to use them. I have a Starrett 924 that has a problem with either the threads or the nut.

 

[RUSH55]

Seems to be missing part of the base.

Exactly. The tail portion with the bolt hole broke off at some point or something. The guy on Garage Journal who made the thread about Athol vise modifications mentioned that it’s a good idea to check the bottom for flatness and grind it down accordingly before mounting it to a solid surface or something like that could possibly happen.
I’m going to try to install the main screw from the 614-1/2 into the 715. If that works then the 715 will at least be usable. Afterwards, I’ll decide if I want to have a machinist try to replicate the 715 screw, or say screw it, and just go without the indexing feature.

 

[RUSH55]

STRIIIIKE!!

The 614-1/2 is way more of a beefcake than the 715, which maybe I’d know if I’d been reading Garage Journal for the last several years, which I haven’t, so all this is new to me.
The main screw is 1” in diameter compared to the 715’s 7/8”. The nut is much larger and won’t even fit into the dovetail.
Originally I was thinking of just using the 614-1/2’s DJ in place of the 715’s, but it’s taller by almost 1/2 an inch.
So I’m back to square one.

 

[TomH]

Warning, the vultures are starting to circle. If you are interested in selling the screw and nut off that 614 1/2, I might be interested.

A while back I saw a free vise add so I raced over and found a Starrett 924 in pieces. I grabbed the pieces, took it home and put it together only to find out the screw threads were stripped out in one spot. No only that but it seems like the wrong screw. The nut is a very loose fit in the dovetail and flops around pretty good. I'm thinking the nut and screw from your 614 1/2 might be a fit.

If you are interested we could take some measurements and see if it might fit. The screw off of mine might work with yours but like I said, it is stripped in one spot and won't clamp up at all in that spot.

 

[e9999]

wonder who made that vise for Starrett...

 

[TomH]

@RUSH55 It's a strike for me too. My 924 takes a 7/8 screw so the 1 inch is not going to work. I'll keep on the hunt for one that works.

 

[RUSH55]

Hey sorry @TomH , been meaning to get back with you.
Sounds like we’re in the same boat.
After thinking on it a bit, I think I’m gonna put that 614-1/2 back together, grind that broken tail section smooth and just run it with two bolts.

 

[TomH]

After thinking on it a bit, I think I’m gonna put that 614-1/2 back together, grind that broken tail section smooth and just run it with two bolts.

Yep, I'd probably do the same thing

 

[paleckiryan]

Up until this point I’d been dirtying the Any Vise Collectors thread with my zealous vise lust. I want to thank @FARMAN33 for his excellent thread, insight, and patience.

My first “big boy” vise has turned into a real project. Before I get into that, maybe I’ll expand on my perspective a bit to give this thread some tooth. So for whatever reason, I’m really drawn to the larger Athol / Charles Parker / Morgan / etc…, turn of the 20th century vises, you know, the real beef-cakes. There’s something subconscious about them that spark these past recollections, like in a dream, way out somewhere in the middle of nowhere, 1970’s, some friend or family member, with a slab out by a shop or awning with a rusty steel table, and on the table is one of these old vises. And that’s it. That’s as much as it is. Could’ve been someone’s Grandpa. And you know it seems to me more and more to me that every Grandpa should have a big vise out on a bench somewhere at his house. I’ll probably be a Grandpa before too long.

So anyways, looking for a big Athol, ~4ish inch. Happens to be one an hour from me for sale on Craigslist. Watching it for a couple weeks, still there when I decide I need to just go get it.
Bring it home to meet the family.
715

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How much is an old Reed no 105 5in jaws red vise worth?
Or a vanderman no 3 6in jaws willimantic

 

[Mr Wonderful]

Warning, the vultures are starting to circle. If you are interested in selling the screw and nut off that 614 1/2, I might be interested.

A while back I saw a free vise add so I raced over and found a Starrett 924 in pieces. I grabbed the pieces, took it home and put it together only to find out the screw threads were stripped out in one spot. No only that but it seems like the wrong screw. The nut is a very loose fit in the dovetail and flops around pretty good. I'm thinking the nut and screw from your 614 1/2 might be a fit.

If you are interested we could take some measurements and see if it might fit. The screw off of mine might work with yours but like I said, it is stripped in one spot and won't clamp up at all in that spot.

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That's hilarious, I remember seeing that free ad for the disassembled vise sitting on a piece of cardboard! I think i have a screenshot of the original ad in my old phone. I knew there would be no way I'd ever get there in time from kitsap county. very cool!

 

[TomH]

That's hilarious, I remember seeing that free ad for the disassembled vise sitting on a piece of cardboard! I think i have a screenshot of the original ad in my old phone. I knew there would be no way I'd ever get there in time from kitsap county. very cool!

It was only about two miles from my house so I figured I had a good chance to get it. Of course several years later it's still unusable becuase the screw and nut are stripped but it sure looks good.