Setting Up Shop

Yeah, I did note some differences, but also a number of similarities, so while I'm thinking Reed, certainly not 100% positive. Reed did make some changes to the 104 over the time they offered it. And maybe, with them casting for someone else, they made a few changes so it wasn't exactly the same as theirs. Reed did make vises for Craftsman for a while, including the time period Craftsman sold this one, so that furthers the thinking on it being a Reed.
 
Last night I started working on restoring the vise. Broke it down and gave it a good cleaning with some simple green. Today I wirebrushed it to remove rust. Gave it a good cleaning with lacquer thinner to clean off grease reside. Taped machined spots off. Then applied a coat of primer. Tomorrow night I will put a coat of paint on.

Overall this vise is in good shape. The screws on one jaw didn't want to budge, so I just left the jaw in place. The other jaw, after getting through the rust, I discovered had been welded in place. No removing that one! The jaws are in quite good shape, so no need to think about refreshing or replacing them.

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First of two coats of paint went on today. Tomorrow night I'll apply the second.

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The place where I had planned to mount the vise just isn't ideal. I've also been needing a place to mount my bench grinder, set my Taig micro lathe, and really just have as a small dedicated metal working/tools area. And for as much as I have enjoyed building my workbench, I just am not in the mood to go and build another workbench right now - I really want to jump into some projects for my wife/around the house once I finish a few things up in the shop. She's been very patient about waiting for me to get the shop fully set up before I start on projects for our home, but I get the sense that she's ready for me to get started on some of those projects.

So I ordered a bench today - a Gladiator bench, wood top and steel legs, 66 1/2" x 20" top. The size will fit perfectly in the spot I have for it. It'll be available for me to pick it up at Home Depot sometime next week. Having the open space under this bench will also provide a good place to put some things, shop vac, etc., out of the way when not in use.

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I got the bench put together a while ago. I've mounted the vise to it. Eventually I will mount the bench grinder to it. My Taig lathe will also have a home on the bench. Pieces for an upcoming lighting project have also found a temporary home on the bench. Yes, the vise restoration is done. I should get a better picture of it sometime.

My Sprunger 8" table saw fits under the bench nicely, along with one of my shop vacs.

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Nice table saw cabinet. Did the fronts of the six bottom drawers come from the same board or just the bottom four? Either way nice wide board and I like how you laid out the drawer fronts.
 
djg said:
Nice table saw cabinet. Did the fronts of the six bottom drawers come from the same board or just the bottom four? Either way nice wide board and I like how you laid out the drawer fronts.
Click to expand...

The drawer fronts for those bottom 6 drawers were 3 boards that I glued together and then cut up for the drawer fronts - yielded less waste that way.
 
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