Adjusting quick release lever tension in Record 52 1/2 D vise

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  • Praki Prakash
    25 May 2020 at 7:50 am #662813

    Folks,

    Recently I acquired a Record 52 1/2 vise with a quick release. The quick release lever doesn’t work properly. The entire mechanism is intact, nothing broken..

    Does anybody have instructions on how to assemble the quick release? Specifically, how does one wind up the spring that is attached to the lever?

    Thanks,
    Praki

    Larry Geib
    25 May 2020 at 10:50 am #662826

    Try this video (skip to around 18 minutes for the spring assembly part)

    You assemble the spring to the lever arm before you screw it to the flat bar. The only winding is when you align the lever slot and bar. The spring just might not be in its slot

    What’s not “working properly”?

    Won’t release?
    Won’t engage?
    Slips when you crank hard on it? (you may have a worn half nut. ( worst case) or it needs to be disassembled and derusted.or cleaned ( better))
    Check that the screw isn’t deformed or worn, also.

    • This reply was modified 2 years, 8 months ago by Larry Geib.
    Praki Prakash
    25 May 2020 at 7:27 pm #662877

    Thanks for the video link, Larry.

    What I meant was, I can’t push on the QR lever and pull the jaws out. The lever doesn’t have any “springiness”. I suspect the coil spring is not housed in the right position. I will take another look and compare my vise with the one in the video.

    Craig
    25 May 2020 at 8:29 pm #662885

    Here’s a link to a previous 52 1/2 issue.

    Record Vise 52 1/2: Chatters when sliding

    Might be of some help.
    Best,
    Craig

    SW Pennsylvania

    Larry Geib
    26 May 2020 at 11:41 pm #663028
    Praki Prakash wrote:

    Thanks for the video link, Larry.

    What I meant was, I can’t push on the QR lever and pull the jaws out. The lever doesn’t have any “springiness”. I suspect the coil spring is not housed in the right position. I will take another look and compare my vise with the one in the video.

    You did mean turn the QR lever, not push, right?

    Praki Prakash
    29 May 2020 at 7:20 pm #663333

    Thanks to everyone who replied. After a few false starts, I got it all working. There are a few gotchas here worth mentioning,

    – The screw in the flat bar attached to the QR handle is not located in the middle. In my case, the wider side of the bar got wedged against the steel bracket and had to be flipped before it would work as expected.

    – With regards to the tension in the spring, this was not quite obvious to me at the beginning. Where you position the flat bar in toothed hexagonal ring determines how much tension you end up with. I first positioned the spring against the little nub, held the quick release handle in the position where I wanted it and then tried the flat bar against different teeth until the tension felt right. This is a bit of trial and error process.

    – The hex nut and the spring go together in only one position. It is probably helpful to mark that using some marker as they disengage while making other adjustments.

    If you are starting with a working vise, taking copious pictures before disassembling it would be a great idea.

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