Tool 6” GS / Gerardi Modular Vise Clone

[RobinHood]

What is a “Precision Bench Vise Work Bench 4/5/6Inch Clamp Machine” you ask? Well, it is a GS / Gerardi Modular Vise clone made in China.

Something was lost in translation somewhere…

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003567490150.html?spm=a2g0o.order_detail.order_detail_item.3.781ef19c37pJRj

A 6” new Gerardi branded one is in the $1800+tax & S+H range; a GS or SOWA branded one is still $1200+tax & S+H.

So I decided to give one of the clones a try.

Ordered it on 13/Dec/2023 from Shanghai, CN, and the UPS man just delivered it this afternoon.
Selected the UPS Expedited shipping method (it was Free on 13/Dec/2023 - not any more; now it seems an additional $26 or so).

On 17/Dec/2023 I was notified by UPS that the package had cleared customs here in Calgary (it actually arrived on 15/Dec/2023 in YYC!) and I had to pay $42.97 [duty ($17.27), GST ($14.15) brokerage fee ($11.55 incl. GST)].

I suspected there were taxes + fees due when I ordered the vise. So was not surprised. Total cost delivered to my door: $634.50.

The vise weighs 30kg (~66lbs) plus the accessories (4 hold down clamps, vise stop, the main handle, plus the little T-handled hex key for the movable jaw adjustment).

It was double boxed: inner box with vise & acc, then an outer shipping box with foam padding all the way around. Everything was plastic strapped together.





The vise itself was inside a heavy plastic bag with lots of rust inhibiting oil all over the surfaces.





First impression of the vise is very good. No nicks, dings, scratches, etc. Everything looks straight & moves freely as it should. Only “fault“ so far was the accessory cardboard box was torn open - I suspect that was because of all the preservative oil had soaked the glue joints and it just fell apart.

I plan on a complete disassembly, clean, inspection and reassembly in the very near future.

I’ll report my findings here…

Disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated, sponsored or have any commercial interest in this company/item. I am just an AliExpress customer.

 

[Dabbler]

Looks very good!

 

[Mcgyver]

A 6” new Gerardi branded one is in the $1800+tax & S+H range; a GS or SOWA branded one is still $1200+tax & S+H.

Dollars to donuts you just bought the same one as Sowa puts their name on.

Looks good, interested to hear how it does on the surface plate with squares and indicators.

 

[Hacker]

What is a “Precision Bench Vise Work Bench 4/5/6Inch Clamp Machine” you ask? Well, it is a GS / Gerardi Modular Vise clone made in China.

Something was lost in translation somewhere…

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003567490150.html?spm=a2g0o.order_detail.order_detail_item.3.781ef19c37pJRj

A 6” new Gerardi branded one is in the $1800+tax & S+H range; a GS or SOWA branded one is still $1200+tax & S+H.

So I decided to give one of the clones a try.

Ordered it on 13/Dec/2023 from Shanghai, CN, and the UPS man just delivered it this afternoon.
Selected the UPS Expedited shipping method (it was Free on 13/Dec/2023 - not any more; now it seems an additional $26 or so).

On 17/Dec/2023 I was notified by UPS that the package had cleared customs here in Calgary (it actually arrived on 15/Dec/2023 in YYC!) and I had to pay $42.97 [duty ($17.27), GST ($14.15) brokerage fee ($11.55 incl. GST)].

I suspected there were taxes +fees due when I order the vise. So was not surprised. Total cost delivered to my door: $634.50.

The vise weighs 30kg (~66lbs) plus the accessories (4 hold down clamps, vise stop, the main handle, plus the little T-handled hex key for the movable jaw adjustment).

It was double boxed: inner box with vise & acc, then an outer shipping box with foam padding all the way around. Everything was plastic strapped together.

View attachment 42148

View attachment 42144

The vise itself was inside a heavy plastic bag with lots of rust inhibiting oil all over the surfaces.

View attachment 42150

View attachment 42147

First impression of the vise is very good. No nicks, dings, scratches, etc. Everything looks straight & moves freely as it should. Only “fault“ so far was the accessory cardboard box was torn open - I suspect that was because of all the preservative oil had soaked the glue joints and it just fell apart.

