ECLIPSE No:180 Instrument Vice info needed please

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ECLIPSE No:180 Instrument Vice info needed please

This topic has 29 replies, 17 voices, and was last updated 12 May 2024 at 15:25 by toolnut.

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30 April 2020 at 15:40 #468150
Martin King 2
Participant
@martinking2
Hi All,

During our enforced clear out we are digging into stuff that we bought years ago and have never got around to fixing, this includes some of these ECLIPSE No:180 instrument vices which are absent the actual small vice section as ringed in the photo.

I wonder if anyone might have one that they could take some measurements from for me so that I can make a couple to complete the tools.

Just a "back of envelope" sketch with sizes and thread size etc would be really helpful

The castings are a real work of art as can be seen but the rest of it should be within my limited capability. I would make the jaws from a low carbon steel and there is a small firm near me who can heat treat and surface grind them for me.

BTW if anyone does have one of these do look after it as they are quite a valuable tool, often making £100 or more if boxed!

Cheers, Martin
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30 April 2020 at 15:40 #19731
Martin King 2
Participant
@martinking2
30 April 2020 at 16:31 #468156
Saxalby
Participant
@saxalby
Martin,

Just measured mine.

The jaws are 1/2 inch X 29/64 inch. The top angled at 30 Deg

thread is 7/32 X 28 BSF and the plain rod 7/32 and both 1 7/8 inch long

The attachment bar is 3/8 inch milled square to 5/16 inch

Will do a sketch later if you still need it.

Regards Barry
30 April 2020 at 16:52 #468159
Ian Johnson 1
Participant
@ianjohnson1
Hope you don't mind but I just had to dig out my old masterpiece from school GCSE metalwork class. Not quite up to the same standard as the eclipse but not bad for a spotty kid! I always wondered where the school got the design from, must have copied it from the eclipse model.
30 April 2020 at 17:45 #468170
Anthony Knights
Participant
@anthonyknights16741
The latest MEW has a recycled article describing a similar vice. I made mine the first time round, just as I was starting out with this hobby.
30 April 2020 at 18:05 #468176
Martin King 2
Participant
@martinking2
Barry, You have a PM!

Regards, Martin

Anthony, Thanks for the heads up on the MEW article.

Cheers, Martin
1 May 2020 at 12:47 #468334
Saxalby
Participant
@saxalby
Martin Have PM you the sketch
1 May 2020 at 12:47 #468335
Saxalby
Participant
@saxalby
Martin Have PM you the sketch
1 May 2020 at 12:47 #468336
Saxalby
Participant
@saxalby
Martin Have PM you the sketch
1 May 2020 at 13:35 #468347
JohnF
Participant
@johnf59703
Martin, use gauge plate to make the jaws — far superior and easy to heat threat with minimum distortion .

John
1 May 2020 at 15:13 #468358
Nicholas Farr
Participant
@nicholasfarr14254
Hi, just for general interest, a scan from a 60's catalogue, the price from March 68 was £5.00 exactly.

Regards Nick.

Edited By Nicholas Farr on 01/05/2020 15:13:49
3 May 2024 at 06:46 #728925
toolnut
Participant
@toolnut
Anyone know what happened to this brand, why it disappeared (or has it)? Is there nowadays a comparable line of hand tools available by another manufacturer? Any from Sheffield, England?

The nearest I have come to quality tools here in the U.S., where I’m at, are under the brand name Starrett. The smallest vise they make is ten times bigger and not half as flexible, yet it cost me relatively a fortune.

From a proud owner of a few Eclipse tools of this era.
3 May 2024 at 08:16 #728972
Howard Lewis
Participant
@howardlewis46836
Was given an Eclipse 235 Vee vice., as illustrated by Nicholas

A very nice piece of kit, beautifully made.

Not used all that often, but how useful when needed! And joy to use.

Howard
3 May 2024 at 09:46 #728977
Bazyle
Participant
@bazyle
What is the extra small horizontal hole for (next to the cast “Eclipse”).

I like the composite Vee tool; clever extra use.
9 May 2024 at 20:38 #729821
ladywinderturnsthird16
Participant
@ladywinderturnsthird16
Hi Martin

Here is a sketch with some measurements and notes made from my Eclipse Instrument

Vice No.180. Hope it helps.

Best of luck with your project.

Tim.
10 May 2024 at 11:29 #729901
jaCK Hobson
Participant
@jackhobson50760
Nice sketch TimI

I made mine a little larger
10 May 2024 at 14:13 #729940
Hopper
Participant
@hopper
On 3 May 2024 at 09:46 Bazyle Said:

What is the extra small horizontal hole for (next to the cast “Eclipse”).

