mill vise restoration?

[Canadium]

I picked up this old 6 inch Vihl. Pederson mill vise recently and I'm thinking of restoring it. Basically disassembly, cleaning, painting, lubricating. Found several videos on Youtube about restoring mill vise but none deal with the severe pitting that this one has. Wonder if any one here has any thoughts about this project. Is it possible to do something about the pitting or not worth the trouble. I was thinking maybe building up metal with a welding process and machining it flat agai

n.

 

[Chip Maker]

Maybe it's the picture or just my eyes, but the pitting doesn't look that bad. Just looks like the casting finish to me. I would sandblast and paint the non-machined surfaces.

 

[gerritv]

It doesn't look like pitting., more llike abuse with drills/mills?
I would worry that heat will warp the casting making for more challenges. What about using a cold metal filled epoxy, then machine it flat?

gerrit

 

[Tom Kitta]

Whatever you weld it up, braze it or use epoxy you will need to re-surface it.

I have one like this but the casting broke and the screw is bent and needs to be re-done on a lathe.

Welding it could be a bit difficult even with expensive cast welding rod - its hard to known without trying.

Brazing is not an issue but you end up with a different color.

Epoxy is easiest but you end up with weak surface that is also off color. Brazing and epoxy are about same price.

 

[Canadium]

Abuse with drills/mills is exactly correct! Perhaps pitting was not the best description on my part. I was also wondering if heat from welding/brazing would not warp the casting. Cold metal filled epoxy is starting to look like the best option to me. Thanks guys for your input. Much appreciated!

 

[PeterT]

The challenge for epoxy will be those drill craters having been exposed to oil residue for probably extended period. Hard to know the penetration depth but oils & similar residues are a natural releasing agent for epoxies. It will make bonding challenging. You might have to soak it in some aggressive solvent & maybe even grind the divots with a burr to give the resin some mechanical tooth. People seem to have good results with those rust removal liquids & I think some other kind of treatment to stop further oxidization. You can get pigments & powders to add the resin that might make it a closer match to the metal. But I'm guessing you want to make it nicer looking, serviceable & less abused. You could try a crater with JB Weld & just see how it goes. If its horrible, its easy to grind out & you are back at the beginning.

On the metal side I've seen some neat TIG brazing videos which might be lower distortion heat. But the alloy will look quite different than the cast iron. I think it would be a more solid solution

The other thought - more risky of a total loss. Mill out the offending area, screw/pin in a new slab of CI with high quality retaining adhesive & mill it to conform. Really depends on how deep the over drills are, how much meat is left, whether the loss of material will cause any warp, how accurately you can resurface the mating parts especially if it sliding on a dovetail vs 90-deg edge I cant quite see there. I have seen some beautiful fixits where people drilled out a broken tap & inserted a plug of native material & you would never be the wiser if the line wasn't shown under magnification.