Machine vice recommendations?

Hi folks, I am after a vice to go with my old Axminster ZX 25 Milling machine. Ideally, I am after something with a decent jaw opening, over 100mm, without costing the earth (obviously) and that has a decent grip.

Budget is probably about £100, this is going to be a gift from someone so cant dictate the price too much if at all.So far I have seen the Axminster Accu-Lock 5" here **LINK**

And the Precision Tool Vice 100mm wide from Arc Euro Trade as seen here **LINK**

Which would you guys go for out of these two? If you have any other suggestions please let me know.

Scott

Vertex K4 works for me, try Chronos for them. Take it off the swivel to get a bit more head room as you don't need the angle much

Edited By JasonB on 16/07/2013 18:52:34

Thanks for the reply Jason, the K4 looks decent but seems the jaw opening is very restricted at 62mm? Do you find that to be an obstacle?

Hi Scott

I have the same as Jason and have not found it a problem - however my interest is mostly in making smaller things and I've not found the need to take the vice off its swivel base -  the swivelling facility has been useful on occasion. What I also find useful is a clamping set so that I can work directly from the table and this has always catered for those items too large for the vice.

Cheers

Norman

Edited By NJH on 16/07/2013 19:10:51

Hi Norman, at the minute all I have is a clamping set, and sometimes it would be plain handy to have a fairly versatile vice, especially for those jobs that dont require highly accurate results. My main worry with the cheaper vices is jaw lift, that is really what I'm aiming to avoid.

Scott

Like Norman I find if it won't fit in the vice then a couple of angle plates and clamp set go a long way, I have done 2" traction engines, large hit & miss & steam engines and not missed the larger capacity often.

The K4 also seems about the right size for my X3 which has about the same size table as your axi and can fit ontop of a 6" rotary table if needed

Hi Scott

I have the 4" radial milling vice from Arc Euro & find it fits most of my needs at the moment, & is slightly cheaper to boot. If I were to go for another vice my preference would be the 4" precision vice type 2 from Arc Euro, but at the moment the vice I have is quite adequate.

George

Hi George, does the 4" precision type 2 vice have lugs on the body to bolt it to the machine table?

The type 2 has machined slots on the sides to clamp to use clamping dogs on your table, apart from the two smallest, the type 1 has holes for the same method, have a look at your link for Arc Euro.

G

Scott,

I have both vices, the precision vices from Arc are very extremely good, very good value and will give better accuracy but are'nt as flexible to use as the "Kurt" clones.

The Axminster "Kurt" clone is an "eastern" manufactured item of suspect quality see this thread for some detail **LINK**

Regards

Paul

Hi,

I use the Precision Vice from Arc, and have had no problems

Dave

Hi Dave, thanks for your input. It looks like the one from Arc is going to be my choice due to its wide opening ability.

I have the type with holes in the side but made some of these to mount it on my milling machines and shapers, here is an Arc 100mm precision vice mounted on my small Taylor Mill (18 x 6" table)

Hi Paul, thats a neat solution, are the blocks made from aluminium billet?

Scott, a chunk of aluminium from the scrapbox of unknown type, the pins are recovered printer shafting pressed in with an interference fit of around 0.0005" ish I didn't even case harden them and they have worked fine for years.

No plans just machined to what looked like reaonably sturdy dimensions, something worthy of note though the hole centre spacing in the vice wasn't as accurate as you might expect with on average 0.020" difference.

Regards

Paul