Screwless Precision Vises

[Jeff May]

Looking for opinions on the small screwless precision vises.
I've looked at various sizes on Ebay and Amazon, along with Shar's and a few other suppliers.
What are your all's thoughts on the "asian" made vises? I am looking for a 2" or 3" sized vise. Something small enough to also attach to my rotary table for an occasional project.
I don't have any plans to try and work in .0001" tolerances at this point. I'm just looking for something smaller and fairly accurate. Most ads are claiming the vises are "precision" ground to within .0002" tolerances. Of course, we all know how true that statement can be...
Thanks in advance,
Jeff in Hagerstown

 

[cathead]

Interesting! I have been considering the same. A screwless vise can be clamped into a larger vise to machine features.
It wouldn't be out of possibility to make one. Of course, you would not get the satisfaction or making your own if you buy one.
I will be taking a close look at some manufactured ones and also look at my "materials pile" and go from there.

 

[rgray]

What are your all's thoughts on the "asian" made vises?

They are fine for what you want to do. I have a few, and then I have a Herman Schmidt for serious stuff.
I prefer the ones without the threaded screw. They are so slow to change size very far.

 

[Mac1]

I bought a 2 inch one off ebay. I guess its precision, I havent checked it. However it is very awkward to use, nothing like a screw vi

 

[petertha]

IMO, for a lot of hobby sized machines, I think they can be good value & overlooked. Check out Stefan's Youtube projects. Many nice things made on his (RF-45 type) mill with similar type vise, guessing 4" jaw.
http://gtwr.de/?page_id=9&lang=en

I have a few different sizes & different distributers & they are all quite accurate. Yes the clamping them down can be a bit of PITA, but noting insurmountable. Some have continuous slots, others not or only on the ends. I don't use these as a primary vise myself because I need something bigger but they might find a good home on small mills or to hold a vise within a vise. For some reason the screw assemblies can be really crappy, ill fitting junk. This shows a teeny vise I modified with new one, simple bit of turning. Now it glides nice & engages detent notches much better. The bigger vises seem to have similar issue. Treat these as a 'kit' that requires further work

 

[mikey]

I own four of these vises; one is a Sherline, one is a Wilton tool maker's vise, and two are Chinese in 1" and 4" sizes. The Wilton was checked with a borrowed Murkens cylinder square and was found to be under 0.0001" all over, even though they state 0.0004".

I didn't bother to check the Chinese vises but I wish I had. They are actually quite good and clamp down in an angle-lok manner so the part doesn't rise when you tighten the jaw. As Petertha mentioned, mounting them can be a pain but not a big deal. I suspect you will find them to be at least as accurate, if not more accurate, than your current milling vise. I think they are a very good deal if you have one within their stated tolerances.

I wish I had stolen that Murkens cylinder square. Never thought I would use it once I checked my vise and the guy even wanted to sell it to me cheap. I let it go and he moved to another state and took it with him and now I don't know where he is. It is a very accurate 3" long cylinder with a strong magnet on one end. You stick it to the side of something and it projects 90 degrees from the surface you're measuring. Using a surface plate and a dial test indicator, you can measure how square one surface is relative to another. I looked up Dave Murkens and he passed away but the square is still made and sold; might just have to break down and buy one.

 

[kd4gij]

Back when I was at my previous job we had a tool and die room. I bought a 1" and a 2" screw less vice from Shares With the intension that I could grind the in. When I received them all dimensions where .0002 or less. no grinding necessary. Not saying to expect that accurse but should be just fine for hobby work.

 

[higgite]

I have a 90 mm (3-1/2”) Tormach screwless vise. Don’t know where it was made, I assume Asia but don’t know for sure. It’s the first and only mill vise I own so I can’t compare with others, but I it fits my LMS 5500 (SIEG SX2.7) bench mill very nicely. It’s solidly built and the tilting clamp screw makes it fast and easy to manipulate the movable jaw. Tormach claims .0002” for squareness/parallelism, but I haven’t verified that. They also offer a 70mm (2-3/4”) version that might better fit your needs.

Tom

 

[Jeff May]

Just ordered this piece tonight
2" jaw width.
I wanted something that could be used by itself, clamped in my 6" milling vise or mounted on my 9" rotary table.
For the price, if the quality is there I may just order the 1" & 3" jaw vises also.
My thanks to ALL the responses and thoughts.
Jeff

 

[hman]

Jeff -
Just a quick thought for you. First off, there seem to be two methods of anchoring the movable jaw on a screwless vise. One is well illustrated above, in petertha's post - the "knuckle" [not sure this is the right word] can be slid into various detents in the base, then the jaw tightened. The other type of vise uses a full length cross pin, and you have to remove the pin to coarsely position the jaw, then re-insert it through the knuckle, then tighten the jaw.

I have one of the latter style vises (3" size, I think LMS). It was frustrating to use at first, because trying to hold the knuckle in alignment with the cross holes in the vise base while inserting the pin is all kinds of difficult. Maybe not too bad if you use a square-ended Allen wrench, but I always prefer the ball ended type. Those are absolutely no help aiming the knuckle! I modified the vise by replacing the Allen screw with a length of threaded rod, locked to the knuckle with a nut. If space is limited, you can use Loctite. The jaw is tightened with a box wrench. Takes out some of the frustration, because the end of the threaded rod is easy to hold without tools. Makes it so much easier to keep things in alignment.

This trick might well be of value with the detent style vise.