your opinion on Palmgren 3" milling vise.

[Ken from ontario]

Tertiaryjim, thanks for the comment, I'm not exactly sure which vise you're referring to, if it's the very last one in post #19, I thought that vise was a milling vise.

 

[tertiaryjim]

The vise you first pictured, Palmgren.

 

[Charles Spencer]

I have the HF version of the same mill and also a horizontal mill. I got the 4" vise from Shars with swivel vise like this:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/SHARS-4-x-4...ase-CNC-New-/330717190280?hash=item4d0047d888

http://www.shars.com/4-x-3-93-lock-down-precision-milling-machine-vise-with-swivel-base

The swivel only costs $5.00 more and I have found it useful for setting compound angles.

In addition I got a 3" toolmaker vise:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/SHARS-3-BES...796774?hash=item4cfa2d71e6:g:TFIAAOSwiCRUherg

The 4" vise is a little large for my mini mil sometimes (not too often) so then I use the smaller vise.

 

[mws]

Whatever size and style vise you choose I believe it is imperative to choose a vice where the moving jaw is pulled down into the vice bed when clamping. IE: screwless, toolmakers, Kurt,... The rocking/tipping of the screw type vise jaw is intolerable for mill work. IMHO.

 

[Bob Korves]

Whatever size and style vise you choose I believe it is imperative to choose a vice where the moving jaw is pulled down into the vice bed when clamping. IE: screwless, toolmakers, Kurt,... The rocking/tipping of the screw type vise jaw is intolerable for mill work. IMHO.

The Bridgeport vise that I rehabbed has box ways and does not have a jaw pull down action. The bed and ways have been fitted by me to a snug sliding fit. The movable jaw on my vise does not pull up more than a same sized (6") Kurt vise does (mine has .0005" lift when cranked down HARD), and a Kurt vise movable jaw does pull up, regardless of the "angle lock"... The bed on my BP vise is full width and does not have a slot in the bottom for losing stuff, filling up with chips, or for making setups more difficult, and the bed is quite a bit lower to the table than a Kurt vise bed is. It was also free...

Don't get me wrong. Kurt vises are very good vises, just not the only good possibility. Kurt clones can be anywhere from very good to absolute junk...

 

[Ken from ontario]

The bed on my BP vise is full width and does not have a slot in the bottom for losing stuff, filling up with chips, or for making setups more difficult, and the bed is quite a bit lower to the table than a Kurt vise bed is. It was also free...

k...

The lack of slot in the bottom is what I like and found a clone of Wilton that doesn't have that "feature".
BTW, you couldn't get that vise of yours any cheaper.lol.
Great post.

 

[Ken from ontario]

Finally bought a vise in my price range ,it is exactly like the one on eBay that's selling for$179.99 plus shipping but I paid $150 from a local vendor, it comes with the usual Cosmoline oil all over it that needs to be cleaned up but checked the base and with a little scraping it should be flat, the jaws are perfectly on the same plane and touch evenly /parallel ,if you have any advice on tuning and setting it up please let me know,the pic here are from the one on ebay which is identical to the vise I got:

 

[Bob Korves]

My advice is to take the swivel base off it and put it away until such time that you actually need it, if that is possible.

 

[Ken from ontario]

Bob.thanks for your comment,it's very much appreciated as always.
I am planing to remove the base, there's not much room in the Z axis to begin with. I meant to flatten the base of the vise itself if necessary, I haven't even checked the bottom yet.

 

[Bob Korves]

Bob.thanks for your comment,it's very much appreciated as always.
I am planing to remove the base, there's not much room in the Z axis to begin with. I meant to flatten the base of the vise itself if necessary, I haven't even checked the bottom yet.

Scraping the bottom in is a good idea. You might also be able to make the bed and the tops of the jaws more parallel with the table at the same time.