- Joined
- Sep 2, 2013
- Messages
- 218
I've been wanting a bigger, heavier vise since I broke my 6". Princess Auto (which is basically Harbor Freight North for us Canadians) has a meaty looking 8" and I've been waiting patiently for it to go on sale. Well...today was the day. I made sure I was in there a few minutes before the store opened to make sure I got one....which I did. I was pretty rushed this morning, so I didn't even look at it. Just got it into the back of my truck, and off I went. I opened it up this afternoon. WHAT THE.....The handle on this thing is TINY compared to the body of the vise. 3/4 of the length of the handle is so close to the body that I can't even wrap my hand around it without the back of my hand being squeezed between it and the vise body. Then, the kicker. I turned it upside down. Oh my....now I see why the handle is so small with such crappy clearance.
They don't want you putting any real torque on this thing. The threaded rod is only about 3/4" thick, and look at the pathetic omega shaped cast "nut" standoff that it goes though. That's what's holding all your pressure. It's about 1 1/2" long, and is stood off the bottom of the body by half a country mile. I thought to myself...well...it might not break until I get it mounted on the bench...but after that, life expectancy is about 2 minutes. Nope...this piece of junk is going back to the store. The woman asked me 3 times what was wrong with it. I told her that it just wasn't built heavy enough for my needs. Finally, after she asked me the THIRD time, I said fairly loudly "It's built like a complete piece of junk !" I guess she didn't figure it was good to have customers at the counter getting loud about their cheaply made Chinese junk so she shut up and gave me my refund. I was hoping they would have skimped on the jaw alignment...finish...whatever, and made the actual important parts heavy enough. No such luck. I guess I'll keep hunting around for a good, but cheap used one. They want over 600 Canadian pesos for an 8" Record in my neck of the woods. If I'm nothing else...I'm patient. My crappy 5" spare will do for the time being.
They don't want you putting any real torque on this thing. The threaded rod is only about 3/4" thick, and look at the pathetic omega shaped cast "nut" standoff that it goes though. That's what's holding all your pressure. It's about 1 1/2" long, and is stood off the bottom of the body by half a country mile. I thought to myself...well...it might not break until I get it mounted on the bench...but after that, life expectancy is about 2 minutes. Nope...this piece of junk is going back to the store. The woman asked me 3 times what was wrong with it. I told her that it just wasn't built heavy enough for my needs. Finally, after she asked me the THIRD time, I said fairly loudly "It's built like a complete piece of junk !" I guess she didn't figure it was good to have customers at the counter getting loud about their cheaply made Chinese junk so she shut up and gave me my refund. I was hoping they would have skimped on the jaw alignment...finish...whatever, and made the actual important parts heavy enough. No such luck. I guess I'll keep hunting around for a good, but cheap used one. They want over 600 Canadian pesos for an 8" Record in my neck of the woods. If I'm nothing else...I'm patient. My crappy 5" spare will do for the time being.