footloose
10 kW
Think it was Ben Franklin who said "a penny saved is a penny earned".
When I was a kid I never understood what the heck he meant.
Somewhere along the line I figured it out.
So this week a 25 year old Record vise on my workbench crapped out suddenly.
You could spin the handle all you wanted, but the jaws didn't move.
I figured I had stripped the drive threads and the vise needed to be replaced.
Checked the prices for a replacement... >$100 for similar quality new vise.
Hated to plunk that money down. Thought about it. Tools didn't use to be disposable.
And stripped drive threads... not really likely... I'm not Hercules after all.
Could it be repaired?
So I disassembled broken vise and took a close look. Threads were fine.
Culprit was a simple broken retaining pin in whats called the 'tommy bar' on a vise.
Fix was drive out old pin, replace with a new $0.50 roll pin, clean and grease all, reassemble.
Vise works fine.
Very satisfying to fix rather than replace.
And the $100 saved is $100 earned... which can now be spent on bike parts.
My guess is Ben would approve, especially if the money goes towards batteries.
When I was a kid I never understood what the heck he meant.
Somewhere along the line I figured it out.
So this week a 25 year old Record vise on my workbench crapped out suddenly.
You could spin the handle all you wanted, but the jaws didn't move.
I figured I had stripped the drive threads and the vise needed to be replaced.
Checked the prices for a replacement... >$100 for similar quality new vise.
Hated to plunk that money down. Thought about it. Tools didn't use to be disposable.
And stripped drive threads... not really likely... I'm not Hercules after all.
Could it be repaired?
So I disassembled broken vise and took a close look. Threads were fine.
Culprit was a simple broken retaining pin in whats called the 'tommy bar' on a vise.
Fix was drive out old pin, replace with a new $0.50 roll pin, clean and grease all, reassemble.
Vise works fine.
Very satisfying to fix rather than replace.
And the $100 saved is $100 earned... which can now be spent on bike parts.
My guess is Ben would approve, especially if the money goes towards batteries.