Snap.

You can buy a product called PLASTIGAUGE that is intended to be used to check clearances in engine crankshaft bearings. Such clearances cannot be measured directly very easily.

It is very simple to use and consists of deformable precision plastic rods that flatten when clamped between two surfaces. The width of the flattened part is compared with a chart provided with the product and the clearance is then read off directly. No measuring instruments are required.

I have used it for its intended purpose and for checking all sorts of other small gaps that are normally difficult to measure. It is ideal for checking such a machine vice.

Plastigauge can be purchased in small lots from RS Components. Also try a Google search.

My feeling is that the degree of 'tipping' of the moving jaw is dependent not only on the clamp pressure used but also the shape of the workpiece and its position between the jaws (i.e., sitting at the bottom of the jaws, near the top, etc..). Simply shimming the top of the rear jaw is not going to resolve the issue for all situations.

It is also notable that when tightening this vice - unlike a standard vice where it is very obvious when the jaws are closed and resistance to turning the handle further increases rapidly - in this vice it is an uncertain feeling and you can seemingly continue tightening it by degrees with no feeling that it is secure. What is happening of course is that as you are applying more torque at the handle the jaw is just tipping more and more. This is worst when a thin piece is held near the top of the jaws, a situation that is not advisable at all using this vice.

If this device received a 'good' write-up then the reviewer must not have actually taken it out the box and tested it.

The only solution for this vice (as I see it) would be to provide more support for the moving jaw to prevent it tipping in the first place, rather than accept it and (try to) compensate for it. Imagine a pair of buttresses, triangular shaped pieces, bolted to the rear of the jaw with bolts angled in such a way that they force the buttressing pieces downward onto the slideway. I think you get the idea without a sketch.

Edited By Chris Heapy on 06/05/2013 19:01:05

Not fit for purpose!

Reject it. Bad bad design as already stated, so DON'T be tempted to rectify it as you won't know what else is thrown up afterwards.

Something at that price should perform as advertised.

No wonder you have lost confidence in it, I would as well.

Geoff - Ready to make Boxford shaper tools.