Choosing a vise for a small mill

[DonF]

I have been using a very old milling vise thats a little too big for my X3
So here is the question - what makes a good vise good?
I have read posts that say all imported vise's are garbage.
Ok fine, Why is that? I see than some imports list being square an parallel to .0002. Spec wise that seems ok to me.

[HuFlungDung]

A good vise is made from good quality, amply-proportioned castings. A good vise has good smooth screws and perhaps real thrust bearings to take the load. A good vise has the base machined parallel to the slideways on the vise top, in both X and Y directions. A good vise has nicely finished hardened jaws that actually nest on the base of the vise when you take them off the first time and put them back on, they are still locating properly. A good vice has the capscrew counterbores in the jaws large enough to clear the eccentricity of the capscrew head. A good vise has an 'anglelock' feature on the movable jaw which helps pull the jaw down to the slideways when the vise is tightened up. A good vise feels solid, not spongey as you tighten it up, it feels like it reaches 'tightness' without going another 1/4 turn, and still not feeling positive about it being tight.

A good vise has a solid enough fixed jaw that it will not move more than a thousandth or two when tightened, and that therefore stays reasonably square to the slideways.

A cheap import will see you through until you figure out that you need better. What's really tough is making two import vices line up with each other if you have need to use two vises at once on a part.

[blades]

Hands-down winner for a mill vise (in my opinion) is a Kurt vise. A nice 4" vise would probably be ideal for the X3. Problem is, it COSTS almost as much as an X2! I have seen many fine import "Kurt copy" vises that are not really too shabby, for a fraction of the price. Definately not as nice as a Kurt, but price-wise much more appropriate for a hobby mill. All depends on how good of a vise you need. The Kurt vise (or Kurt copy) will have the anglelock feature that HuFlungDung mentioned.

[DonF]

Thanks for the tips. I will look for a vise with the features you suggested.

[Geof]

Get a Kurt. Get a Kurt. Get a Kurt.

Do I need to repeat it any more times? You can by cheaper but you cannot by better. The first two vises I bought were imported copies of Kurts. The next twenty one vises I bought were Kurts. You could say I learnt the lesson.

[maxboostbusa]

I would stay away from the Wholesale Tools Precision vises. I bought one and paid more than I could have for another that looked alot alike just to find out that the top surface plates were no where being close to true. Ended up milling and surfacing the top to get it trued up.

[blades]

4" Tite-Lock Kurt copy is $118 at J&L Industrial supply
4" Kurt vise is $701 at J&L Industrial supply.

I've personally used the Tite-Lock vise before. No, it's not as good as a Kurt, but pretty close. This is a prime example of the 80/20 rule in action: It's 80% as good as a Kurt (assuming HOBBY use), at 20% of the price.

Geof is absolutely right about getting a Kurt. They cannot be beat. But it also sounds like he's using them in a production environment. Trust me, unless you really have $700 to drop on a vise, the Tite-Lock is plenty good for hobby use.

[Neil_J]

I just picked up a Sieg X3 from Grizzly... I was about to post the same question before I saw this. I have some more specific questions if anyone can help out...

I already have a 4" tooling vise (one of those small ones that are finished/ground on all sides), but it's only 2" wide. I'm pretty sure I need something bigger for larger jobs, but I don't want to go too big --they get heavy and expensive quick. I'm still not 100% sure on what a realistic work envelope is on the X3 so I couldn't pick out a vise size if I tried.

Should I just get another 4" but with a wider base?? Or go with something bigger?