About 14 years ago I bought two woodworking vises that I planned to use for a new work bench. I didn't get around to building that bench until now and I mounted one of the vises to my new bench. Of all the things that I thought might go wrong with this project "breaking a vise" wasn't one of them. But that's what I did.

I was testing its holding power and I must have cranked too hard and I heard something snap and clank on the floor. I looked down and there was a piece of the quick release mechanism. As I said, I had bought two of these and was only using one so I had spare parts, but now I am worried that I will break it again. And of course my second vise is now unusable.

I think I might have bought these from Rockler but I am not sure. I do remember that at the time they were pricey (for me) at maybe $175 for the 2 of them.

Any thoughts? Did I make a mistake cranking too hard? Has this happened to anyone else? It looks like a design flaw because it cracked at a very weak spot where the cast iron was especially narrow.




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