# Kurt Vise Rebuild



## HMF (Jun 16, 2011)

Hey Guys,

I was cruising around the net and noticed this article on rebuilding a Kurt vise by Blue Chip Machine Shop:

http://bluechipmachineshop.com/bc_blog/?p=311

It seems like a pretty advanced project. I was wondering if anyone did a more basic "sprucing up" of a used Kurt vise.

Thanks!


Nelson


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## flutedchamber (Sep 15, 2011)

The article from Bluechip does not agree with Kurt as far as installing the front (fixed) jaw. The jaw is installed, then torqued to X pounds, the vise tightened and the jaw retorqued. It does make a difference on the fixed jaw staying perpendicular with the vise bed.

I totally don't agree with using a file on the vise at all.


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## flutedchamber (Sep 22, 2011)

I understand that removing burrs before assembly is of utmost importance for fit and accuracy of the assembly. I would personally use an oilstone and fluid, not a file. Well..that is unless some ham fisted idiot beat the edge with a ball pein hammer. Then a file would come into play. As far as taking ten minutes to remove ten thousandths of an inch with a mill file..I think the guys on your side of the pond need better files.  ::thumbzup:: Perhaps use a file to remove the majority of a large burr, THEN stone it to a finish..

Stone the imperfection away with fluid, clean and dry, THEN check with a precision straight edge / square or indicator. Whichever is applicable. Repeat until the surface is true.

My Dad worked 43 years as a tool and die maker. If he had taken a file to anything but a raw chunk of metal to be machined he would have been fired on the spot. He COULD draw file something so it looked like it came off of a surface grinder with extremely good accuracy as far as staying parallel, etc. but no files for a final fit.


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## flutedchamber (Sep 23, 2011)

Rick, 

There was no fight. Difference of opinions are not fights. You formed your opinion from your experience, I formed my opinion from my experience. Perhaps things are done differently in different countries.


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## Maglin (Nov 14, 2011)

I actually picked up 2 D60 Kurts that had the jaws and a set of soft jaws.  The only snag was they had been sitting in a garage for 10 years and had acquired a lot of rust on them.  So far I've only messed with one.  I don't have a surface grinder yet to totally refurb them so I had to use a file to clear off most of the rust and dings.  These cam from a production shop some very long time ago.  So far I've only had time to clean up one vise.  It is still rough but it's clean just not pretty.  I had no problem using a fine mill file to clean up the base and even the ways.  Worst thing about using a file is rounding the corners of the movable jaw which will allow swarf an easier access under the jaw.

Now if I had access to a surface grinder I would definitely use that to clean up the bottom followed by the ways to get them perfectly parallel and clean.  I do plan on getting a surface grinder and doing that very thing to both vises followed by some new paint and new Kurt Logo's to make them pop.  But again a file made them usable and they are still better than my chi-com vises that they replaced.


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## KenS (Nov 19, 2011)

Rickabilly said:


> ... any professional fitter, in any turbine house, any where, would be required to clean up damaged parts before assembly and usually with a file.  Rick



European apprentice machinists-- most notably German, Austrian and Swiss who are world-renown for their skills-- sometimes had to file a perfectly square cube on their way to being journeymen. All sides had to be flat, parallel to each other, and of precisely the same dimension.

One these shores, at the Henry Ford Trade School an early student project was turning a brass cube into a perfect sphere, using only a file.

The hours spent on such projects taught the apprentice life-long lessons in precision, skill and patience.

Today it's water jet, CNC and EDM. Make a mistake and you scrap it and start over.

A tremendous amount of skill and knowledge has been lost to those past generations.

One the other hand, in those days trade secrets abounded among guilds and breaking into a trade took years. With the information we have at our fingertips today in forums such as this, the education process is vastly expedited.


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## Novah (Nov 20, 2011)

KenS said:


> European apprentice machinists-- most notably German, Austrian and Swiss who are world-renown for their skills-- sometimes had to file a perfectly square cube on their way to being journeymen. All sides had to be flat, parallel to each other, and of precisely the same dimension.<snip>



The company I work for used to be owned by a German company. Every year, we would have an apprentice come over from the German facility and work on our assembly floor. We were making a repair on the assembly floor one day and I wanted to strip down a machine to bring a major component to the machine shop for machining. Rather than go through hours of dis-assembly, it was suggested to let the German "kid" do it in place by hand. I laughed and said "Yea, right". It was explained to me the square cube activity in the quote and I decided to let them try. 

I was amazed at the results. The repair was virtually invisible.


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## Novah (Nov 20, 2011)

Enco has rebuild kits for the Kurt vises. They are actually cheaper from Kurt.


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## Kevin45 (Jan 28, 2012)

Anytime you rebuild a Kurt, 99 times out of 100, you don't need a rebuild kit unless someone has had it apart before and not put the bearings back in. I've probably rebuild close to 75 and have yet had to buy a rebuild kit. The biggest culprit with a lot of Kurts is if they come out of a production area that uses coolant and an airhose to blow the chips out. The chips and coolant tend to jam and rust the threads on the main shaft. Some of the Kurts have a grease Zert on the end where the plug is to keep things greased. Others just have a plastic plug. Once everything is cleaned, greased good, the vise will work like new.

As far as running a file across the vise. I have no problem with that. I've had to do it many times to get a burr or nick off to be able to surface grind the vise.


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## KBeitz (Jul 17, 2018)

A file is just another tool you need to learn to control. It sometimes takes years.
Some people never learn to master it.


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