Warco DH1 Milling vice.

Hello all, has anyone bought one of these milling vices ?. Are they as good as the advert says ?. Seem to remember someone having trouble with one a fair while ago. Thanks.

Hi Roger

Yes - I've used one of these vices for around 4 years now. They're expensive compared to say, a standard K4 vice, but far more versatile. The max opening between the jaws is very impressive, although on most mills you would probably need to rotate on the base by 90 degrees (from the 'normal' position) to take full advantage. When I bought mine I was very uncertain about having the step at the top of the jaws, but it's surprising how often I use it. As for additional jaws, I have both the V-jaws and the high jaws - both sets are very useful.

As for accuracy, I have no complaints and certainly my example clocks very true. One thing that may have given the vice a bad reputation is that the 'fixed jaw' has quite a lot of clearance for it's M8 holding down bolts and I believe that this is intended. This gives you the ability to carefully nip the workpiece before finally bolting down and will grip very securely if slightly out of parallel. Overall, grip on the workpiece is very good as long as you remember this fact.

Dimensionally, they are slightly taller than the average K4 (around 10mm I believe) and this could add to any capacity issues you might have as I did with my VMC, since overcome by fitting a 4" raising block (I also had clearance problems when using the K4).

I would say that if you have the need for it's capacity and versatility then it's well worth the investment. I certainly wouldn't want to be without mine.

Hope that this helps.

Regards, Roger.

I have one and it has a very useful capacity for its size, it is well made and accurate, pleased with my purchase.

Mike

Hello Roger and Michael, thanks for the response. Will probably get one now .