Other Eron No.125 Bench Vise replacement jaws

[calgaryguy]

I've got a Eron No.125 bench vise I inherited from my grandfather. Its been *heavily* used and abused by my dad and I over the years. Today I disassembled it, cleaned 60+ years of shit out of it, and reassembled. Works like new. It does however need a new set of jaws.

the Eron No. 125 is a 5" bench vise and has what I would call 'offset' screw holes in the jaws. I'll update this post with a pic as soon as I take one.

Any ideas where to source replacement jaws?

 

[mbond]

Are you looking to make new jaws or buy some? Are you thinking of soft or hard?

 

[calgaryguy]

I have no gear to make new ones. I'm looking to see if anyone knows where I can buy new replacements...

 

[mbond]

To buy new ones, I'm not sure. If you have no gear, probably someone here will help. What part of the country are you in? Anywhere near Toronto, I'll give you a hand

 

[PeterT]

Is this what you mean by offset? May be the camera angle but almost looks like the counterbore does not match the hole? I can't really envision a reason for that but if making one I would rely on the physical bolt locations in the vise body itself. And looks like you have a similar issue as my Record clone bench vise, the holes are very close to the bottom & that can't be altered because the jaws sit on ledge?

Anyways, typically vise jaws are hardened steel so replicating that would be some work over & above milling & the criss-cross pattern. I made mine out of aluminum specifically because I wanted a softer alloy but I could probably mar it in rougher service. I've seen people just use 4140 or whatever & resurface or replace 20 years later but depends on work you are doing.

 

[calgaryguy]

By 'offset' I mean the holes are not centered 'top to bottom'. My 8" Record bench vise has the holes centered 'top to bottom' and replacements are easily found for them online, McMaster-carr, etc.

I do not have a mill to make my own vise jaws. I want to source replacements.

 

[calgaryguy]

To buy new ones, I'm not sure. If you have no gear, probably someone here will help. What part of the country are you in? Anywhere near Toronto, I'll give you a hand

 

[PeterT]

Guessing your model 150 looks something like this? I searched Ebay as you probably have = rare & expensive. Lots of Wilton & Record & Kurt style milling machine jaws but that does you no good.

I get you now 'vertically offset'. That seems to be quite common for some crazy reason. This is my Record clone with replacement aluminum jaws. Same vertical offset issue.
But (just an opinion) something looks fishy with your counterbores, I would expect them to be centered to the bolt clearance hole. Any chance those jaws were replaced at some point or you think they were stock? Supposedly vise is made in Japan & they are typically good quality, not like clone blunders.

 

[calgaryguy]

I am 99% sure they are the original jaws.

Here's a pic of my record 8" vise jaw (top) beside the 5" Eron vise jaw. you can clearly see the holes for the eron jaws are 'off center'. They fit perfectly in the vise, so there is nothing 'off' about them other than they are a different style than the 'normal' Record style ones.

The Eron vises were super common forsale in the 60s and 70s in North America from I've read. It isnt really 'super expensive' but is a very good quality vise and still works well. Its a family heirloom of sorts that regularly has me saying 'thanks for the vise pops' (Pops == Grandpa)

 

[calgaryguy]

So for 'poops and giggles' I ordered a set of 5" Irwin 'Mechanics Vise' jaws from amazon. Their bolt hole 'offset' is correct, but the spacing between the holes is wrong. Boo

I might see if the 6" jaws have a wider spacing between the bolt holes.