Sometimes things just happen, while all the Black Friday madness was happening, my wife and I decided forgo that drama and hit some antique & second hand shops.
At one of these, I stumbled across a 4 inch Wilton Bullet vise, with swivel base. The vise had been well used, and frankly abused, but it worked. And the price was right $35. Figured that was not too much to spend to satisfy my curiosity on what makes these Wilton vises so special.
A little about the vise: It has C-1 cast in the side of the jaw; a little Google searching: The C-1 is a 4 inch Combo Pipe and Bench Vise (MFG part# 28826), MSC lists it at $1790.ouch !!
I put the 4 inch Wilton next to a 3 1/2 Inch Reed (not quite a fair comparison), for some quick comparisons. I used the 3 because my 4-inch Reed is bolted to a bench, the 3 was just sitting on the shelf.
The Wilton slide is 2.5-inch round tube, the Reed is 2 x 2.5 square. The Wilton has a inch key stock in the slide to keep the ram straight & square.
The Reed has 2 oil holes in order to oil the leadscrew & nut, the Wilton has no provision to oil the screw or nut. This would bother me, as the screw/nut takes quite a bit of friction/stress, I put a squirt of way oil in my vises weekly.
Both the Reed and Wilton have 4 bolt holes to mount the swivel base. The Reeds swivel base is 50% thicker (1.5 inches) than the Wilton (1 Inch), and is heavier by 2 1/2 lbs. (Reed 8 lbs., Wilton 6 lbs.). The mounting flanges are also thicker on the Reed, vs 5/8 for the Wilton.
The Reed uses a x 1 1/2-inch shoulder bolt in the center to secure the vise to the swivel base and to provide a pivot for swiveling, the clamping nut just keeps the vise from turning.
The Wilton uses a small inch dia x inch long pin as a swivel point, it relies on 2 modified carriage bolts to both secure the vise to the base and to keep the vise from turning.
The Reed utilizes a toothed cam style to securely keep the vise from rotating, teeth engage corresponding teeth in the swivel base, -3/4 turn to positively lock in place.
The Wilton relies on 2 modified carriage bolts, but instead of a positive cam locking system, its based on friction to keep the vise from turning, a lot of the imported low cost vises utilize this system.
Initial impression is that the Wiltons swivel base is definitely a weak point, it has less mass, Most of the swivel base has been machined away, and adding insult to injury, it relies on friction (clamping force) to stop the vises rotation, if the operator cranks down on these bolts, it puts a tremendous amount of force on a very thin area of the swivel base. It also relies on these bolts to hold the vise to the base. If that base cracks there aint nothing holding that vise on.
As I get more into the disassembly of the Wilton, Ill post more lead screw size etc.
