Milling vise?

[NickB1075]

I just picked up a small milling machine and now I need a vise. I know that Kurt and Wilton are the top and the price is too. They are just out of my budget right now.
Are there any alternatives with close quality that you guys can recommend. Seems that to get anything decent you need to go expensive.

Also what size do you guys recommend? The mill is an older Enco round colume. I am still looking to upgrade to a Bridgeport in the future but it was a great deal.

Any advice is appreciated.

Nick

 

[dkhunt14]

Try Ebay, I bought a Kurt cheap. Matt

 

[Eddie Harren]

Try Ebay, I bought a Kurt cheap. Matt

http://www.use-enco.com/1/3/mill-vise

 

[Steelnecktie]

I have Kurt on both my Bridgeports, you're correct, they are great.
I also bought a smaller machine vise for my drill press, got it local from a guy that buys Enco's second hand/returned/dented stuff.
It may be a phase II?? Or something like that, I would have no problems buying another for the money.

 

[Steelnecktie]

Enco 20% off till 2300 tonight.
Promo code "Today"

 

[Keith Hansley in NC]

Shars

 

[V509]

I sold my mini mill and have vises and hold downs that might work until you find a deal on what you want

 

[hogpatrol]

At times you can find a good deal on Craig's list for machinist tooling.

 

[NickB1075]

Thanks for all the replies. I was just curious what everyone was I swing and liked or not like.

I did look on ebay but it seems anything decent price they were hammering the shipping/freight charges. Bringing the cost back up to almost new.

I was holding to use the enco 20% and free shipping today but just couldn't make up my mind.

Well again thanks keep the sugestions coming. I will have to keep hunting craigslist and such for now.

Nick

 

[Larryh128]

I have a Kurt knock off made in Taiwan that is a good vise, what you want to look for is a vise that puts down pressure as well as side pressure on the part. It will make life easier. The Kurt knock off that I have does that. I would check VERY closely as to where the Ebay Kurts were coming/shipping from. Anything shipping out of California would be suspect. The Chinese have become VERY good at knocking off brands. I just threw away some 3.7 v Lithium (supposedly) batteries that were junk knock off labeled correctly. They are knocking off products from the company my wife works for and they get calls complaining to find out they bought cheap Chinese junk labeled as brand name. Hard to sue a Chinese company.

 

[akajun]

there is a company called Glacern that makes a very close copy of a Kurt, and of very good quality. From what I understand they buy the raw castings from overseas and machine them here. Other than a Kurt, thats the only other machine vise I would buy. I didnt realize how good a kurt was until I finally broke down and bought one. I fought for years with an import and old bridgeport vise.

 

[fguffey]

I just picked up a small milling machine and now I need a vise.

Sorry, I can not help you. I have three that weigh close to 50 pounds each.


F. Guffey

 

[billlarson]

I just picked up a small milling machine and now I need a vise. I know that Kurt and Wilton are the top and the price is too. They are just out of my budget right now.
Are there any alternatives with close quality that you guys can recommend. Seems that to get anything decent you need to go expensive.

Also what size do you guys recommend? The mill is an older Enco round colume. I am still looking to upgrade to a Bridgeport in the future but it was a great deal.

Any advice is appreciated.

Nick[/QUOTE

All vises have their shortcomings.............."KURT" vises have the lead screw coming in way below the part you are clamping.any slop/wear at all and the moving jaw of a "KURT" will cant. I like Bridgeport vises because the leadscrew is in alignment center with the moving jaw therefore a better design because the jaw will not cant...nearly as much as a "KURT"

 

[NickB1075]

Thank you for all of the comments. It has deffinenetly helped. At this point I am going to hold off and save some coin for a Kurt or similar high end vise.

I plan on moving this tooling to a better mill in the future so I just want to buy once and be done.

Thanks
Nick

 

[tonyb]

Sorry, I can not help you. I have three that weigh close to 50 pounds each.


F. Guffey

So why in the world did you post???

 

[NickB1075]

So why in the world did you post???

Haha, I was just gonna let that go.

Nick

 

[swd]

^^^I was thinking the same thing, what a waste

 

[Wirelessguy2005]

I second the suggestion for shars.com I recently purchased a vise from them for my mini mill and it works great.

 

[fguffey]

Also what size do you guys recommend? The mill is an older Enco round colume. I am still looking to upgrade to a Bridgeport in the future but it was a great deal.

Any advice is appreciated.

Any advice is appreciated


I am not sure but I believe the 3 vises I mentioned could be too heavy for most Bridgeport mills, and then there are the milling attachments for lathes. Then there is the possibility someone else is looking for a heavy vise. Then there is the possibility someone is looking for a heavy vise and does not have a mill.


I have one vise that required two people to load.


F. Guffey

 

[NickB1075]

I second the suggestion for shars.com I recently purchased a vise from them for my mini mill and it works great.

I did look at them, and I have to say that they do look and review a lot better then I thought they would. My problem is that they aren't that cheap unless I missed one. The 6" I was looking at is 320 plus 90 shipping and tax.

That is very well into thKurt territory. If I wait for an enco sale the Kurt would actually be cheaper.

If there is someplace I can get the shars for cheaper or free shipping please let me know. They deffinetly look like a solid vise.
Nick