Bought a new vice

Treated myself to a new SG iron vise from Arc

Its very nice except the handle (see below)

Bottom one came with the new vice

Middle on came with the cheaper Versatile vice

I am not complaining as i made my own handle, top.

Just a pity for such a nice vice to supply a nast finished handle.

Also for anyone thinking if buying the SG vice the handle is 12mm hex as oppsed to 14mm for the Versatile vice here

What's wrong with the bottom handle? Looks similar, if slightly rougher, to the one that came with my Kurt machine vice, which works well for me.

Andrew

Nothing wrong, just the finish

Not hard to put it in the lathe and skim to a smoother finish if you have oft hands

Oft hands?

A couple of minutes with coarse to fine emery cloth would remove the flash and give a good looking, nice to handle satin finish.

Indeed but no need as i have a nicer handle

Guess you bought the smaller version - or your new parallels would need up-grading.🙂 I still prefer the type II, btw.😉

The finish of the vice is critica, the handle finish so long as durable is irrelevant.

Robert Butler

I know what is better with the redesign, you can spin the handle much faster. We have a 5" ARC vise and I find the handle fine for about one turn, but not so good if moving the jaw any distance.

Never cared much for those folding joint handles.

I know the theory is that the swivel joint gives you clearance between the handle and the end of the vice or milling table without the business end being over long. In practice they always seem to be at the wrong angle so a good deal of removal and re-fitting is involved when adjusting and final tightening the vice. Always seem to need two goes at tightening 'cos they are at exactly the wrong angle.

I prefer the breed with a short offset socket and extension piece. The extension is permanently on my favourite Vertex wide opening, three nut position, vices so I can always twirl the handle.

Clive

I've never had much of a problem with the handle on my Kurt. It is heavy enough that if you give it a good swing it'll go round a few times on its own. That makes it quick to move the jaw some distance.

Manufacturers choose the length of the handle to provide proper tightening without the risk of over-tightening and resultant damage. it seems that the nice new handle is rather shorter than the supplied handle so will be less useful in tightening the vice.

Andrew

The one i made is based on this, same dimensions used by quite a lot of peple

Would that bottom handle perform any better if it were polished?

Nope

Might not the rougher finish provide a better grip for oily workshop hands?

I do like your shop made crank though, with the extra short-throw hex hole for 'rapid traverse'.

Thanks

An improved handle like yours is among the many "to do" modifications I have in the pipeline. Alan has already made a short radius handle for the Bison vises which will miss the Y axis handle on the round column mill when being turned. We now have three variations of handles for the 100mm Bison vises which get used most often. At the moment, the 5" ARC vise is being used exclusively on the round column to hold the new cross slide for the Atlas lathe which should be finished within the next 2 weeks.

A pity though that a rough unfinished item is now considered good enough to sell, without caring what the customer thinks? Even the casting flashing has not been removed.