A Vise for my vice

[praetor]

I am looking for a miniature precision milling vise, very much like the Kurt anglok precision milling vise. I saw a pic of one on the internet unfortunately my PC crashed and I didn't record the site/page. It was pretty neat and so small that it could fit in perfectly with the sherline mills. I think it's between 3" wide jaws and maybe 5" to 6" long I guess. I am looking for this vise because I can't machine on my bridgeport mill, I was recenly in a terrible car accident. I broke both my legs, my right leg has a cast and my right has jigs, fixtures and screws sticking out of every which way, doctor said it'd be eight months before I can recoup. So I had a small machine shop made next to my bedroom and filled it with benchtop machines, taig mill,sherline mill taig lathe sherline 5400 mill and a few flexshafts. only I find the sherline mill vise tolerances suspect, also I am so accustomed to working with the Kurt anglok's precision that i want to incorporate that in my tabletop machines. Hell if I can't find one, I'll commission one to be made, anyone interested?

[Ken_Shea]

This may be it, or close

http://www.littlemachineshop.com/pro...illing%20Vises


Ken

[JFettig]

A perfect vice would be one of these:
http://www.cdcotools.com/item.php?itemid=25
I run one on my mini mill and I really like it, the only thing is that it doesnt have removable jaws, so I made some.
http://www.cnczone.com/gallery/showp...500/ppuser/986


I had one of those mini 'kurt' vices at one time, they are massive! a 3" vice will weigh half of what that sherline weighs. It is definately too big, you will loose travel.

Jon

[praetor]

Thanks guys for the info I appriciate it, I looked into the sites you posted and found them interesting. but I am told that the screwles vise has a bit of a flaw, I've never used these types before I've always used my 6" Kurt AngLok on my bridgeport, had I considered making my AngLok in a scaled down version as a hobby project, I would've been set, what with my current condition, and all. But the type of vise I was thinking about was more along the lines of this: www.craftsmanshipmuseum.com/Huxhold.htm.

[JFettig]

What kind of a flaw does the screwless vice have? I have been using one for a few years and I like it and have had no issues with it.

Jon

[phantomcow2]

Im curious as well, what kind of flaw?
At first I found it frustrating to clamp objects because of moving the screw, and i was about to return it. Now, almost 2 months later, I love the thing. the 3" screwless is the way to go, i got mine for 43 shipped on ebay brand new from Pits wholesale

[praetor]

Well, A good friend, William, said that the screwless vise can't really hold odd rough pieces, under heavy clamping loads it causes parts to push upwards, not to mention the said piece being pushed into the stationary jaw causing jaw deflection, while the kurt is designed to pull the work in, or something, but again these are the thoughts of my friend. I was trained on a bridgeport and kurt vise and I never faltered. I never actually tried the srewless vise myself, but if it ain't broke...than again, I may have to try the screwless seeing as how in the time it takes to actually have a smaller version of the Kurt vise made, I can just order a screwless vise from LMS, and get started on projects right away. You have to admit though it would have been cool to see an actual homemade scaled down kurt anglok. Maybe I can put that project on the back burner until I fully recoup and share the build here. hey thanks, guys.

[JFettig]

I agree, a homemade anglelock would be cool. You should get your screwless vice from the link I posted, it has the slots in the sides rather than the holes, it makes for much easier mounting.


Jon

[Kmed]

I purchased one of the angle-lock copy vises from the little machine shop 4" version. I was getting bad parts consistently and the keyed jaw would flex .005+ when the vise was tightened. It also was not anywhere near parralel. .003 over 4". Screwless vises wont have the jaw flex problem as the rear jaw is solid, and when dealing with poor quality cheap parts I trust that much more than a keyway setup. Srewless vises tend not to have lots of clamping pressure but are fine unless taking heavy cuts. (Paralles tend to hang out a little on small vises lol..

[praetor]

Thanks guys, you really help me see the light, I guess I should have tried something first before talking between toes, what with my foot shoved in my mouth and all. Any way, I am going to go with the vise you recommended, JFettig, that feature actually sounds convenient. Hey, Kmed, sorry to hear about your experience on the ang-lok copy, another good friend of mine bought one of those, his came in a crackly black color, and said he had problems with his but seeing as how he paid something like $69 for it he took it apart to see what was the problem and found so much sand left over from casting it filled a small vial after cleaning it all up. He had to take the p.o.s. vise apart to do this, of course. Every crevice and surface you can think of had sand and oil. After cleaning it he than ran mother's polish to the surfaces used hardened screws and a hardened keyset, put it all together and was more than satisfied with the end result. I used it with my Kurt one time while working on big project, and I have to say it turned out all right, no complaints. The other day he was complaining on how he had purchased something as precise as the, (copy ang-Lok), vise proclaimed to be than work his tail off to get it to the precision he wanted/achieved. I said, "get a kurt", he looked at me awhile, took a sip of beer and said,"sudenly the math don't look so bad from here...wise @$$. Again thanks for the info, guys it was fun and I'll let you know how it goes from time to time.