Milling vice recommendation

I'm looking for a new milling vice about 4in / 100mm wide under £150 suitable for a Sieg sx3 has anyone got any recommendations for anything suitable or failing that which ones to steer clear of.

Thanks in advance

Joe

The one that came with my new Siegx3 I had to rework extensively as it was out of whack with the moving jaw lifting as it was clamped. The 360' swivel base I have not used so the vice alone is sufficient.

Personally I would look for a precision vice, preferably with a decent locking handle. Vices are not cheap and you need to be sure what you buy is adequate for the work you want to do.

This type is available from Warco and other suppliers, well within your budget. Take it off the swivel base to save height - you'll probably never use it! I've had one for years and it dos the job fine. Much of the time I clamp down to the table of angle plates rather use a vice.

Joe

ARC euro https://www.arceurotrade.co.uk/Catalogue/Workholding/Machine-Vices/ARC-Versatile-SG-Iron-Milling-Vices

opens to 122mm and has 32mm deep jaws, could be one to look at.
Abwood are a very good make and sometimes available on auction sites at good prices, mostly fitted on rotating base although they can be mounted direct to table.

Emgee

Just checked alternative jaw positions and see it can hold parts up to 275mm but only a shallow grip.

link didn't work

Edited By Emgee on 14/10/2020 11:12:34

Edited By Emgee on 14/10/2020 11:15:24

As ever when constrained by budget its worth looking at what you loose out on when comparing the affordable reality with the high end "if I win the lottery". Stretching the £s too far to meet a specification at low price often doesn't work out too well, as I know to my cost.

Blows your budget to smithereens by £100 and may well be too large for the SX3 but, if you need a wide opening, the Vertex VJ400 from Rotagrip **LINK** is an excellent vice and the three nut positions give full depth opening right out to 180 mm making it very versatile indeed.

Most vices have essentially square capacity where opening = jaw width.

I'm very glad I saved up for a pair to put on m Bridgeport. Basically a hydraulic vice made affordable by using a screw instead of hydraulics. Same thing is made with hydraulics at over double the price.

I've always had doubts about the Kurt angle lock anti rise system and clones thereof. Suspect most of the Kurt advantages are due to quality manufacture not the geometry. Seems to me that to be properly effective the pull down tongue should be pretty much under the jaw face not some way back. But Chick is the only design whose kinematics I fully approve of.

Realistically if wide opening capability is going to be important you may well be better off getting a smaller vice for vice work and learning to be creative when clamping to the table. I find that for much of my work a smaller vice would have been fine but, working 12" to the foot scale, the wide capability is often used.

Clive

Having measured the jaw lift on an ARC versatile I was happy with the almost unmeasurable amount that their version of the angle lock gives, I use an 80mm one of these on the CNC mill and a 4" Vertex K4 on the X3. Test on a 50mm wide piece of stock.

I bought an ARC 5" with the removable swivel base and it geta used for the larger jobs where the 100mm Bisons are too small. It has the hemispherical bearing which helps with the jaw lift, a Stevenson mod which is well worth having.

I bought a 4” version of this vice but without the swivel base. I’ve been well pleased with it for the money.

**LINK**

I have an SX3,and when I got it I needed a vice ,a friend gave me one to get me going but I needed something with more jaw opening.Having bought an old ME magazine at a show in which there was an article on a vice with a fixed jaw and a jaw that could be moved to the full length of the bed.I can't give details of the article and plan as I gave the magazine to a friend.I seldom have need to use my other vices.

Frank

Slightly over budget but this is an interesting article.

**LINK**

Form which company did you buy it please?

MC

I use a Vertex K4,which is many years old. On the swivel base, if the machine is worked hard it is more flexible than without, but still quite useable.

One criticism, is the tendency to lift the work when tightened, necessitating applying copper hide mallet

If I were in the market, I would give serious consideration to one of Arc Euro's, precision vice, Type 2, based on the figures that Jason has provided. above..

Their design avoids jaw lift.

Howard

I bought a precision angle lock vise from Chester. I have never used the swivel base. It was used on a Centec and Raglan, along with smaller, cheaper vises.

It worked OK until I purchased a 70mm type 2 from Arc. These type 2 vises can seem awkward to use and are not so ubiquitous/ universal as the usual types such as the chester offering. For example, the Chester could be used for larger items (and even wider items by repositioning the jaws).

The chester was clearly too large for my raglan mill and the type 2 was used in most instances on that mill. I like it and have since acquired a 90mm version from someone who didn’t like it. It will now be the regular fitment on my Centec, the Chester only being used occasionally.

I would probably refrain from recommending the type 2 as a first vise or an only vise. I could not get by with only one vise ( but wouldn’t recommend the Chester, either). Clearly the type 2 vises are an “acquired taste” and not for everyone, but I would recommend Arc as a source for your vise.

I may well make a general purpose vise like brickie (above) describes, for really long workpieces. But do remember - a vise is not the only way to secure items for milling.

I bought mine from Chronos about 10 years ago but I’m not sure they have the 4” in stock at the moment. These days most of them seem to come as standard with a swivel base, mine came without one.

Hi Joe,

I have an SX3 also and purchased an ARC Versatile Milling Vice 2 weeks ago. I must say its performed extremely well in the somewhat limited time I've had it. Ive used it without the swivel base which increases the clearance and the ability to move the jaws to different positions will, I'm sure, be a huge benefit on the odd occasions when you 'just need something a bit different'.

I haven't done any of the tests that Jason did but I'm pleased to see his results.

Regards

Paul

Joe,

I, too, have a 100mm Arc Versatile vice for use on my mill. It performs extremely satisfactorily and holds workpieces well in all the situations I've asked of it. One area where it has proven useful was when I was machining the faces of a gearbox that I was making. The workpiece was just a few millimetres too long to be accommodated by the vice, even in the 'extended' jaw positions A little lateral thought provided the solution as depicted below, which also gives a greater area of grip on the workpiece. ( Click to enlarge ).

The part on the left is from the Arc web site. I hope that's OK.

By using longer jaw retaining bolts and introducing parallels as shown, extra precious millimetres can be obtained. The original jaw plates clamp the parallels to the fixed and moving jaws as shown. I wouldn't recommend this arrangement for heavy cuts but it will get you out of a hole if you require a little more elbow room, as I did. I used it to drill a number of location holes and for boring two bearing housings in acrylic sheet, using a similar arrangement but a modified 'B' position shown in Arc's picture.

John