A "Good Enough" Mill Vise?

MaverickNH

MaverickNH

H-M Supporter - Gold Member
H-M Supporter Gold Member
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Nov 6, 2012
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159
Looking at specs for LMS 4" Precision vs Professional Mill Vises below, at $150 vs $300, is the better vise worth it for a home hobby machinist with a HiTorque Mini-Mill with Positioning Accuracy 0.0004"?


Ways parallel to bottom of vise within0.0003" in 4" (0.008 mm in 100 mm)0.0006" in 4" (0.015 mm in 100 mm)
Jaws perpendicular to ways within0.0004" in 4" (0.010 mm in 100 mm)0.002" in 4" (0.05 mm in 100 mm)
 
It depends on what kind of work you do? Personally, the "Jaws perpendicular to ways within 0.002" would be a no go for me.
 
It’s something you’ll use almost every time you run the mill.

I have a 4” Shars and two 6” Kurt’s. If it was me I’d spend the extra money just to know whatever error I see is me and not the vise.

Don’t think $300 will get you a really good vise though.


That said, it really does depend on what kind of work you do and what results you are trying for. No point trying for tenths accuracy if you can only measure down to thousandths.

John
 
Check on Kurt’s web site for dents and blems. It is hit and miss with what is available. I picked up a 6 inch vise for over a hundred less than list price. After checking the vice out the only defect I could find was some minor porosity that didn’t effect the use of the vice.
 
I've used vises that weren't good enough, but I've never used a vise that was too good. Get the best you can afford. It's one of the very foundations of nearly everything you'll do on your mill.

GsT
 
Nutfarmer said:
Check on Kurt’s web site for dents and blems. It is hit and miss with what is available. I picked up a 6 inch vise for over a hundred less than list price. After checking the vice out the only defect I could find was some minor porosity that didn’t effect the use of the vice.
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Surprisingly, I was able to find a Kurt DX6 at All Industrial for cheaper than the dents and blem section.
 
Which Mini-Mill? A 4" would be too big for my LMS 3990; 4" is suitable for a larger, "Bench-Mill" like the LMS 6000-series.
 
ChazzC said:
Which Mini-Mill? A 4" would be too big for my LMS 3990; 4" is suitable for a larger, "Bench-Mill" like the LMS 6000-series.
Click to expand...

Maybe you've just saved me from making a "too big" mistake!

The 3" vise that came with my starter kit is 3.05"/4.21" in height (with & without the swivel base). I took off the swivel base.

A 4" vice is 3.5" in height w/o the base. I'm wondering what makes it too big for a LMS 3990? It's about twice the weight of a 3"...
 
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