Milling Vice

[CrewCab]

Well, I've spent a couple of hours checking out the new (to me) 626 Mill and it seems pretty well put together, the tee slots have no discernible run out, table seems pretty level etc, so I've spent a while squaring up mi' little vice ................... and a bit longer ................. then a bit longer still ................  

After about half an hour of not being able to get it within about 2 - 3 thou I decided I either needed to go for a lie down ....    .......  or something was amiss  

Yup .................... the "fixed" jaw of the vice has about 0.003" of play in it  

So ........................ in the UK, any recommendations for a "Good Quality" Milling vice, I really don't want one that swivels as that adds more dimensional inaccuracy into the equation and one that exerts downward pressure as it tightens up would be nice ............. about 4" (100mm) should be OK

The only one I've found to press is This One from Chronos, so .................... It might be just as quick to collect it at the Midlands Engineering exhibition as to order via Mail Order  

Cheers Lads 

CC

[CrewCab]

OK I've spent a little time and stripped down "el cheapo" vice, cleaned out the crud and replaced the Chinese bolts with proper one's  .......... and it's far better, will hold parallel to about 3 tenths of a mil, or about a thou so ...... much better, so ........... on to the base ............. 

don't ask ............ having used accurate measuring ............. by eye with a square  ........... the 9mm base plate is closely related to this dude  ............ but has more moves 

I'm beginning to wonder whether trying to rescue this vice is actually worth the trouble 

CC

[bogstandard]

Dave,

If you want to go on recommendation, then I have used these for years, and never had a complaint.

http://rdgtools.co.uk/acatalog/Vertex_K_Milling_Vices.html

Measure the width of your table, double it, and that is the max length for your vice (should be around 300mm). You might find that you can get a 125mm wide one on there. Get as wide as you can, when it comes to vices, size does matter.


John

[CrewCab]

If you want to go on recommendation,   

I thought that would be a good way to go John, after all if some members been happy with something for a long time I'm sure I will be too.

Couple of points, .......... small vice is a cheapy one, I'll see what I can do with it ........ the new mill came with a much bigger, heavier vice .......... which is adjustable in all directions, it's not a brilliant quality but OK if your not chasing a few thou

Hence my original question, a good quality  milling vice, out overseas cousins seem to swear by "Kurt", I can't find them over here ......... however I suspect if I could they will cost almost as much as my original mill  ......... The one you've shown seems good, as do the one's you've often recommended from Gloucester tooling, I just wanted to eliminate the "swivel" if I could.

Thanks for the help, as ever 

Take care

CC

[bogstandard]

Dave,

You can get them over here, but they are very unpopular.

This is the Vertex copy.

http://rdgtools.co.uk/acatalog/Vertex_VA_Vices.html

Can you guess why they are not popular?

I will give you a clue.

I've just put a small bit in the jaws and it has disappeared. I wonder where it could be?

BTW, the swivel is detachable. Almost everyone who has bought a K type vice has one under their bench, gathering dust.

Bogs

[Darren]

I never thought of that......

I was planning at some point in getting one of those fake Kurts....well one day....

I like the idea of wide platforms to rest your work onto, but small items I guess would have to go at one end?
Then we have clamping problems I assume...?


Umm, so OK for larger parts but maybe not so good for smaller ones.

And then there is the "where has it gone, just had it in my hand" just say it with a cursory tone......been there too often....daily.....

[CrewCab]

BTW, the swivel is detachable. Almost everyone who has bought a K type vice has one under their bench, gathering dust.

There's me .............  guilty of thinking "Inside the box" again    ................. why oh why didn't I spot that 

they are very unpopular ................Can you guess why   

Made my night John ................ K type it is then 

Thank you John ................. have a dancing bunny on me

  CC

[bogstandard]

Darren & Dave (done alphabetically, no favouritism),

Even the K series isn't perfect. With the Kurt type, the rest area at the jaw bottom comes out to the edges of the jaws, whereas with the K series, they don't. The Kurt has the magicians disappearing slot in the middle, the K series doesn't. You pays your money ..............

If you want the best of both worlds, you gotta pay for it. For a professional type vice, with a full width bed, expect to pay at least 10 times as much, and sometimes a lot more.


John

[shred]

Interesting... on my 6" Kurt the jaws have to be more than ~4" apart before parts can be dropped below the jaws; the pull-nut casting blocks the gap until then (they do make a plate to fill the gap beyond that too, but nobody ever seems to use them).  It's a rough surface though-- I find the annoying part is you're supposed to center small parts (or pack the opposite side of the jaw), but there's no flat reference surface in the center for things like V-blocks or other non-full-length parallels.  In any case they work really well for medium-sized parts and pretty well for small ones too-- I had no difficulties milling Jenny Wren parts with mine, but really they're aimed at industrial users.  In the US these days they can be got in good shape on eBay for what new chinese clones go for, but if they're hard to come by in the UK, you're likely better off going with a ME-type vise.