What did you do in your garage today..? | Page 87 | GTAMotorcycle.com

What did you do in your garage today..?

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ReSTored said:
View attachment 57797

I got this one on sale at Harbor Freight for about $55 US. Very versatile

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These are OK if you're just holding a part to grind, hacksaw or tie flies. Cheapie cast steel vices cannot take impact or a lot of torque, they crack or snap A new mechanics quality 5" vice is made from ductile iron, it will cost $350 or more.

As a rule, I don't buy PA, CTC, or HF tools that will see impact or torque. I have a drawer of shame that holds some bad purchases, a 5" PA vice is part of that collection, broke whe I was hammering a wheel nut stuck in a socket. Nice thing about cheapie cast steel vices is they can be welded.

I have a 1ton PA arbor press at home, they are OK as long as you keep them greased. I use mine for pressing bearings, punching leather and sheet metal, setting rivets and snaps. The press is cheap, dies are not. I could get by without it, but it's worth the space it takes on my bench.
 
You will get a lot more use out of a hydraulic press than an arbor press. Does everything an arbor press will do and a lot more, for the same money and shop space.
If I were looking for a vise I would be looking for a used one, an OLD used one. There are lots for sale on Kijiji, look for a name brand like Record or Kurt or Wilton. Record got bought by Irwin, and the new stuff ain't that great. Look for a vise with the biggest screw you can find. A 5" motomaster vise has a 1-1 1/4" screw, an old Wilton has a 2" screw... so the Wilton has at least twice the clamping power
On modern "cheapo" vises the alignment of the two jaws faces go out too quickly, which severely limits their clamping power.
If you buy a used vise replace the jaws with nice new sharp ones
 
GreyGhost said:
Reorient part. Vertical/horizontal just change work holding, the press is the same. Drill press to start could secure bearing to housing and then drive it home in vise. What parts are you trying to press bearings into? Something like steering head bearings would be a prick with an arbor press too.

Post pics of vise. Family heirloom tools are awesome. I may burgle my dads at some point for nostalgia but they arent good, that line of tools will start with me. I've got a record 3 in the basement, 4 swivel qr in the garage (both not vintage but still from made in England days) and a henry 5 from the estate sale.
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Here is what I have. You UK guys might like this. ;)
It's 4", the other side looks to had a label but it's not there anymore.
Now before you go and say it's not bolted, yup. I believe I would be in the other camp of using a press more. I just don't have much use for this, maybe I just don't know how to utilize it. But it makes more sense to press stuff in vertical orientation then re-orient.
notmiamivice.jpg
 
bitzz said:
You will get a lot more use out of a hydraulic press than an arbor press. Does everything an arbor press will do and a lot more, for the same money and shop space.
If I were looking for a vise I would be looking for a used one, an OLD used one. There are lots for sale on Kijiji, look for a name brand like Record or Kurt or Wilton. Record got bought by Irwin, and the new stuff ain't that great. Look for a vise with the biggest screw you can find. A 5" motomaster vise has a 1-1 1/4" screw, an old Wilton has a 2" screw... so the Wilton has at least twice the clamping power
On modern "cheapo" vises the alignment of the two jaws faces go out too quickly, which severely limits their clamping power.
If you buy a used vise replace the jaws with nice new sharp ones
Click to expand...
This press looks great but it's twice the amount of PA's arbor press ($119), and maybe too much press for my needs.
The cost of the arbor kinda made it appealing, unless I am mistaken for it's capbilities and it will come up short for say pressing in bushings, and say bearings in wheels or clutch baskets?
 
sburns said:
Here is what I have. You UK guys might like this. ;)
It's 4", the other side looks to had a label but it's not there anymore.
Now before you go and say it's not bolted, yup. I believe I would be in the other camp of using a press more. I just don't have much use for this, maybe I just don't know how to utilize it. But it makes more sense to press stuff in vertical orientation then re-orient.
View attachment 57798
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Good vise. Bolt it to the leg of your table and parts are oriented the same way as a press. Line up the bottom (fixed) jaw with the table top to make it easy to deal with larger parts.
 
sburns said:
This press looks great but it's twice the amount of PA's arbor press ($119), and maybe too much press for my needs.
The cost of the arbor kinda made it appealing, unless I am mistaken for it's capbilities and it will come up short for say pressing in bushings, and say bearings in wheels or clutch baskets?
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Arbor press will be ~1 ton. Hydraulic press about 10 times that (or more). To release stuck parts, it is amazing how much force can be required. Arbor press often works for rapid cycle time on cooperative parts. If you only have one press in your shop, I would have hydraulic as it is much more functional (but operation is more than an order of magnitude slower).

