Milling vice.

[Gritineye]

Arrived today, works great, going to strip, clean and maybe paint.

Not convinced the jaws are original but have no reference to compare against. Just look thicker than most?

Plenty of metal to machine fixed parallels at the top, proper vice that

 

[Hood]

About 16mm thick on mine.

 

[MrFluffy]

Here it is next to the rubbish I have been using. It might be a touch too big really but I would like a bigger mill in future anyway. Makes getting to the table power feed a bit of a faff but such is life!

View attachment 122833

I would also keep the "rubbish" vice, not sure its a rubbish as it looks, there's vees machined in so it can grip round stock well, and there will be jobs that lovely big vice will be er... too big and get in the way in other ways too at times.

 

[grim_d]

About 16mm thick on mine.

Cheers, probably right enough, I'll check tomorrow.

I would also keep the "rubbish" vice, not sure its a rubbish as it looks, there's vees machined in so it can grip round stock well, and there will be jobs that lovely big vice will be er... too big and get in the way in other ways too at times.

It's the vice from my drill press, it's a nice little vice actually so it's not going anywhere.

The really rubbish vice is actually sitting on the floor, if I ever get a surface grinder I will refurb it.

 

[grim_d]

So I had a chance to take a look at the jaws, they are about 14mm thick, with about 0.005mm out of parallel. not bad.

I'm pretty sure these aren't the originals though, the heights are quite different, with the moving jaw about 0.30mm taller than the fixed, both jaws don't look ground anywhere but the front and back faces and they do rock a little on the steps they are supposed to sit on.

Also the mounting holes are countersunk, or more realistically they are the shape of the the end of a drill bit, and the socket screws are obviously flat under the head which pulls the jaws around when tightened.

I forgot to check if they are hard but wonder if perhaps it's worth trying to flatten out the bottom of the holes with an endmill and finding someone with a surface grinder to true them up.

Why is everything I buy broken?