West Midlands calling

[VicemanParticipant @viceman]

[VicemanParticipant @viceman]

Hi all

I came across your forum whilst researching steam power for a little project I have lined up nd may be picking your brains in the near future!!

I am a toolmaker by trade with an interest in refurbishing old and trusty tools,this hobby has taken me down various avenues over the years including electrolytic derusting and zinc plating. My main interest is rebuilding Record vices, **LINK** which gets me out of doing the decorating indoors.

I have recently been given a small steam powered fairground engine that is in a very poor state, but has stirred my interest to rebuild it, hence the visit here as I may be in need of guidance in the very near future.

Best Regards

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Welcome to the forum VM,

At the risk of revealing all your trade secrets, what's the best way of compensating for wear that makes the moving jaw wobble from side to side? I thought of putting in a shim (it's not much wear but a fair bit of wobble) but that seems like a bodge.

Neil

[VicemanParticipant @viceman]

Hi Neil

The best way is to machine out locally the wear faces in the body and replace the missing material with inserts, held in by small tapped holes in the body. If the inserts are made oversize then they can be surface ground individually to achieve the correct fit. Surface grind the edges of the sliding jaw first to make sure they are parallel before the fitting operation.

To be fair, in my opinion some 'slop' is needed sideways, its more important to make sure the tops of the jaws are level with each other and the clamping faces of the jaws are parallel to each other (top to bottom)

Best Regards

Viceman

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