Victor milling vise opinions

Be careful with buying an Enco vise. I bought a 4" that looked just the picture - Kurt Clone angle-lock.
What I got was neither angle-lock nor Kurt clone, but a cheap, Indian vise. They took it back, and said they had no 4" Kurt clones under $200
I ended up with a 5" real Kurt, used from reliable tools, for $180 shipped.
Cleaned up and painted, it looks and works like new.
 
AR1911 said:
I ended up with a 5" real Kurt, used from reliable tools, for $180 shipped.
Cleaned up and painted, it looks and works like new.
Click to expand...



I've seen their listings before. Are they good to work with?
 
I guess it was kind of a silly question. You did say it works like new; that's really all I needed to know.


I don't know about me sometimes.
 
There is a long discussion in another forum about Reliable. Some positive comments,many negative. Stuff like they didn't send the pictured item,or they chose picture angles that hid rust and damage,and a bunch of other complaints. If you got lucky,good. I don't think I want to deal with them. I had to send back a Peacock dial caliper to Enco. I have a beautiful Peacock dial caliper,but they must have been bought out. The Enco one was worse than a $14.00 one. However,I had no problem returning it. Apparently sending stuff back to Reliable is a gamble. One thing(among several) they can do to you,is ban you from future bidding,even when they are clearly in the wrong.
 
I agree Reliable is a crapshoot, I knew they had a spotty rep before I clicked the Buy button. In my case I got lucky, or maybe I was one of the vast majority who got what was advertised at a good price. At any rate I got what was advertised, no hidden flaws, adequately (barely) boxed. They were a little slow to ship, apparently they only ship on the 2nd Tuesday after a new moon, or something like that. 5" Kurts are scarce, and are higher than the 4" model, but it is the perfect size for my 8x36 table. I got a nice Kurt for the price of a clone. Cleaned up and painted (Kurt blue) it looks and works very well.

OTOH I have bought from Enco for years and never been unhappy. But my experience with that vise was disappointing. The site clearly showed a Kurt clone, the price was good ($110 IIRC) but not fantastic. What I got was a $50 vise that looked nothing like the photo, and was definitely not an angle-lock design. When I called them to tell them I got the wrong vise, they just said "The product may not look like the photos". So why then show a photo at all? Why would you buy something on the internet if you cannot trust the photo one the web page? I had them go look at other products, and they had no 4" Kurt clone under $200. So I sent it back, and they paid the freight.
The 4" Kurt clone vise is probably the most popular milling vise in their market, and they had nothing competitive? I just found that hard to believe.

Enco is still my first choice, and I have a Hot Deals catalog on my desk marked up for an order to be placed this week.
 
Totally agree: There should be an accurate picture above all else!! But,as said,you can get the same unreliable picture from "Reliable."!!
 
A few years ago I needed a vise for my X2 minimill. LMS had their 3" on sale, which looks just like the Victor vise in the original post.
I got it, mounted it, trammed it, and used it for several months. But it never really felt right when I locked something down.

So I took it apart, and found the area where the half-ball sits on the lower casting angle was roughly cast and did not offer a smooth seat. Had to mill that section back about 3/16 or so to get a good surface.
So be sure to take yours apart if you get it and make sure all is as it should in there.
 
I have a 5" Bridgeport I bought used from Plaza Machinery. It's OK but was a bit too big for my mill drill (I think I was told that would be the case but I bought it anyway.) It had a little lift but is pretty solid. I would recommend it if you can find one used and cheap.

Then I bought the Grizzly 4" milling vise because I made the mistake of taking some medication while surfing the internet. Didn't need it, but I was certain at the time that I did, so I bought it. I like mine. Still got a bit of lift, but it's more than adequate for my needs. I'd recommend it too.

Two weeks ago at a local auction I got a box of three of those inexpensive drill press vises and one (Palmgren, maybe) tilting vise. Paid $12 for the lot, which is about $11 more than any of them turned out to be worth. I have seen a few hints online about taking off the flimsy piece of metal in that holds the moving jaw down and replacing it with a more solid hunk of metal. That might make it usable for very light milling and if you can find them for sale at $2-5 it would be worth the experiment.

And then my just bought mill came with that 6" no-name that has no lift whatsoever, and is nicely clamped and aligned to the table so all the others just sit there on the shelf laughing at me every time I go into the workshop.

Joe
 
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