What Vise for IH mill ?

[Roy Norris]

I would appreciate any advice on what milling vise to use with my on order IH mill. I have been looking at the Kurt D675 (6" jaws, 7.5" openning, 85lbs).

Roy Norris

[ChrisJ]

I bought a Phase II 6" vise.

It is no Kurt, especially the price tag, but I figure when I can machine well enough I can invest in a better vise at that time and this one can do the dirty work.

It still is a pretty nice import!

Chris

[eman5oh]

I have a Phase II as well that I purchased from enco. It holds well and was machine fairly accurite, .0005 to .001 runout. My only complaint is that the 4" model I purchased only opened to 3.850 or so, preventing 4" stock from being held.

[MikeAber]

I just purchased a "5" Precision Milling Machine Vise With Swivel Base" from enco for $84.00 and checked it out last night. It seems OK. A quick check with a parallel indicated less than .0005 runout in 6" and the jaw face vertical runout was nothing. I was going to get the 6" vise until I found out the truck freight charge was going to be $66.00 on the $85.00 vise. These are fine for hobby work. If you are a professional then the KURT should be your natural choice to go with your professional machine.

[MikeAber]

Roy,

My personal experience is that most of the bench top machines can not make use of the accuracy built into the KURT vise. The KURT vise is the best vise and all of the options available for the vise make it a top choice for serious work.

[Roy Norris]

Thanks for everyone input.

Best regards -- Roy

[MikeAber]

Originally Posted by eman5oh I have a Phase II as well that I purchased from enco. It holds well and was machine fairly accurite, .0005 to .001 runout. My only complaint is that the 4" model I purchased only opened to 3.850 or so, preventing 4" stock from being held.

eman5oh,

You may already know this.

I have 4" and 5" vises that have the same problem. I made 2 sets of soft jaws for each of them. On one set I cut a slot in the jaw face .200" deep and .250" wide on the 4 inch and .375" wide on the 5 inch. Now I can hold a 4" piece of stock in the 4" vise and a 5" piece of stock in the 5" vise. I can surface stock down to .250 inches without worrying about the jaws and the best part is; the slot milled in the jaws is absolutely parallel to the spindle as long as I don't move the vise. If I do move the vise and need to precision surface something I just take a cleanup cut of .005" or so in the slot and I'm parallel again. For light cuts the slot holds just about everything without the need to drag out the parallels and when drilling holes in stock that I have centerpunched I can place the stock loosely in the slot (.050" or so) and let the drill bit center the stock in the punchmark without the stock getting away from me.

Mike

[ChrisJ]

Roy (and anyone else),

If you haven't purchased a vise just yet, Penntoolco.com is offering free UPS shipping.
See offer code in attached file. This could save you a few bucks for shipping that heavy vise.

Chris

[Roy Norris]

Hi Chris,

Thanks for the info. I went ahead and ordered a Kurt 6" vise from Enco who also are offering free shipping.

Best regards -- Roy