# Victor milling vise opinions



## ecdez (Sep 9, 2012)

I need an inexpensive vise for workholding in my mill / drill. I'm not building a reactor or a spaceship, so I don't need the most expensive thing around but at the same time I don't want to buy junk that will have to be replaced in a few months either.

Any one here have one of these that can offer an objective opinion.








Part # VS-LTV6 (http://www.victornet.com/alphabetic/Milling-Machine-Vises/157.html)
$129



If not, can anyone suggest a comparable alternative?


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## george wilson (Sep 9, 2012)

It is always a gamble buying asian or Indian vises,or other things. I bought Taiwan 6" Kurt clones in 1980's,and they were o.k.,but things have gone downhill since mainland China got into the act. Indian stuff can be worse.Returning that vise will cost shipping money,too. They are heavy. Even if guaranteed,you'll be responsible for returns.

I only ever bought ENCO vises before I got a real Kurt,so no experience with the Victor offerings. I HAVE been there several times,and saw some pretty crude vises there,though,not the model you are showing,though.

Is there a Northern or a HF near you,where you could just drive to return a vise? You need to go over it with a dial indicator when mounted,to see if the bed is parallel. Also TAKE NOTICE if the FIXED jaw bends back under pressure. See if the vise works smoothly,or if the works have casting sand in them. Some imports are VERY CRUDE inside,and have to be taken apart,cleaned,refined a bit before use.

P.S.: I see you are in N.News. There's a HF in Hampton,and a Northern,too. Go there and look at their vises,try cranking the jaws and see how smooth they feel. At least you can do that in their stores. I think Northern sells that type vise,but haven't been there for a few years. Don't recall seeing them at HF,but I have not been in the market for one,so didn't look carefully for one.

I will say that I have found there swivel base for my Taiwan vises were too thin,and could actually see them lift and flex during cuts in my vertical mill,which is not a real powerful machine. I always look for THICK bases for any vise I buy. That means 3/4" thick around the edges. The center portion is thicker,naturally, it's the edges than can lift up.


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## ecdez (Sep 9, 2012)

Neither HF or Northern has milling vices on the shelf, only bench vises.


I would prefer one I could check first, but havn't found one locally yet. That's the main reason I was looking for feedback from someone who has one and first hand experience.

I did pick up a huge milling vise locally and it's mounted in my horizontal. The price was good, there was no shipping and I could go over it before I took it. Unfortunately, it's too big for my smaller machine.


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## george wilson (Sep 9, 2012)

India CAN make good castings when paid enough. An old English engineer told me that several English machinery makers got their heavy castings made in India,and that was years ago.

That said,they aren't getting much for their vises,so they are rough and cheap. Same deal in China. They just don't get the money to make good stuff,but they can make good rockets,which is not the easiest thing to do.


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## Bill Gruby (Sep 9, 2012)

Enco has knocked another $100.00 of this deal.

http://www.use-enco.com/CGI/INSRIT?PMAKA=PQ209-9020

"Billy G" )


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## jumps4 (Sep 9, 2012)

of course they did bill i just bought it all on ebay 2 weeks ago  for a lot more:lmao::lmao::lmao::lmao:
steve


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## george wilson (Sep 9, 2012)

Buy the ENCO. FREE shipping code for Sept. is SEPUPS. I just saved a bundle by getting free shipping on a heavy brass bar last month. Another source wanted $30.00 to ship a bar 1/3 as long.

If you can get free shipping at least ONE WAY,you'll be ahead if you have to return it. My Enco vises were fine,but as said,they were bought in the 80's and were Taiwanese. A Kurt came along last year locally pretty cheap is the main reason I have a Kurt now. $250.00 for a very nearly new 6" Kurt. Had to buy the swivel base separate,but got a real thick one by luck. MSC for some reason they didn't know,had a pallet full of them and better than Chinese. Probably Japanese. Only a very small alteration on the center pin diameter was needed. And blue spray.


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## ScrapMetal (Sep 9, 2012)

Tools4cheap has a couple of options to look at - http://www.tools4cheap.net/products.php?cat=30  While imports, I've been happy with what I've gotten from them in the past.

Hope that helps,

-Ron


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## Hawkeye (Sep 9, 2012)

I have a couple of 4" Chinese vises that look like your picture. They do a reasonable job for me. Keep in  mind that you will always get some amount of lift from that style of vise when you tighten it. We just learn nhow to deal with it. Get a good dead-blow hammer when you get the vise.

I did do some milling on the bottom surfaces of the second vise when I got it, mainly so both vises would be the same height when used to hold longer work.


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## ecdez (Sep 10, 2012)

Thanks for all the input. The small one I have on my mill just doesn't have enough clamping force and has considerable lift when tightened. Any of the ones suggested would probably be a vast improvement.


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## AR1911 (Sep 10, 2012)

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.


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## ecdez (Sep 10, 2012)

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.





I've seen their listings before. Are they good to work with?


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## AR1911 (Sep 10, 2012)

ecdez said:


> I've seen their listings before. Are they good to work with?



I bid, I won, I paid, they shipped, product matched description and picture.

That's my complete data sample.


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## ecdez (Sep 10, 2012)

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.


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## george wilson (Sep 11, 2012)

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.


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## AR1911 (Sep 11, 2012)

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.


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## george wilson (Sep 11, 2012)

Totally agree: There should be an accurate picture above all else!! But,as said,you can get the same unreliable picture from "Reliable."!!


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## AR1911 (Sep 11, 2012)

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.


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## AR1911 (Sep 11, 2012)

george wilson said:


> Totally agree: There should be an accurate picture above all else!! But,as said,you can get the same unreliable picture from "Reliable."!!



Well, in my case, Reliable was better in that respect.


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## joe_m (Sep 11, 2012)

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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## george wilson (Sep 11, 2012)

Even my like new Kurt has a little lift. Dead blow.


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