Advice Needed - Vise for 728

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Aurelius

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Hi all,
I know this has been asked a few times before and I have been reading through the previous threads but it seems like most of what I've been seeing is a bit older so I wanted to check.
I am looking to buy an PM-728VT. I'm actually going to be calling to put the deposit down later this afternoon. I have figured out almost everything except which vise to put on it. So far it's between these:
First off, I'm assuming the Kurt and Glacerns are head and shoulder above the Homge that PM offers, is that correct?
I've seen a bunch of discussion and prettu much concluded that a 6" is too big but what are people's opinion on 4" vs 5"?
Does anybody have any direct experience with any of these on a 728?
Ignoring the price difference for a moment, if you could buy any one of these, which would you pick? Why?
Thanks!
 
A 4” vise is better suited for your machine, the 5” is still a bit big

I have 4”, 5” and 6” vises
I have 1 ,6” kurt, 1 6” import
1,5” import and 2, 4” a old kurt and an import
I put the 6” kurt on the BP J series 1
I tried the 5” on my 728 but didn’t like the overhang
I put the 4” kurt on it and found it to be a better fit
I got the 4” import on a scouting mission by accident for a ridiculous price, so it came home with me
 
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Size should be based on what you expect to be doing. A large vise will constrain a small machine, but that might be OK, depending on your work. Quality, however, is paramount. I have plenty of import tooling, but one place I absolutely won't scrimp is on a vise. If it's financially plausible for you, I'd get a Kurt. I've never heard a Kurt owner say they wished they'd bought a cheaper vise. I have, however, heard (and experienced) a lot of regret about not buying a Kurt to begin with...

The fly in the ointment is that I have heard almost universally good things about Glacern, but if I were starting over again today I'd pay the extra for the "insurance" of having a Kurt.

GsT
 
When I bought my727V Matt told me a 5 inch would be a good choice. I have been pleased with that. I would assume the same would be for your 728 , but you might ask. Oh, and I bought the PM vise and have been pleased with it also
 
Very much like my 5" Homge vise, but it's the only mill vise I've ever used so nothing to compare it to. I have yet to read anyone's opinion they are sub-standard. Likely to follow in short order now, I suppose. ;) I chose a 5" due to my table size and use projections.

Some here are very fond of the Glacerns. Others swear nothing but Kurt will do.

In order to offer opinions based on actual comparative experience, one would need to own/use multiple brands in like sizes. I doubt that is a real scenario for the majority of hobbyists here. There are some real machinists on here that can offer some real insight though.
 
When I purchased my PM940M CNC VS machine (considerably more expensive than a plan 940M) I ordered the best 5" Homge vise with it. When the Mill arrived PM was out of stock on these 5" vise and upgraded me to the 6" Ultra high precision Homge vise etc. https://www.precisionmatthews.com/s...tra-high-precision-milling-vise-wswivel-base/ It is very handy to have the extra width for holding long work pieces where you actually need to do operations outside of the vise jaws.

It is quite nice, precision ground, square, very strong, and true surfaces which I commonly indicate off of, and I would not hesitate to buy another if needed. Having said these positive things, a few years have now past and I am getting older and not as strong. I find it to be a bit difficult to lift on and off the Mill table! Weight ~ 95+ #s. Hence, once I mount it it tends to say there for a while.
 
Suggestion: using the vise dimensions (that should be on manufacturers’/sellers’ websites) to make paper cutouts and lay these on a paper drawing of the 728 table: this will tell you if a vise is bigger than you want, which may be different from what others like.

SHARS has announced their upcoming Black Friday Sale:

IMG_8473.jpeg
 
I have a 4" Glacern (pretty sure it is the 440) and a 5" Elephant (old import vise) on my 6x24" Clausing. The 5" over hangs the front (Back? the side towards the column) of the table by a good 1-1/4"+ in the rear most T slots eating up a good chunk of the Y travel.

The 5" came with the mill, and it has been handy for the extra size on occasion, but the 4" is a much better fit for the mill overall.

The Glacern is very well made, and at the time (2020) it was a real bargain compared to a 4" Kurt, price was still pretty good even against a used Kurt. In some more recent threads it seemed like the price difference was not as great, but it looks like the current Glacern 440 is $419, vs about $700 for a Kurt DX4, although it is not hard to find Kurt's on sale for about $600.

Glacern used to offer some pretty good sales. I don't know where they stand on that now. When I got mine I not only got a nice price reduction they were also offering free shipping which on a 30lb chunk of steel is a significant savings.

With Black Friday sales approaching it is certainly worth waiting a couple of weeks and see what comes up.

I don't have any experience with Homge vises, but I have a Homge rotary table and it is very well made. A vise is something you will use on the majority of your milling projects, so not a good place to go cheap. I expect a Homge vise would be pretty good even if not quite as nice as a Glacern or Kurt. At $350 is is not a cheap vise, but also not a huge savings over a Glacern ($419).



As they say a picture is worth 1000 words. My vises, 5" on the left, 4" on the right.

Glacern 4in vise with 5in vise.jpg
 
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