Looking for a vise

dickr said:
I would just Google "cnc vice" I think you'll find a few mfg's who make the square on all sides quite similar to Kurt. I believe Kurt also makes those vices. If you go to the Kurt website you'll probably be able to spend all the money you want in 4", 5", etc. All of those type are not inexpensive.
dickr
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Dickr,
That is where I started, but there are thousands of hits and I'm not smart enough to filter out the good ones. Glacern and Kurt do not seem to have what I want, but Shars does. I have read reports of those being very good and very poor.

So I thought I'd turn to the more experienced for some help.

Thank you,

kr
 
Kevin,
You make an excellent point. I will have to get good measurements when I find something.

thank you,

kr
 
This is my personal preference. I like to have the solid jaw of my vise aligned with X axis and slide it to the far right end of the table so if I need to make a table setup or put the 4[SUP]th[/SUP] axis on I usually won’t have to remove the vise.

Kevin
 
I too understand that "CNC" vises are squared up on the sides and even the end. Don't think I'll ever buy a vise that isn't a CNC type after using my Interstate in every possible orientation on my Nichols horizontal. I don't see a single drawback to them.

That Glacern is a mighty nice vise, almost a work of art.

As for the registration keys, they may be convenient but I sweep the vise with a DTI to square it up anyway so they are certainly not essential. I remove the keys on my CNC vises because they limit your placement options. I use a square for rough alignment and then sweep to perfection.
If you feel keys in both directions are essential it would be an easy job to mill some yourself.

I have to say that I've been very impressed with my Interstate. Looking at their present offerings I don't see one like mine anymore. Mine opens wider and the whole base and the fixed jaw support are cast and milled in one piece unlike the more common bolted and keyed fixed jaw support. My Interstate also has slots milled vertically (when in the horizontal position) so it's easy to use table clamps to hold the vise on it's end.
 
Senna said:
I too understand that "CNC" vises are squared up on the sides and even the end. Don't think I'll ever buy a vise that isn't a CNC type after using my Interstate in every possible orientation on my Nichols horizontal. I don't see a single drawback to them.
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Have pictures of it?
 
therbig said:
Great point, kr. Sorry I overlooked that part.

You're right, the left-hand vise (a Kurt VersatileLock V3600) in bloomingtonmike's picture looks like what people call a CNC vise. But just like the Glacern it doesn't have a length-wise registration slot.

One vise I know of that does is the Kurt PT series. It is a very high-precision vise with its "pull-type" (PT) mechanism and is ground on all sides. It also has registration slots in both directions (see the pictures in http://www.kurtworkholding.com/hydraulic-pull-type-vise-p-1152-l-en.html). The only downside is that it's quite expensive, even used on eBay.

One thought and one question. The thought is that you could always use an indexing plate and mount your vise sideways on the plate. It's more expensive than just a vise but may be cheaper than buying more vise than you need just because of the slots.

The question is, why do you even need a CNC-style vise? As I gather (and I don't have a CNC, so other please chime in :) ), one purpose of the ground sides of CNC vises is that they can be mounted right next to each other so you can run more parts before you have to do a changeover. But I don't know if that is relevant for you. The other reason people use CNC vises is for automated closing and opening action. If that's something you want, those are available as kits for regular machining vises as well.

Tom
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Tom,
Thank you for the link. The reason I want a CNC vise is the option to turn it on its side and have a tall clamping area, and maybe on its end, but that seems more protracted.

Besides, they sure are purdy !

kr
 
freeidaho said:
Tom,
Thank you for the link. The reason I want a CNC vise is the option to turn it on its side and have a tall clamping area, and maybe on its end, but that seems more protracted.

Besides, they sure are purdy !

kr
Click to expand...

In my pics above you see my Kurt 3620V next to the D688. I plan to have a sub plate it mounts to for the end and side that I can register to my table in whatever orientation I need. It can be bolted down on the end or through the body.
 
Have you looked at the Vertex vices? From the picture they look like the might have key slots in both directions.

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