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Thread: Finally found a holy one
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1st Dec 2019, 08:04 PM #16Most Valued Member
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1st Dec 2019, 08:33 PM #17
Well Eskimo, this could be a long post.
No not really !
Basically the work was placed on a large steel sheet and an igloo shaped furnace of fire brick was built up around it. Then a number of gas burners were placed in between the bricks near the bottom. Two or three strategically placed bricks were set so they could be removed without disturbing the others.
These bricks were so you could put a welding lance through and also light the gas from the burners. One brick was removed so you could see your work area, another so you could feed the filler rod in. Sometimes you were five or six feet from the work surface. Dressed in leather trousers, jacket and gloves along with head gear you would weld up the crack, fill the hole or what ever.
It could take a few days to get the work sufficiently hot to weld, depending upon how large the engine block was. I've seen a big block take over a week. Of course it took a long time to cool down as well. Very often we would take a few rows of bricks away when they became cool enough to handle.
It was nice to stand in front of the furnace and brick pile as they cooled, particularly in winter when it was very cold.
When the work had cooled enough to be moved, it was taken away to be machined. Much later I learned that metal stitching had started to be used. A far cheaper method of repair and a lot faster as well.
I hope that this explains the general process, and why I said what I did.Best Regards:
Baron J.
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1st Dec 2019, 09:19 PM #18Most Valued Member
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Baron, how big were these engines?...rough physical size?
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1st Dec 2019, 10:10 PM #19
Hi Eskimo,
Some big engines were 12 Cylinders, probably 10 tons plus. Hey bear in mind that I was only 15 when I started that job. Some of those furnace igloos were several feet taller than me, and I didn't get started off on little ones either. As far as I'm aware they came out of tug boats and barges.Best Regards:
Baron J.
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2nd Dec 2019, 08:45 AM #20Most Valued Member
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2nd Dec 2019, 09:27 AM #21Golden Member
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I see the main purpose of a repair is to return the upper section of the rails to a flat condition that can be used to position work being held so it's parallel to the drill press table.
I agree that a repair will not make it as strong as a new one but most of the strength in these vices is in the vertical section of the rails beneath the wider section that supports the sliding jaw. Unless there has been a substantial amount removed from these I doubt the structural integrity will have been reduced to the point it will fail given normal use.
As long as any repair removes as little of the remaining structure as possible then I doubt it can make the structure any less strong than it is now. This a 3" drill press vice, I reckon you would have to gorilla down on the 8" handle to an extraordinary degree to break it and I suspect the handle would bend before that happened, even in this ones weakened state.
Cheers,
Greg.
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10th Dec 2019, 08:21 AM #22Golden Member
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6th Jan 2020, 06:08 PM #23Most Valued Member
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Would this work?
Retain both ends and make new rails as per picture?
20200106_173102.jpg
Run a bolt up thru the rail from the bottom to pull ends down into and onto rails as per the scribed line
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6th Jan 2020, 09:55 PM #24
Hi Richard,
I think that I would just go down the path of filling the holes with metal plugs and bog for the small ones ! Cleaned up and re-painted they wouldn't be too obvious.
Or grab a stick of Loctite 3463 epoxy metal putty. Once its set you can barely tell its there. Leave it a little proud and finish it by filing or scraping. Marvellous stuff. Though I do confess that I was given a sample kit by the local rep. I posted pictures of it a while back.
10-07-2019_003.jpg 10-07-2019_001.jpg
Its that yellow stick laid horizontally in the first picture.Best Regards:
Baron J.
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7th Jan 2020, 07:06 AM #25Philomath in training
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It would work, but it is a lot of effort for a small vice. Probably starts approaching a 'can it be done' exercise rather than a cost effective fix.
Michael
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7th Jan 2020, 08:37 AM #26Diamond Member
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What's one of these vices worth in good condition?
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