Tool Vice Grips

[Doggggboy]

If your cheap or old or cheap old Vise Grips or generic equivalent feel kind of crunchy when adjusting, chuck the thumb screw in the lathe and turn the end of it flat. Makes my cheap PA ones and my dads' 60 year old ones feel like new. Of course it doesn't hurt to clean the threads as well but having the end of the thumb screw flat instead of bumpy or domed makes a huge difference.

 

[Susquatch]

Might improve their incremental adjustability too. I sometimes find I can't hit the sweetspot. They are either too tight or too loose, hard to get just right. I'm thinking this might be why.

Also wondering why you don't just grind the end flat? Might be 10x easier than setting it up in an lathe.

 

[Doggggboy]

Might improve their incremental adjustability too. I sometimes find I can't hit the sweetspot. They are either too tight or too loose, hard to get just right. I'm thinking this might be why.

Also wondering why you don't just grind the end flat? Might be 10x easier than setting it up in an lathe.

I've done that as well, before I got the lathe.
The lathe is more fun and leaves a better finish. Even on my name brand vise grips the end of the thumbscrew is either rough and domed like a wart or flat but still rough. Setting up on the lathe is easy peasy. I just push the knurled end in past the jaws and tighten on the threaded part. Seems to run true enough. I did all the vise grips and welding clamps, about 20 pair, in about 30 minutes.
The tough part is figuring out which screw goes in which pair after.

 

[Dan Dubeau]

I have a few that could benefit from this treatment. I'll admit buying old vise grips is my vice. If I can get them in the $5-8 range or less, I'll buy them as one can never have too many. Picked up a couple slightly rusty ones a few weeks ago for $1/pr, that will become custom welding jigs someday. Don't mind altering them for $1 a piece. I have a box of surplus tools like that I pick through that become modification fodder when needed.

 

[Bandit]

Surplus /broken tools often become modified/new tools for a second life, none of this "single use" stuff!
Now I want to check all my vise grips, project # ??
Can you have too many?

 

[Doggggboy]

Surplus /broken tools often become modified/new tools for a second life, none of this "single use" stuff!
Now I want to check all my vise grips, project # ??

Project #1
Your coffee will still be hot by the time you're finished.
Starting and finishing one tiny project in a short time gives me the inspiration to get after a bigger one that I've been putting off.
On the other hand...