Ahh...you could have posted this in the other thread but this title works better.
Surprisingly, there aren't many posts about Chick vises around here.
Just to clarify: I didn't buy new Chick vises. I bought 4 more of their M-series, 4" vises. They are like the current Series 5 vises, except they use pins to retain the moving jaws. I prefer them because I can easily make custom jaws (from stock) rather than buying from Chick.
It isn't the cost, but rather the types of jaws I can create. With the pinned jaws I could make extra tall jaws or other features that might not look like conventional jaws. I recently bid a job that included an extra tall center jaw that backed up a 3" tall extrusion (standing up) and mitee-bite clamps to hold the upstanding leg. I can't do that with Chick's off-the-shelf offerings.
1ctoolfool summed it up nicely: they are great for high-density workholding. The center, fixed jaw, indexes better than the Kurt-style.
I have zero experience using them for extended production though I have used one vise for a hundred parts or so (and it was really nice to use). I have a friend who
has used them in production. Because the bodies (on most models) are aluminum, they aren't surface ground. He warned me that the ones he used, varied in Z by up to 0.001"-0.002". I can't verify yet. Even if they do vary, each vise uses a cover plate that also acts as a shim. I suppose if the Z-heights really were a problem, custom cover plates could be ground or milled for each vise to absorb that difference.
He also warned me that with 6 vises on the table, the machine was going to slow way down; it's simply a lot of weight on the table and every small direction change is going to be harder on the servos. Being aluminum, the Chicks will be better than cast iron, dual station Kurts.
I don't think there is a perfect solution. My current workholding inventory:
- One Kurt D675 that I use for on-off parts.
- Three Kurt 3600V Versalock vises for longer parts, odd setups and two & three op parts (these are in rough condition which is why I still use the 675 for most things).
- Seven, 4" Chick, dual-station vises and four, 6" Chick dual-stations for high density production.