WM 16 Milling Vice

Now I have my new WM16 moved into position, and the arbour successfully removed (both problems solved thanks to help on this forum) my next problem is what milling vice to get? I apologise if the question has been asked before but I’ve spent the day trawling the internet and looking at the various options from Arc, Warco, Chester, and Axminster. I seem to have found myself going round in circles looking at lots of forum post and lots of suppliers web sites - and I’m really not sure which option to choose.

Initially I’d planned on the vertex K4, but as luck would have it the two engines that I’d like to eventually have the skill set to build both start from 2.5 inch aluminium square which seems to be exactly on the limit of the maximum jaw opening of the vertex K4. Ideally I’d like something that opens to maybe 70 mm to 80 mm , the right size for my table (700 mm x 180 mm) and perhaps mid-range in quality. I’ve also got it in my head a vice with a swivel table is a good idea ?

As ever, grateful for any advice.

David

Hi David

I am very happy with a 3 inch SOBA bought from Chronos about 10 years ago.

Here's a review

Here's Chronos website

I have no connection with Chronos .

Nigel

Edited By tractionengine42 on 19/07/2014 21:43:12

David

I've had a WM16 for some 4 years and have both a K4 and the 80mm vice from ARC.

The ARC vice is better IMO, bigger throat and more accurate.

It's the 130-040-01200

K4 Swivel base ?? I took mine off after 6 months or so as it compromises headroom to some extent. I presume it's still on the floor somewhere, never felt the need to look for it .

Dave

Edited By Dave Daniels on 19/07/2014 21:54:15

David

I have the Amadeal AMA25 which is the same as your WM16. It has the same size table 700 X 180. I bought the Precision vice from ARC No 130-040-01200 the same as Dave. I then bought a swivel base vice maybe the Soba from Chronos thinking that i may need to swivel it.

I have had my machine for about 4 years and the ARC vice spends its life attached to the table and clocked to be parallel. I do move the vice around to try and even the wear. I take it off now and again if i need a large a table space.

The swivel Soba vice is still in its box under the bench as i havent really needed to twist the vice. Perhaps it was bought in haste. I have heard of people removing the swivel base to reduce the headroom.

If you buy the ARC screwless vice your first project is to make clamps for the vice. You can download a plan from the Little Machine Shop **LINK** or i think ARC now also sell these.

regards

Steve

Do you need a vice? Most of the time I find myself clamping work to an angle plate or direct to the table. A 4 jaw chuck taken off its backplate and bolted to the table is also very useful. In the end probably you do need a vice but will not necessarily use it as much as you might think, and maybe you won't need such a large one. I also almost never use the swivel base.

I made one of these (but a bit bigger) ten years ago as a first project on my new mill and have never found a need for another vise. As has been said angle plates and clamps generally do a better job but a vice is useful for those quick jobs.

Russell.

I got a matched pair of Vertex swivel base vices for my Lux style mill and haven't regretted the expense. Especially since moving up to a Bridgeport which has room to use the pair on long work. That said, although the swivel facility is very useful at times it doesn't get that much use overall, maybe 1 in 10 to 1 in 20 jobs, so on a smaller machine its arguable whether the convenience of simply swivelling the vice over more complex on the table set-ups ware worth the loss of vertical clearance.

I'd guess the swivel would be most missed when putting an angled cut on a component which has already been worked on with the vice in its normal parallel to the table orientation. Switching to different work holding method means picking up from scratch again which can be difficult. Especially on heavily cut components where there may not be much to pick up on.

Manufacturers swivel bases are made relatively tall to provide full 360° rotation. I've often felt that a much shallower plate made to go under your conventional vice would be more than adequate for Model Engineers use. A possibly plausible approach would be to start off with a brand new, suitably inexpensive, solid disk brake rotor from a car or pick up and carefully cut the centre out. Make a washer nearly as thick as the disk a close running fit on the new centre hole then drill and counterbore for a bolt to fit your Tee nuts. Add suitably positioned tapped holes to fix your vice to it. To use fix the washer to the table with aTee nut and bolt in the usual manner and drop the disk over it. Fix the vice on and swivel to taste. Could be locked via the usual clamp bars or you could make slots on a circular arc to bolt through into Tee nuts. Maybe someone could try this and write it up for Neil if it works pout well and can be done on appropriate size machines. I can't do it 'cos I don't need it and my machinery is untypical large anyway so my methods would be wrong for smaller machine users.

My 110 mm jaw width vices are unusual in being a cross breed between normal screw vices and the precision screwless type. The nut is located by a large pin which can be passed through one of three sets of holes in the body. Hole spacing is around 60 mm, screw travel about 65 mm and overall construction is screwless vice style with an external square flange on top of the body for the moving jaw to run on. The moving jaw is some 170 mm long being, of necessity, much larger than the screwless type as it has no angled pull down screw and must rely on gib fitting like normal vices. I've been most satisfied with them and see no significant disadvantages from the hybrid style save perhaps being a little less rigid at the larger end of the operating range than a conventional machine vice. But a 180 mm capacity conventional vice is huge!

Clive

Make something like this.

easy to make

as low-profile as you can get

as long as your milling table

drops in and out (aligned) in seconds

Hi David

I bought a 100mm radial milling vice from Arc (usual disc' when I got my WM16 & have found it satisfactory for my use, I removed the metal plates that hold the moveable jaw & flatted them out on my belt sander as they showed a slight curvature in the centre (they are after all only black hot rolled strips) which reduced the lift clearance of the moveable jaw somewhat (still have it on my toduit list to change these to BMS or gauge plate). I have only had the need to use the rotating base on one occasion when making my rear tool post otherwise I've left it squared up on my mill.

I also have now a 2" screw less precision vice which I have used in conjunction with the above vice for holding small objects. Looking back I would have preferred the larger precision vice but funds prevented it at the time, never the less what I have suits me for the time being, as always get the best you can afford thus preventing you saying ...'I'd wished I'd got...!

Cheers

George