- Joined
- Aug 3, 2017
- Messages
- 2,437
Alright, so here's the deal. I have an old Kurt D60 (Casting date in '79). It has been working more or less fine, but is pretty worn (and spent its years in a high school). The ways are cut up in a few places, so I have to be careful about laying parallels, and the top of the movable jaw is chewed up, so holding in the 'wide' mode is pretty unreliable.
I tore it apart last night (including picking out the thrust bearing in 90 pieces with a chisel), cleaned it up, and realized it is in pretty awful shape. I already knew the cuts in the ways were pretty bad, and the drill holes in the top of the moving jaw sucked, but I thought about having it welded up and reground. However, the drill holes in the movable jaw are through some really thin portions, including through the nut and into the half-sphere area. The metal is really thin in spots, and likely on its last leg. My welder told me that its likely not worth fixing the moving jaw at all.
I tossed it on the surface grinder and cleaned up the ways, and will likely put it back into service (as a backup) once the rebuild kit comes in.
That said, I want to replace it with something in better shape (and without the holes in the ways, which cause problems pretty often for me). Here are my options:
1- There is an older unmolested D50 on craigslist for ~$150. Not sure how I feel about downsizing from a 6", but I figured I'd surface grind the ways flat and it would be perfect, since it IS a Kurt.
2- Buy a cheap 6" milling vise (Shars/etc) for about the same, and grind the ways. I saw a "Build Something Cool" video doing this, and it seems like a lot of work to square up the fixed jaw as well as the base. Hopefully I'd luck into one with a very flat base plus a square fixed jaw.
3- Buy a GMT 6" vise (~$400: https://www.glacern.com/gsv_690). They seem alright, but I fear that I'd just be overpaying for an imported vise.
4- Suck it up and buy a DX6 (~$550). This is expensive, and will pretty much devastate my 'toy' budget, but seems to be the Caddy of manual machine vises.
ANY other suggestions? Something obvious I'm missing?
I tore it apart last night (including picking out the thrust bearing in 90 pieces with a chisel), cleaned it up, and realized it is in pretty awful shape. I already knew the cuts in the ways were pretty bad, and the drill holes in the top of the moving jaw sucked, but I thought about having it welded up and reground. However, the drill holes in the movable jaw are through some really thin portions, including through the nut and into the half-sphere area. The metal is really thin in spots, and likely on its last leg. My welder told me that its likely not worth fixing the moving jaw at all.
I tossed it on the surface grinder and cleaned up the ways, and will likely put it back into service (as a backup) once the rebuild kit comes in.
That said, I want to replace it with something in better shape (and without the holes in the ways, which cause problems pretty often for me). Here are my options:
1- There is an older unmolested D50 on craigslist for ~$150. Not sure how I feel about downsizing from a 6", but I figured I'd surface grind the ways flat and it would be perfect, since it IS a Kurt.
2- Buy a cheap 6" milling vise (Shars/etc) for about the same, and grind the ways. I saw a "Build Something Cool" video doing this, and it seems like a lot of work to square up the fixed jaw as well as the base. Hopefully I'd luck into one with a very flat base plus a square fixed jaw.
3- Buy a GMT 6" vise (~$400: https://www.glacern.com/gsv_690). They seem alright, but I fear that I'd just be overpaying for an imported vise.
4- Suck it up and buy a DX6 (~$550). This is expensive, and will pretty much devastate my 'toy' budget, but seems to be the Caddy of manual machine vises.
ANY other suggestions? Something obvious I'm missing?