Choosing a vise

[Manual Mac]

I bought a Kurt clone 5” vise 5 or so years ago.
i couldn’t be happier with it.
it trams well, & is very accurate.
I did de-horn it, it had very sharp corners.
I also smoothed out the half ball & socket, I can’t detect any jaw lift.
I dunno, maybe I just got a good one.
I use a RF31 round column mill to build small steam engines, not gunsights.
i think the vise was about $100 delivered to the house. Came with a swivel base that I’ve never used.
I also have a 6” knock-off rotary table that is accurate enough for me,
I no longer machine for a living, this is a hobby now.
Buying cheaper tools & equipment means I can buy a lot of it & I’m not disappointed very often.
I have thought of painting the vise Ford engine blue, or black, I still may do that.
As always YMMV

 

[snoopdog]

Glad you got the swivel base, I balked and now wish I had, just for a modicum of convenience. I bought a chinesium also, If my skills improve to the point that the vise is my handicap, I'll buy a better one.

 

[ericc]

I have a really terrible vise on my horizontal mill. It was welded out of barstock and has not even been cleaned up. I do most of my work with a dividing head and tailstock on that mill, or clamped directly to the table. When I have workholding problems or am worried about lift, I'll put in a couple of extra toe clamps. Eventually, when I get around to it, I will get one of those screwless toolmaker vises.

 

[tq60]

We got a genuine Kurt for good money from the not sorted yet area of a dealer, sans swivel.

Months later we found an import swivel that was part of a bunch of stuff the dealer got from a client's estate, swivel was for a Kurt clone and fits perfectly.

All on the mill, do not need often but too lazy to consider removing it only to put it back when needed.

Sent from my SM-G781V using Tapatalk

 

[Gnpenning]

My mill came with a Teco pws 6900. It was supposed to be a Kurt knock off for a better price in the past. It appears to now be fairly expensive.

It is a much better vise than the operator.

 

[IamNotImportant]

I bought the Tegara 690V for 320.00 plus shipping, it is supposed to be a faithful copy of the Kurt D688. So far i have to say that i a very pleased with it.

 

[skcncx]

I bought the Tegara 690V for 320.00 plus shipping, it is supposed to be a faithful copy of the Kurt D688. So far i have to say that i a very pleased with it.

View attachment 429332

Do you find this is a good size for the 833TV? I see you have it mounted so it doesn't overhang front/back of y travel. I was thinking the Tegara 440V or 550V was size better.

 

[IamNotImportant]

Do you find this is a good size for the 833TV? I see you have it mounted so it doesn't overhang front/back of y travel. I was thinking the Tegara 440V or 550V was size better.

it isn't "mounted" sideways, it is the photo i took after setting it back on to the bed of the mill. 5 inch might be a better choice for most, but i don't think that as of now, that the 6 inch is really a "hindrance" either.

 

[skcncx]

it isn't "mounted" sideways, it is the photo i took after setting it back on to the bed of the mill. 5 inch might be a better choice for most, but i don't think that as of now, that the 6 inch is really a "hindrance" either.

Good info. I was thinking 5", but was waffling on the 4" since it's more common for other jaws, accessories etc... may not matter much.

 

[mksj]

I also have two Teco PWS6900, they are a copy of the older Kurt vise, and the swivel base is interchangeable between the two. I bought a separate Kurt swivel base, and in 10+ years I have not used it, and always needed the extra Z axis height with it removed. I agree that when starting out and higher precision is not required, get what you can afford for your mill. As other's mentioned, sometimes you can find something better used locally, but in the smaller size vises they are probably low quality and beat up. The better made vises will hold the part more accurately and not move when clamping.

As far as size of a vise for different mills, it is not just about the width of the jaws, but the dimensions of travel/size of the mill vs. the dimensional size/mounting of the particular vise. On the 833TV, it has a significant Y axis travel, so it is unlikely to be any travel limitations between using something like a 550V (5") vs. 690V (6"), the difference between the two is about 1/2" between the back and jaw face and to the mounting holes. The CNC style vises tend to have a bit longer distance between the back of the vise to the front of the jaws, but overall length is usually shorter (so the 6" CNC vise is the same overall length as the standard 5" vise). Having a 6" vise is more versatile as far as accessories, jaws, etc. If you Y travel is shorter, or the table smaller than go with a smaller vise.