your opinion on Palmgren 3" milling vise.

[Ken from ontario]

Mikey, isn't it strange that they(southern tools) sell 2" and the next size up is 4", I've noticed that with other brands, not many customers for 3" I guess.

 

[Ken from ontario]

I don't really know of anyone making a good 3" mill vise anymore. But if you can go to a 4" things get better as far as quality.

That's it ,lots of good quality 4" and 6" but the smaller the vise, the cheaper it gets with quality, just my luck,lol.

 

[Ken from ontario]

The only reason I don't go for 4" is I'm worried it'll interfere with the mill's Y handle or it'll be too long and couldn't be centered on the mill table .

 

[mikey]

Do with a screwless vise until you find a Kurt D30, Ken. Wait, they will show up.

 

[Ken from ontario]

I might, I'm not really desperate for a milling vise ,I can use my drill press vise as I always .
I found a few decent 3" vises on ebay but can't base my judgement on the pictures alone.
For now I'll keep looking, thank you all for your comments, I'll let you know what I'll end up with.

 

[ch2co]

I've been using a screwless vise for most of my (aluminum) milling for the last year or so, and although its Chinese I've had very good luck with it. It's about 10-12 years old
so don't know if the newer ones are really the same. I've used a 4" palmgren that I've had for years every now and then, but it does interfere with the y-axis handle so it needs careful planning with the setup. I like mikey's idea.

CHuck the grumpy old guy

 

[woodchucker]

I found the 3" Shars on ebay but it looks just like what I can get here for $100, I'm very sceptical of the quality.

http://www.shars.com/products/toolh...2-95-lock-down-precision-milling-machine-vise $65 US should be about $78 CAD

 

[Bob Korves]

I might, I'm not really desperate for a milling vise ,I can use my drill press vise as I always .
I found a few decent 3" vises on ebay but can't base my judgement on the pictures alone.
For now I'll keep looking, thank you all for your comments, I'll let you know what I'll end up with.

Look here, if you haven't already:
http://littlemachineshop.com/products/product_category.php?category=1963256912

 

[Ken from ontario]

Thank yo all for the links and all your comment, I am truly grateful.
Bob, I did look at LMS vises, the one I really like is

I found a Canadian seller on ebay selling it ,with tax and shipping it'll come to $280 Canadian $, which is the same is LMS.

 

[tertiaryjim]

I bought that vice you show with the swivel base.
It's fairly well made but not accurate or rigid enough for milling.
I had to do some light machining and scrape it in, the vice and base, before it worked well.
Still not as good as a milling vice.