I like the composite Vee tool; clever extra use.

That is a good question. No obvious answer occurs. I see the Starrett version in Toolnut’s pic above has a dimple in the casting in the equivalent place, but no hole. Interesting. Some sort of location hole for holding the casting during factory machining perhaps? Or not.
10 May 2024 at 14:21 #729944
Hopper
Participant
@hopper
On 3 May 2024 at 06:46 toolnut Said:

Anyone know what happened to this brand, why it disappeared (or has it)? Is there nowadays a comparable line of hand tools available by another manufacturer? Any from Sheffield, England?

The nearest I have come to quality tools here in the U.S., where I’m at, are under the brand name Starrett. The smallest vise they make is ten times bigger and not half as flexible, yet it cost me relatively a fortune.

From a proud owner of a few Eclipse tools of this era.

Well, everything is bigger in America, innit.

Eclipse is still around, bought over by a bigger conglomerate, Spear and Jackson, and quality aint what it used to be, from what I have seen. Certainly their hacksaw blades my local hardware store sells are woeful. https://www.spear-and-jackson.com/products/eclipse-professional-tools No sign of the little vice though.

I think tools still made in Sheffield and such places are pretty rare these days. Like most other things, manufacturing has been largely “offshored” to China.
10 May 2024 at 20:44 #729985
old mart
Participant
@oldmart
For the small work that one of these would be used for, the heat treatment and surface grinding is a bit OTT.
10 May 2024 at 22:46 #730014
Michael Gilligan
Participant
@michaelgilligan61133
Can’t say I like his ‘abrasive’ restoration of parts which were once precision fits … but there are some useful close-up shots in this:

https://youtu.be/Uml7arLMXlQ?feature=shared

MichaelG.
10 May 2024 at 23:07 #730017
Hopper
Participant
@hopper
On 10 May 2024 at 20:44 old mart Said:

For the small work that one of these would be used for, the heat treatment and surface grinding is a bit OTT.

Yes indeed. Countless apprentices and school students have made similar clamps and vices from mild steel and they work ok. Mine are still in use 50 years later. A piece of 1/2″ square bright mild steel would make the job easy. We had to file ours down from black bar, back in the days when torture was still legal.
11 May 2024 at 00:18 #730033
noel shelley
Participant
@noelshelley55608
The 235 composite Vee vice is beautifully made, mine is still in it’s original wooden box. Noel.
11 May 2024 at 08:31 #730044
Michael Gilligan
Participant
@michaelgilligan61133
On 11 May 2024 at 00:18 noel shelley Said:

The 235 composite Vee vice is beautifully made, mine is still in it’s original wooden box. Noel.

Sulking now … my boxed one is in cardboard !

MichaelG.

.

P.S. __ It seems that none of us has yet found an ‘official’ answer to Bazyle’s intriguing question about the cross-hole in the No.180

… I’ve wasted a lot of time searching, but found nothing.
11 May 2024 at 11:13 #730072
Nicholas Farr
Participant
@nicholasfarr14254
Hi, for anyone who may want one, there’s one on e-bay, in the auction, which ends tomorrow.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/335379878166?itmmeta=01HXKHYHNJRE126HRYBHFBQHF5&hash=item4e1632d116:g:5msAAOSwn3BmLndC&itmprp=enc%3AAQAJAAAA4Ep4DHOo0cxutMaPoeJJZ8UtzKxiyPqY7dbZEmFAjlLxb98MOs64OYuZw9LISmpGz7jJmuGmFqRRA%2B2XL43SZLbsJdJbtfJjJy6zQCvcLf0YxtYhQjiYgiAim9l6txyLgCo%2BNfhowIcjt4XKqHpKxdnXl%2F4ErS7NM7FDJFmKupNdd4QHltm2YFcgEt3vFz9%2B4gdmoK4Cqrty%2FUGkXtBSB9MN%2BXBaV9xfotb6cZRcD6PPjv6v3G38jk3LvkmI1i0YXHP6IqFhyEUmk%2B8tBZ16RX1m066m9ibRqEePmfVrKeBa%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR4yb-vHsYw

Regards Nick.
11 May 2024 at 15:56 #730133
Hopper
Participant
@hopper
On 11 May 2024 at 08:31 Michael Gilligan Said:

.

P.S. __ It seems that none of us has yet found an ‘official’ answer to Bazyle’s intriguing question about the cross-hole in the No.180

… I’ve wasted a lot of time searching, but found nothing.

It must be to hang it on a nail on the wall then.
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