Edit:
Hydraulic also stores the force. You can add pressure and then your hands are free to tap/pry/wedge parts. Arbor press requires at least one arm to maintain pressure.
 
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I would go hydraulic press as well I have a 30 ton and it gets maxed out taking apart old steering parts. One ton is just about useless I bet the vise has more force.

Sent from the future
 
Scuba Steve said:
I would go hydraulic press as well I have a 30 ton and it gets maxed out taking apart old steering parts. One ton is just about useless I bet the vise has more force.

Sent from the future
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Bench vise should have a lot more force as the mechanical advantage is far higher. In the ballpark of 10k pounds clamping I'd expect.
 
bitzz said:
You will get a lot more use out of a hydraulic press than an arbor press. Does everything an arbor press will do and a lot more, for the same money and shop space.
If I were looking for a vise I would be looking for a used one, an OLD used one. There are lots for sale on Kijiji, look for a name brand like Record or Kurt or Wilton. Record got bought by Irwin, and the new stuff ain't that great. Look for a vise with the biggest screw you can find. A 5" motomaster vise has a 1-1 1/4" screw, an old Wilton has a 2" screw... so the Wilton has at least twice the clamping power
On modern "cheapo" vises the alignment of the two jaws faces go out too quickly, which severely limits their clamping power.
If you buy a used vise replace the jaws with nice new sharp ones
Click to expand...
I prefer arbor over hydraulic when doing repair work. They are more forgiving, smaller, simple, easier to use and they and they don't break as many things.

A 10 ton hydraulic (about the smallest available) will explode an engine case or wheel hub with one too many pumps, don't ask me how I know.

Cheapo vices. They are fine as long as you keep hammers and heavy levered tools away. We use Wiltons at the shop - they are tough- $300 buys a tool you'll pass along to your grandkids.
 
Scuba Steve said:
I would go hydraulic press as well I have a 30 ton and it gets maxed out taking apart old steering parts. One ton is just about useless I bet the vise has more force.

Sent from the future
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I'd agree with hydraulic if you're doing heavy equipment. I've never met a motorcycle part that couldn't be tamed with a 1 ton arbor.
 
sburns said:
I dunno why, but I found this interesting.. thx!
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Found it more entertaining than interesting, YouTube content to bring clicks, subscribes and likes.

Nobody uses a vice with a johnson-bar and pipe to clamp 10,000lbs, or a sledge-hammer to bend a 1" steel bar. A more reasonable test would be the deflection in jaws when clamping one side, or the clamping force one can achieve using the handle, or an errant downward hammer blow on a clamped jaw -- this is where a cheepie vice fails.

Our shop has a dozen vices, most 5". They get opened and clamped at least 100 times a day, used them for a variety of assembly and fab chores that involve torque and impact. For example we might clamp a 1-1/2" axle then fix a stover nut with 200lbs of torque, or bang a weld induced bend out of a small piece of 1/2" plate. Examples of heavy work a bench vice is expected to do without failing. Most of ours need overhaul after a few years when the boss around the lead screw wears out.

I think this topic was initially on using a vice to press bearings in and out. Not the right tool for that.
 
bitzz said:
Wanna bet?
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I won't take the bet, people do stupid things all the time. I think the guy that owns this Yaris used his vice to straighten his hitch.
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After using threaded rod and washers for so long, I decided an investment in one of these was worth the savings in time and aggravation:


Would have been great value, but mine arrived with the ram welded on crooked and PA says to return the whole thing because they can't get individual replacement parts. I'll go to one of their stores to see if I can find a straight one to swap out, but failing that I might still keep it and mount a hydraulic ram in place of the bottle jack/ram combination.
 
Making my own G10 knife scales (handles) on my CNC router has been a near 8 month process on and off so far, but I've finally got a set finished for an Ontario Rat 1.

(Also I the lighting in the photos is different and makes it look like two different knifes...)
BonrT9i.jpg


yHaNbJn.jpg
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