Which New Mill Vice?

I've had one of these vices for about 18 months now, and I must say that I'm very pleased with it. The capacity is amazing and the vice is accurate and very versatile, especially with the optional vee-jaws and high-jaws.

The only problems that I've found are that due to the height of the vice (in it's full swivelling mode) the headroom available for tooling is reduced and also it is somewhat less rigid than a standard swivel base vice such as the Vertex K4 when taking heavy cuts.

With reference to the jaws not closing parallel, this is due to the clearance holes when bolting the loose jaw to the base - the trick here is to gently close the vice onto the workpiece and only then fully tighten the capscrews holding the loose (no tenon) jaw before tightening the vice fully. If you do this, my experience is that you will find that the grip is awesome.

Good luck with your vice, and I hope that you will find it as useful as I do.

Regards

Roger

Chris and Roger

Thank you very much for your input. I had wondered about the possibility of losening the bolts to achieve alignment, I take it that this does not only refer to the middle jaw but also the end ones?

It is a pity that there are not clear and detailed instructions for configuring the various setups and alignments - it may have been made in the East, but I understand the design is British and therefore readable and meaningful instructions could/should have been provided.

I assume that to hold the biggest piece of work one of the end jaws is removed from the central slide and middle jaw fixed to the end of the fixed base?

I am using it mainly on a KX3 but also on a Super X3 - what constitutes a heavy cut? Many thanks for your help and guidance.

Edited By EtheAv8r on 01/08/2012 14:23:05

The two end jaws are accurately located in machined recesses, it is only the centre "fixed" jaw that can be adjusted for alignment. There used to be a data sheet on the Warco website which showed the various combinations of jaw and workpiece positions.... it was a little cryptic, but once you have played around with the vice for a bit it makes sense.

I'm not sure what Roger regards as a heavy cut, but I've never had any problems with any cut I was prepared to take with an X3! I have however removed the swivel base from mine, I find that it is not particularly useful with a CNC mill, and removing it does increase rigidity a little.

I would recommend getting the extended height jaw set, the standard 25mm high jaws are a little small for many jobs.

Chris

I agree with Roger on the Jaw alignment, this is exactly how it was explained to me by the designer when I first saw this vice demonstrated at a ME exhibition.

I can highly (no pun intended) recommend the high jaws, I have both hardened and aluminium high jaws as well as the Vee jaws, they all have their uses along with the standard jaws.

I think EtheAv8r you have been a little unlucky in your experience, my vice has been used and abused over the past few years and still has most of its paint. I would agree that the supplied box is poor quality, although I recall mine was ply rather than MDF. Mine now resides in an oak box (recycled kitchen cupboard doors) when not in use with plenty of silica gel as I do have a bit of a rust problem in the winter months, (hopefully a new heating system will sort this out this year )

IF you still have problems it would be worth giving Warco a call and having a chat with Doug who designed the vice.

CB