I plan on a complete disassembly, clean, inspection and reassembly in the very near future.

I’ll report my findings here…

Disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated, sponsored or have an

Looking forward to hearing your evaluation of this. I have started looking around for one so this might save me a whole lot of research time on the computer.

 

[CWret]

I’ll report my findings here

Great. Thanks for sharing - looking fwd to seeing your evaluation.

 

[Susquatch]

I’ll report my findings here…

I think I have the Sowa version. But it could be an original Gerardi. I've seen evidence both ways.

I can't wait to see your evaluation either.

I can tell you that mine is a complete joy to use. The prismatic jaws work perfectly every time provided that they are adjusted correctly.

I find that they bounce a bit if adjusted too loosely, and they fail to pull the work down tightly if they are adjusted too tightly.

I didn't get any instructions with mine so I simply played with it till it worked. I also found that a bit of way oil on the sliding surfaces of the prisms helped ensure a nice smooth jaw pull-down and lockup. It will start to chatter a wee bit as it is tightened after a few weeks of use if the sliding jaws are not well lubricated.

The other thing is the lack of markings for proper location of the adjustable stop for the rear jaws. I ended up using a sharpie to mark all the ball detents along the track. That way I know I always get the ball correctly located in a detent. I don't reef on the ball locks either. I just tighten each side till they touch and then add "a wee bit more" so the ball can still do its job.

Last but not least, you cannot tram the vise properly with the Jaws open. They must be closed while tramming. That might be obvious to you but it wasn't to me the first time around. I simply used a parallel between the Jaws as a guide plane for my indicator.

Like others, I can't wait to read your report as well as any tips you might add. It would sure be nice if you can have the advantages of the Sowa/Gerardi at half the price!

 

[PeterT]

@RobinHood I stumbled on the exact same thing on Ali. I don't have a requirement but tucked it away in case the ever popular 'what mill vise should I get' question pops up. The smaller offshore 'grinding' vices I have purchased have been excellent value IMO. I spent some time checking them on my granite & they are within 0.0003" parallel plane basis (I still need to make a proper DTI squareness indicator). But just using my best machinist square & light source, they seem pretty good. I think they have the heat treat & grinding figured out as long as it stays that way over time. The price point is awesome. So maybe this will be a new, good alternate to the prior precision vise attempts or the bigger cast base vises which are hit & miss. The Gerardi design is very similar to my Bison (which is no longer made so sourcing jaws or parts would be challenging). The low profile & accuracy combination is really practical for lots of hobby machining applications IMO. The Ali ad I saved had ~same price & indicated 50% off. So not sure if that's just advertising BS or intro promo.

 

[PeterT]

re the Aliexpress UPS shipping thing, that is something to be aware of. On a bigger $ item like this vise, the dinger fees don't represent a huge percent of total. But on smaller items it can feel like that uncomfortable 'brown burn'. But the checkout does not indicate anything about UPS just 'quick' or 'express'. I don't want to poison the thread with shipping discussion but just providing a heads up. maybe some Chinese sellers prefer the couriers now but don't understand the downstream $ implications to us. It might pay to ping them a message beforehand although I have found replies are spotty, some get back right away, others not, or very ambiguous replies.

And while I'm chewing up bandwidth, same experience with my recent Ebay purchase from USA which came via ?Ebay shipment? option or whatever they call it. I paid ~25$ shipping upon checkout (no other shipping option), it came speedy enough through the mail through USPS/CP? But I also paid ~25 for customs & tax & various fees at post office pickup. It was a used, made in Japan item. IMO should be zero duty but who would I bring my 9$ complaint to for refund? The shipping address was not the seller, it was some Ebay central depot location? So maybe they have some new program I wasnt aware of.

 

[CWret]

FWIW - i found a review (from 2018) of a similar vise that an American imported from China.
Painfully long, as are most YouTube videos, but a good review of the vise. Bottom line was it was just ok. But quite good for the price, especially for a DIY’er.

