I'm not having a good night - Bench vise problem

[Victor Robinson]

Ok, very frustrated here...so what do I do? Come on SMC to vent and look for advice. I suppose that's better than continuing to do stuff in the shop in a frustrated mood...it's just annoying when you're able to find a few minutes of precious shop time only to have problem after problem come up.

First my flush trim bit bombs (see other thread), then when I try to use my pathetic block plane to do the flush trimming my bench vise craps out on me.

It's a Groz rapid-action vise...it now apparently won't tighten when the jaws are about 4" wide. The handle just spins and the jaws don't clamp on the workpiece. I've never troubleshot a vise so I don't know if this is something that is easily fixed or whether I got a lemon? I'm starting to suspect the latter since when I got it from Woodcraft it kind of had that open box return feel to it. Thing is, it took me several weeks to install it and even longer to really use it much so I don't know how much Woodcraft is going to care.

What to do?

[glenn bradley]

QR vises often use a half-nut. Mine have a half-nut that is released by a long flat piece of steel attached to the lever at the front of the vise. Mine is enclosed but I have seen open ones get crud in that area and the nut cannot drop into the threads to get a good "catch". Wind her all the way out and blow out any chips and so forth that may have gotten in there then manually wind it all the way in and out a bit to see if the trouble clears.

[David Cefai]

+1 on Glen Bradley's reply, plus try to clean out the thread and the nut mechanism, get the grease off with white spirit and lube very sparingly.

[Victor Robinson]

Thanks for the replies. I played around with it today and here's what I've found.

Cleaned it thoroughly - a bit of extra grease but no wood chips or dust to speak of. The locking nut or whatever it's called is basically enclosed, but accessible from the bottom. At the bottom of the nut (facing the floor) is some kind of metal clip screwed into the nut. There doesn't seem to be much of a reason for this clip to be where it is, so I am thinking the nut got turned around, and the "clip" is supposed to be 180 degrees the other way so it can engage/disengage with whatever when it's turned a half-turn.

I think I can even remember when this may have happened - I remember clamping a board and there was a click as I was tightening, which is probably when it happened. The vise continued to normally after that (I think) but now it won't catch at all.

Now the question is, what to do? If any of you have the Groz vise, could you look into whether you see a metal tab on the bottom of the locking nut? And if that's the problem, how to fix it?

[Bill Whig]

At the bottom of the nut (facing the floor) is some kind of metal clip screwed into the nut. There doesn't seem to be much of a reason for this clip to be where it is, so I am thinking the nut got turned around, and the "clip" is supposed to be 180 degrees the other way so it can engage/disengage with whatever when it's turned a half-turn.

I think I can even remember when this may have happened - I remember clamping a board and there was a click as I was tightening, which is probably when it happened. The vise continued to normally after that (I think) but now it won't catch at all.

Now the question is, what to do? If any of you have the Groz vise, could you look into whether you see a metal tab on the bottom of the locking nut? And if that's the problem, how to fix it?

What have you got to lose by tinkering with it? It wouldn't take me long to remove that clip. You've got a "heavy duty vise" that doesn't work--how bad could you break it? Good luck!

Bill

[george wilson]

You guys MUST stop buying Indian junk.

[Victor Robinson]

I've done what I can. I took the thing apart and tinkered with it for several hours. Sometimes the nut catches, sometimes it doesn't. I can get it to catch if I reach under the bench and apply pressure a certain way to the nut. But on its own it will catch one out of ten times.

Am I wrong in thinking the quick release mechanism is faulty and I need to return it?

[Bill Whig]

I've done what I can. I took the thing apart and tinkered with it for several hours. Sometimes the nut catches, sometimes it doesn't. I can get it to catch if I reach under the bench and apply pressure a certain way to the nut. But on its own it will catch one out of ten times.

Am I wrong in thinking the quick release mechanism is faulty and I need to return it?

I am NOT someone who knows about these things, but based upon rereading your observations I'm starting to wonder about the installation. Maybe it would be worthwhile to remove it from the table and see if it works? And if it doesn't, you'll be all set to take it back! :)

Bill

[Chuck Tringo]

I wholeheartedly agree with George....from what I've heard and read, India is the one country with lower manufacturing standards than China....


You guys MUST stop buying Indian junk.

[David Cefai]

My vise is an antique Record 17" and used to suffer badly form something similar. Essentially after using the QR, when I tried to tighten it the QR did not "unrelease" and I got a click every turn. The solution was a total strip down and clean (everything, I mean it!)

You could check whether the vise is out of alignment. Do both sides of the vise close at the same time? Maybe you bent it by (over)tightening something at one end. I'm not saying that this should happen but the metal quality may not be the best.