Clamp not clamping

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  • Mark68
    27 August 2019 at 5:38 pm #603239

    I bought Silverline clamps a couple of years ago and they work fine. Today though, one of them just kept turning and turning but not clamping. Nothing seems to be loose so I was wondering if there’s a fix for this.

    Thanks all.

    "Sawdust? I think you'll find that's man-glitter."

    deanbecker
    27 August 2019 at 7:08 pm #603260

    So when you turn the handle the jaw does not move away from the head? If so the head has stripped or the screw has stripped

    Mark68
    27 August 2019 at 7:34 pm #603267

    Not sure if the jaw is the top part of the clamp but if it is, that is correct.

    "Sawdust? I think you'll find that's man-glitter."

    GfB
    19 September 2019 at 9:00 pm #610114

    Could be stripped, could need lube. If your clamp has a quick-release, try cleaning and lubricating the quick-release mechanism.

    Mark68
    19 September 2019 at 9:20 pm #610121

    Stripped doesn’t sound good. I’ll try and take it apart when I have a bit of time.

    "Sawdust? I think you'll find that's man-glitter."

    GfB
    20 September 2019 at 1:05 pm #610296

    This may not help you, but a friend of mine stripped the threads on the quick release jaw, enough that it slipped. I wedged the jaw closed in locked position with a piece of wood. It returned life to the vice, but without quick release.

    Mark68
    20 September 2019 at 1:08 pm #610297

    I’m not sure how to strip the clamp but I’m going to have a look at it either way.

    "Sawdust? I think you'll find that's man-glitter."

    GfB
    20 September 2019 at 2:27 pm #610319
    Mark68 wrote:

    I’m not sure how to strip the clamp but I’m going to have a look at it either way.

    Sorry, after re-reading my last post, I need to clarify. The threads on his quick release jaw were stripped enough to cause the threads to slip under load. I wedged a piece of wood into the “cage” in which the jaw was housed to keep in the locked position. The vice now works again, but has no quick release functionality. It can be used as a backup/secondary vice.

    His vice’s jaws had a nice feature, in that the threads in the jaw can be replaced. They were designed to fail before the main screw (softer metal). Unfortunately for him, though his vice was only about 5 years old, the manufacturer went out of business and parts could not be found.

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