Pen vise stuck

[Drcal]

I use the regular Pen Makers' Center Drilling Vise from Woodcraft. It has worked fine for me for a few years until today. It is stuck. I can close the jaws more but I cannot open them. When I try it is so tight that the knob I am turning begins to unscrew. There are 2 very large threaded rods and one small one at the bottom. Not sure what to do. HELP!

Carmen
Tampa, FL

 

[PTownSubbie]

Carmen,

I have the same problem with mine only I cannot close it but it opens fine. What I do is fully open it and then it works fine. I think it is loose and has an alignment problem where it is trying to cross thread. I am not an expert but how I found out how to make mine work is just tried to fully open it. Once it realigned correctly, it closed just fine. It is not uncommon for me to have to do this after every 4-5 pen blanks.

Disclaimer: I don't guarentee this will work if you fully close it in an attempt to realign it. But it is not working now either. Your call but you could just try to fully close it and see if it is an alignment issue.

My two cents and you it might be worth exactly what you paid for it.......