 

[jorogi]

This is like the Cá Lem video build. His has the tapered jaws any way but might be a slightly different design.

John

 

[PeterT]

WIW - i found a review (from 2018) of a similar vise that an American imported from China

Yes, but 5 years can be a long time interval for things to change in Chinese manufacturing. We have seen this story many times. Things that were crappy become very good (and also the opposite unfortunately). Sometimes they figure things out, or pay attention to the line in the sand where customers say no thanks, or manufacturing changes hands, or modernizes, or the middleman defect pile finally gets exhausted, or... I suspect all kinds of things can go on unbeknownst to us. Fingers crossed its a its a stepwise improvement because it would be a big seller in home machinist environment. I went through a similar ordeal with small chucks. They all look generically the same from pictures, one model was garbage, the other was fantastic value for similar price. Back in prehistoric times, a part would have a runout spec & warranty, but then people got gun shy with bogus spec sheets not worth what they were printed on.

 

[Susquatch]

I sure hope it meets your goals. We will know the day you put your Mallet away.

 

[CWret]

Yes, but 5 years can be a long time interval for things to change in Chinese manufacturing.

Agreed - that’s why i mentioned the date. Some things move quickly in China, while other things don’t. Their manufacturing improvements have been remarkable lately (IMO).

 

[RobinHood]

Agreed - that’s why i mentioned the date. Some things move quickly in China, while other things don’t. Their manufacturing improvements have been remarkable lately (IMO).

True, but not everyone on the factory floor got the memo…

Let me explain: one of the biggest complaints the fellow in the video had about his vise was the fact that the fixed jaw was not square to the bed on his. He proceeded to fix it by hard milling the key. He ended up with too small a key for the slot in the bed and was hoping to just use the four bolts to hold the fixed jaw square. He does not show / say how he made out.

Guess what? The fixed jaw on my vise is also not square to the bed! It is off by about 0.004” over 6”. Does it really matter? I don’t think so, as the fixed jaw gets used to tram the vise to the mill‘s Y-axis and any error gets removed that way. Does it bug me? Yes & No. No, because of what I just said before; Yes, because all other dimensions on this vise are right on the money!

Let’s start from the beginning. Decided to not do a full teardown, clean, inspect, improve (if required) and rebuild right off the bat. That’s not what a shop would have time to do. So just wiped off the oil and started measuring…

Tools I have on hand/used for the inspection: Mitutoyo 24”x36” Grade A surface plate, Challenger 6”x6”x4” inspection square, Moore & Wright 12” Grade AA reference square, Mitutoyo height gauge, matched set of Mitutoyo V-blocks.

There are some scratches on the bottom of the bed. None are above surface. Most of the “non-critical” edges are not deburred and are razor sharp.



The moving jaw stop-block needs a lot of edges broken (red arrows).




The only reason I removed the moving jaw was to measure the bed using the inspection square.


And a side view.


And how the square sits on the bed. There is absolutely no rocking. The square “sucked” (wrung) onto the bed and I could lift the vise by the square’s handle.


The other side looks exactly the same. And so does the moving jaw.


I then turned the vise on its side and set it onto the V-blocks to measure the squareness of the fixed jaw. Here is what I found (that’s a really bright light behind the reference square hence the gap looks massive at 4thou):


Here we are checking the squareness of the bed to one side (I repeated the same for the other side using first the inspection square, then the reference square for more accuracy).


Everything checked out there.

I then measured the bed height (claimed number is 50.00mm), the fixed and movable jaw body heights and the actual jaw plate heights. The bed is exactly 50.00mm and height gauge showed zero difference over the bed. Also, the body heights and jaw heights showed no deviation. (I guess I could use my MAHR MILLIMESS to see what the actual deviation is - maybe some day…). Below are some pictures.





Last check was to see if the fixed jaw body was out of square with the bed (or was it just the jaw itself as seen in an above picture). For this I used the reference square up against the side of the bed. Sure enough, the body is out the same as the jaw.


