Awesome Vise Speed Handle Deal - Made in USA

[ErichKeane]

@rgetso

I've been following all the good press you're getting here. Your product has certainly made a splash.

Your willingness to discuss "special" features (along with your workmanship and great price) makes you a very attractive option. Thank you.

Since you've mentioned "incorporating a bearing of some sort", I'll throw in my $.02. I want a rotating handle and the design I would select is to simply thread the handle 3/8-16 and use a shoulder screw (length TBD) as an arbor for a custom turned handle. No "bearings" per se. The cost of the shoulder screw and handle turning will increase the price, but it's what I want.

As a 'cheaper' answer (though not sure @rgetso's version SHOULD have a cheap solution... ), what I did on my homemade version was to make the handle, drill a bolt hole to bolt it in from the other side, and leave it 'loose' by 5 thou and loctite it in place.

 

[ErichKeane]

Also, @rgetso: were you able to come up with anything reasonable for my shaper handle?

 

[rgetso]

Also, @rgetso: were you able to come up with anything reasonable for my shaper handle?

After seeing pictures of that beast of a machine, I shifted gears and reached for something else. I think your vise handle is hiding in here!
I got a bottle of selenium dioxide (SeO2) to experiment with for the finish.

 

[DAT510]

Mine arrived yesterday. Great looking piece. The Custom sizing is a great touch. The hex on my vice was an odd size so "off the shelf" handles were either too small or loose. This one fits great. And as others have mentioned can't be beat at $25 +$2.50 s/h

 

[ErichKeane]

Mine arrived yesterday. Great looking piece. The Custom sizing is a great touch. The hex on my vice was an odd size so "off the shelf" handles were either too small or loose. This one fits great. And as others have mentioned can't be beat at $25 +$2.50 s/h

View attachment 403735

What's with the solid center post instead of the hex?

Also; in using mine I find it keeps getting caught on the foolish/useless Kurt "stop" thing in the default storage location. Might be finally time to just toss it!

 

[Gaffer]

I received an email from eBay yesterday that my order was delivered. I can’t wait to get home this evening and open it. I ordered 3: one for my 5” GMT, one for my Kurt 6”, and one for my unknown brand 6” that came with my mill but no handle.

 

[DAT510]

What's with the solid center post instead of the hex?

Not exactly sure.... It comes out. It looks like it may be a sizing hex to verify the custom size?

Maybe @rgetso can pipe in.

 

[ErichKeane]

Not exactly sure.... It comes out. It looks like it may be a sizing hex to verify the custom size?

Maybe @rgetso can pipe in.

View attachment 403746

Ah! I didn't realize it was a plug! A few folks on the custom ones mentioned it coming with a "test plug", so that is exactly what it is

 

[rgetso]

The part you are holding is the test piece I made to check for fit before your handle comes off the CNC mill's vise and onto the fixture for Op 2.

The goal with batch #1 is to make custom sizes as quickly and accurately as possible. The test piece takes about 6 minutes to go from CAD to bandsaw to mill to part in hand. Without the test piece, I am guessing. I have had to tweak a few handles before they were inside my tolerance to ensure a good fit when it arrives at your shop.

That handle looks pretty fancy!

 

[Nyala]

I found myself in the same boat as the OP in needing a non-standard handle for my PM import vise. Not being able to find one I set about to make one. My main purchase that I needed to cut a radius was a rotary table. I found a 6" table on sale at Grizzly for about $300 and it fit nicely on my PM-25 mill. There were a couple other smaller purchases to align the rotary table, as well.

I also had to make about 12 other small items to help in creating my masterpiece, ( a 6" round fixture plate for the rotary table, 4 T-nuts, etc. I think you get the idea).

I then set about to learn how to cut a hex using the rotary table. I didn't want the hex to look like a sheriff's star with holes at the end of each point. This was quite complicated, but due to my stupidity more than anything. Note: do not calculate all of your dimensions based on using a 3/16" end mill, then install a 1/4" end mill in the machine. Don't ask me how I know. It lengthens the process greatly and results in a waste of large amounts of scrap stock used for practice.

Once I figured everything out (it takes a while for a novice like me) the actual cutting of the handle was uneventful. The handle works great and it probably only cost me about $500 to make a $25 handle. However, I still have the rotary table and all the ancillary pieces that I made to make everything work.

However, for $25 I know that I would have ordered one rather than make one, but making it was fun.