This is a quick teardown and restoration of this Parker Eclipse Machinist Vise, No. 973 1/2. It is a swivel, with a 3 1/2″ smooth jaw and the iconic Parker hex lockdown wrench which are so frequently missing. Weighing in at 42lb and available for $15 in 1942, this is a good example of a bench-top workhorse vise. As soon as it was cleaned it up, it was put into service on my bench.
Teardown:
The first step was to take the vise apart which is pretty easy to do. The exploded view below shows all the parts and how they fit together. One interesting feature is that the swivel lock mechanism is reversible for left or right handed use. The teardown confirmed everything was in great shape with no cracks on the slide or jaw shelf.
Clean up:
Once in pieces, the cleanup follows the usual cleaning process that has been covered before: a bath in purple power to loosen grease and paint, a dip in the electrolysis bath to remove the rust, a quick buffing, then a coating of BLO. I prefer the bare metal look, so decided not to paint it.
Once cleaned up, some nice details became visible like the model and part numbers on the base and swivel break.
A before and after closeup of the iconic No. 2 hex wrench with the lock ring that should prevent it from getting lost. The hex slot and nut are tapered, so the wrench can only be oriented one way.
Final assembly:
The vise is a good size to be useful, but not take up too much room on the bench. I also found the smooth jaws very helpful to not mar anything being worked on. This one should be ready for another ~100yrs of work.
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