GRRR!!!! I don't know why my e-mail does this occasionally, and it
hasn't done it for over a year so I got complacent. It sends the
subject but drops the body. My apologies... I'm not as dumb as the
first post would suggest! :) My attempt at a repost never showed up on
the list, so I'm going to try again... I hope it behaves.
I found an Emmerts pattern maker vise of the Turtleback species on one
of the local classified listings last week. This is something that
I've lusted after for 30+ years but they seem to be scarce in Northern
Utah. I've only seen a couple for sale, and the other was so full of
cracks, brazing, and bad welding that it wasn't worth the gas I burned
to drive 40 miles to see it. This one was closer, more complete, and
damage is minimal. I bought it... I hope I don't regret it! It's a
Type 5, as defined by mprime's Emmert type study:
http://www.mprime.com/Emmert/type_study.htm
The only damage I've found so far are 2 bad dogs and the mounting
bracket/hinge. One large dog was badly broken and welded, one small
one has some cracks that haven't failed yet. The bracket is in 2
pieces with a third piece missing, so it's not salvageable.
The tortoise shell was missing a screw, so I threw a shiny replacement
in there until I can find won with the appropriate patina so as not to
draw my attention toward the shiny thing. With only 3 screws holding
it I worry about breakage if it gets bumped hard with only 2 screws.
It has the tilt adjust clamp but is missing the lock lever so I made
another shiny thing from a handle I bought at Ace Hardware. It also is
missing the tilting jaw accessory.
I see a lot of breakage in the online pics of these things and I'm
curious whether they were poorly manufactured, if they were just used
hard, or if they mostly get damaged due to their size and the fact
that many people don't seem to understand how much force is required
to do a job. (I saw a post where someone suggested replacing
contractor saw (tailed meat grinder, Jeff) trunnion bolts with grade 8
so you can really crank them down. I wonder how many table castings
were destroyed with that suggestion!) It seems that the mounting hinge
is often broken, but I guess that could mean the ones on the market
let loose from the bench and crushed the owner's foot rather than
indicating that they were underbuilt. Mine has some pretty bad looking
casting on the hub that looks like it came from the factory that way,
and the fit around the dog holes is pretty bad.
Is there a good source for parts? I might fabricate the mounting hinge
from steel angle but original would look better (you know... it's all
about the patina!). With the way the dogs are built I don't know if
I'm better off fabricating them too, or if they work just fine if you
don't over extend or put excess pressure on them. I've already made
the tilt lock handle and it's functional, but an original would be
nicer or I may remake it to get a little better fit than my first
effort. Lastly... there's that shiny 5/16-18 pan head screw on the
tortoise shell.
Here's a link to pics that I didn't have up when I tried to post last
night: https://imgur.com/gallery/LL07eIf I hope that shares okay...
it's my first time on Imgur.
TIA and Happy 2020,
Paul
Salt Lake City, UT, USA
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