I am going to take the whole thing apart and clean, debur and reassemble. Maybe there is a bit of grit stuck in the fixed jaw key way…

 

[RobinHood]

Last but not least, you cannot tram the vise properly with the Jaws open. They must be closed while tramming. That might be obvious to you but it wasn't to me the first time around. I simply used a parallel between the Jaws as a guide plane for my indicator.

I am not sure about that. Here is why I think it is possible to tram this vise like any other. Look at the side view of the jaw plate and the fixed jaw body.


The jaw sits down onto a ground reference lip when you tighten the jaw retaining bolts on the back and tap the jaw down. The jaws only “float” up by spring pressure when the retaining bolts are slackened off a bit.

I am going to experiment once i am ready to install the vise on the Deckel FP3L to see if I can get a repeatable result.

It is my first vise of this style, so I could be completely wrong with my understanding of how these actually work…

 

[PeterT]

I'll try to find a better picture of my Bison & I have the manual somewhere if of any use. But my fixed jaw looks more like yours. I'm not sure if Gerardi is different.

 

[PeterT]

Out of curiosity, can you mic the fixed jaw width on both sides to see how close they are?
Also when you saw the light gap squareness check (red) was that replicated on the other side of fixed jaw block (yellow)

 

[Susquatch]

I am not sure about that. Here is why I think it is possible to tram this vise like any other.

You might be right about that. If you tighten the rear screws it might pull the jaw down onto the reference surface evenly. However, those are small screws. Their purpose is not to tighten the jaw but rather to limit how loose the jaw can be. I've never used them to tighten the Jaws other than to find the tight location for use as a reference when backing them off equally. As I mentioned before, how much you back these screws off is critical to the proper function of the vise.

But you raise a very good point. Even a small screw can exert a strong force. Probably enough for tramming. My original comment was based on the assumption that you would not tighten them. So the jaw would be floating and therefore unusable. As stated above, I do not tighten mine except to establish a reference for loosening them equal amounts. As I write this at 5am my time, I'm not even sure that the placement and geometry of the screws facilitates even tightening.

If I were you, I'd try tightening the Jaws together on a parallel or other known good flat surface before I trusted the screws to pull the jaw square. I might also remove the screws and springs to test fit the Jaws on their register surfaces.

I "believe" the Jaws are made in a separate operation and may not have been part of the initial quality checks. This is just a guess extrapolated from the fact that there are several optional jaws available and that they are a replacement service item. I bought replacements for mine. (BIG $).

Regarding the jaw square, have you checked all the sliding and reference surfaces for dirt, burrs, and hard varnished grease yet? To some extent they are a bit like the register and taper in the back of a D1-x chuck. Even a tiny fleck of metallic dust will throw them off.

 

[Susquatch]

Last check was to see if the fixed jaw body was out of square with the bed (or was it just the jaw itself as seen in an above picture). For this I used the reference square up against the side of the bed. Sure enough, the body is out the same as the jaw.

I'm not exactly sure what you are doing here. It looks like you are checking the square of the Jaws and jaw body to the side of the base......

I've never taken my jaw body off of the base, so I don't know if there is a register of some kind in there to hold the jaw body square. If not, then it strikes me that the jaw body could be assembled out of square or perhaps be moved out of square if dropped or banged or whatever. What keeps it square other than those 4 huge machine screws? Is that adjustable? Is it adequate? This requires investigation!

Jezz Rudy, now you have me doubting my own vise! LOL!

 

[RobinHood]

All great questions & comments @PeterT and @Susquatch (and others). Thanks!

When I have a bit of time I’ll investigate and report back what I find.

Here is a factory video from Gerardi. It shows the basic construction and proper use of the Modular vise. My Clone looks identical, but I will confirm once I completely disassemble it…

Just found this video from Conestoga College, Kitchener, ON, on how to use a Gerardi vise. He does mention that a parallel can be used to tram it. In the end, he shows how to “lock” the jaws down onto the reference surface so they no longer “float”. I believe that is how my Clone was ground and that is the configuration I did all my measurements in. My jaws are not “floating” (yet) as the jaw retaining bolts are still tight.