# Looking for some perspective



## jwmay (Dec 23, 2017)

Hello all, 

The intent of this post is to make a request of members here that may be useful to a lot of people, including me.  My Grizzly G0705 came with a 6” milling vise. I like it. It’s easy to use, and quicker than setting up jobs on the table. It also reduces how far I have to extend the quill during milling operations. But it’s too big for this mill. I don’t have full table travel because the front of the vise casting hits the column base casting well before I’d hit any machine limit. In addition, the back end of the vise obscures my view of the handwheel dial, and is just generally in the way.  

I’ve searched the internet as much as I believe adequate, but haven’t found the images I was searching for. What I’m looking for are pictures of a milling vise of a specified dimension on a table of a specified dimension. I got to thinking that this forum might be a place where asking for this might not be totally out of line.  So I figured I’d start with what I’m thinking would be useful views for prospective buyers of milling vises.  So I’m hoping I’ve attached three
	

		
			
		

		
	





	

		
			
		

		
	
 views of my 6” grizzly milling vise on a 28 5/8” x 8 1/4” milling table. I’m sure that works out to whole metric numbers but bear with me. Anybody else want to donate some visual perspective?


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## dlane (Dec 23, 2017)

You Need a bigger mill ,  ied keep the vice for when you get one,  it’s tradable for small one, ied keep it


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## Z2V (Dec 23, 2017)

Yep, looks to me like you could do well with a smaller vise.
Grizzly has a 3” vise at 9” x 4”  and a 4” vise at 12” x 5” where your 6” is 16” x 8”
Have you talked to the folks at Grizzly?


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## HBilly1022 (Dec 23, 2017)

I have a mill drill that looks the same and has similar table dimensions and I have a 4" vice on it. Which in my opinion is a good fit. The vise is an Asian vice I paid CAD $99.00 and I'm very happy with it for the price. I thought about getting the 6" vice but after looking at them in person I figured the 4" was about right. I think a larger vice would limit the Y movement of the table. With this one I get full movement.

In any case here's some pics of my vice on the table. Hope this helps.


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## mikey (Dec 23, 2017)

That looks like a round column mill of the RF-30/31 ilk. I don't have pics but I have a 4" Kurt that fits my mill and needs quite well.


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## jwmay (Dec 23, 2017)

Z2V said:


> Yep, looks to me like you could do well with a smaller vise.
> Grizzly has a 3” vise at 9” x 4”  and a 4” vise at 12” x 5” where your 6” is 16” x 8”
> Have you talked to the folks at Grizzly?


 No, I haven’t spoken with anyone at Grizzly. But feel a bit sheepish that I didn’t track down those specs on my own. Thank you.


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## HBilly1022 (Dec 23, 2017)

jwmay said:


> No, I haven’t spoken with anyone at Grizzly. But feel a bit sheepish that I didn’t track down those specs on my own. Thank you.



I find specs are not easy to visualize and actually seeing the product on the machine clears things up pretty quickly. I wouldn't be sheepish about not checking the specs. The supplier should have realized that vise was too big and would restrict some of the table movements, or at least provided options and reasons for the options. No big deal though. From what I've read on this forum Grizzly is great to deal with and will look after you if you are not satisfied.


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## Billh50 (Dec 23, 2017)

I have a 4" om my round column also. It seems to fit well for the size of the machine. I thought the 6" would be a bit large for a machine of this size.


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## neshkoro (Dec 23, 2017)

There are a few things you could do. First I would take off the swivel. It makes the setup much stronger. If you need it you can put it back on. Second you could move the vise one slot forward or mill new key slots in the bottom of the vise. Or you could saw off the flange on the front of the vise. Always a way. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## kvt (Dec 23, 2017)

I have the Enco 30 with a Kurt 4in,   It works good,  The end of the vice is just about in line with the back of the Table, and the front does hang over but can still see past it.


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## jwmay (Dec 23, 2017)

Well I’d call this thread a success. Any future buyers should be able to find it in the ether and see the dramatic difference between a 4” and 6” vise on a round column mill. It’s exactly what I needed anyway. If anyone has a 3 or 5 inch vise on a 28x8 table, and cares to contribute a picture or two, I’m sure any future machine tool hobbyists with a need to “see for themselves” would very much appreciate your efforts. And there’s also that warm fuzzy feeling you’ll get from helping someone out to consider.

Thanks to everyone who took the time to reply.


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## TomS (Dec 23, 2017)

Another consideration when positioning your vise is establishing your Y axis center of travel.  On my PM-932 (9 x 32 table) CNC the center of Y travel is the forward edge (towards the operator) of the middle "T" slot.  Ideally you want the cutter to be in the center of your stock with the table at the center of Y axis travel.  This becomes more important as the Y axis width/depth of your part increases.  A larger vise gives less flexibility you have in positioning it on the table.  

I have 4" and 5" vises with no swivel bases.  The 5" is about the right size for the PM-932 but is a bit too big for my RF-30.  Again, this is based on the physical size of the part I'm machining.  The 4" vises works on both mills but I'm limited on the size of material I can hold.  

This is my perspective and how I go about setting up my vises.  Your needs may be different than mine.  I hope this is helpful information.


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## Z2V (Dec 23, 2017)

I have a 6” vise on my 8 x 30, the DRO cost me 1” of Y travel and the vise cost another 1/2” . Some day I would like to add a 4” vise but there are many tools higher up the want list.


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## RJSakowski (Dec 23, 2017)

My Tormach 770 has an 8 x 26 table and I use a Grizzly 4" vise in the the middle slot on the table.  I do not use the swivel base.  In that configuration, I don't impact my Y axis travel.  The fixed jaw is far enough forward that I can use and edge finder to locate the back edge of work mounted in the vise.

The two bottom keys can be moved so the jaws are parallel to the y axis instead of the x axis. Should I need a special position for a piece of work, I can remove the two keys and use toe clamps for securing but I haven't run into that need yet.


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