Tool Self Centering Vise

[kstrauss]

Any recommendations for a reasonably priced self-centering vise? Perhaps 70-100mm jaw width? Something like the Vertex 3900-2216 seems ideal but at over cdn$1000 it is out of my price range. Very few descriptions give expected accuracy although Vertex claims 0.01mm reproducibility. What accuracy should I expect on something cheaper?

 

[Susquatch]

Any recommendations for a reasonably priced self-centering vise? Perhaps 70-100mm jaw width? Something like the Vertex 3900-2216 seems ideal but at over cdn$1000 it is out of my price range. Very few descriptions give expected accuracy although Vertex claims 0.01mm reproducibility. What accuracy should I expect on something cheaper?

At 950 to 1400 US from other suppliers, I'd say the 980 Canadian at Amazon Canada is a darn good deal.

I have zero experience with self centering. So I can't begin to guess what is typical. However, I would not trust Vertex to be right about their claim. Maybe if you get one built on a Wednesday.

Why do you need self centering? I can't imagine why I would ever want that given how simple it is to center things manually. Besides that, you still need to center the vise on a moving table so why bother? For my use, I'd rather spend my coin on getting a better vise without the self centering feature.

Just an opinion.

 

[kstrauss]

I agree that $980 is too much for my purposes. I was hoping for comments on some of the cheaper alternatives.

Why would anyone want one? I sometimes need to work with parts that differ slightly in dimensions. It is easy to find the centre of one piece but with dozens it becomes a significant pain.

I mostly keep a pair of real Kurt vises on my mill table (typically one has Talon Grip jaws for machining op-1 on raw stock and the other has soft jaws to suit op-2 on the back side of the current part). I don't think that there is a lot to gain by purchasing another vise that is remotely affordable.

 

[Dabbler]

I bought one from Busy Bee some years ago a Groz. it works well.

 

[historicalarms]

Why do you need self centering? I can't imagine why I would ever want that given how simple it is to center things manually.

That is how commercial cast bullet mold manufacturers make their molds. first they make their mold block blanks identical on every side, every pair of blocks fit into a self centering vise with the mill cutter exactly between the two blocks, blocks are moved identical distances at the exact same speed until they meet so that half the bullet is cut into each block, ensures perfectly round bullets (or at least it is supposed to but i have heard thats not the case entirely). One thing I havent been able to figure out though , is how do they get all the cuttings out for the last little bit of cutting when the blocks come together.

 

[Dan Dubeau]

I wouldn't expect great repeatability from a system with 2 moving jaws. 0.01mm is pretty good IMO, and better than I expected, I figured at least double that or more. Even a Kurt vise can vary that much depending on how much pressure you exert on the handle.

Centering vises are typically meant for production, working from the center of raw stock, assuming you have excess material to spare around the edges. A profile, then flip into soft jaws and face type order of operations. I work like that quite a lot, and would love to have one of those "5 axis" type vises with integral talon grip jaws, but they sure are spendy. I can't bring myself to spend that kind of money though unless I was making money from it. The Import ones look so shittely made they don't look like they're worth taking a chance on, and the gemoetry of them doesn't even lend themselves to treating it like a kit, and grinding it all true. Have thought about making one every once in a while, as they aren't that complicated. Would be nice in a 5" version. and would fit the work envelope of the Tormach pretty good. Someday.....

 

[kstrauss]

Exactly my thoughts, Dan. Most that I do is for personal satisfaction and/or beer money and I find it hard to pay $1000 or more to make that faster.