• Scam Alert. Members are reminded to NOT send money to buy anything. Don't buy things remote and have it shipped - go get it yourself, pay in person, and take your equipment with you. Scammers have burned people on this forum. Urgency, secrecy, excuses, selling for friend, newish members, FUD, are RED FLAGS. A video conference call is not adequate assurance. Face to face interactions are required. Please report suspicions to the forum admins. Stay Safe - anyone can get scammed.

Milling Vise Recommendation

I have several vises some from BB and one from Accusize as follows.

6" Vise with rotary plate from BB (1st vise)

6" Kurt CNC flat side style from Accusize

4" Tool room tiltable style from Bb, lets me do custom angle and V super quick blocks the honestly should have been the second vise, down side.

3 units of 4" Kurt Style Flat sided CNC from BB.

www.busybeetools.com

Buy 4" Precision Machine Vise at Busy Bee Tools

CXVISE3 This Accu-lock machine vise is ideal for heavy duty precision milling & drilling applications and features perfectly aligned, precision ground jaws and vise accuracy (parallelism & square) of 0.025mm/100mm. The vise features an angle lock which prevents work pieces from rising during...
www.busybeetools.com www.busybeetools.com

See my other post about the set up I'm using to se a pic.

Worried about parallelism, replace the jaw faces with CR steel bar stock and mill in your parallel and face.

Want to increase the grip (though I never had done it or had an issue and I have cut very aggressive, enough so to move the vise) is under cut it and the back bevel the grip surface a degree or two to a near sharp edge. The creates a high pressure point pinch grip that pulls down into the jaws.

Price on sale for the last three about $150.00 each, another $10 in CR for the jaws.

So come on truth be told I want my results to be within 1/2 thou capable, these lower cost solutions work just fine, so I spend my money on longer life tooling.
 
Well thanks to everyone for all the comments and links to past threads on the topic.

My distilled conclusion is that the following made in Taiwan models are the same or very similar: KBC Griplock (if it's the Homge version), Glacern GSV-440V, Tegara 440V, Autowell. Everyone that has one or more of them seem satisfied. Looks like the Tegara opens wider 6" than the other two more like the Kurt DX. So that would be my first choice. For about the same price I can get a used Kurt D40 on eBay shipped although the Kurts available at the moment are a bit rough. I could not find reasonable shipping for any of these that would be shipped from the USA, except some used eBay Kurts that ship for about $60. So I will keep my eyes open on eBay for a bit to see if one in good shape shows up and if not I will probably order the Griplock If it indeed is the Homge version and not the mic version.

Natex machinary in Mississauga (on Kijiji) is another option for the Autowell version. Although the price just jumped from $450 yesterday to $550 when I called to $600 today ( I better buy it quickly, at this rate it will cost more than a Kurt by the end of the week. Anybody deal with Natex?
 
Last edited:
I just ordered a Kurt D40, $500 Cdn delivered. I will update when it's here and checked out. (That's how much I paid for my mill not so long ago:()

Looks like it will need new jaws, so if anyone would like to enlighten me on D40 jaws, make them, buy them, hard, soft?
 
Last edited:
slow-poke said:
I just ordered a Kurt D40, $500 Cdn delivered. I will update when it's here and checked out. (That's how much I paid for my mill not so long ago:()

Looks like it will need new jaws, so if anyone would like to enlighten me on D40 jaws, make them, buy them, hard, soft?
Click to expand...
I also have a D40. I get my softjaws from https://monsterjaws.com/. Shipping to Canada is dear but I have them delivered to a friend in the US and he brings a box or two of 10 sets at each visit.

KBC has hardened steel jaws for $77 EACH. See 1-5724-003

Monster Jaws has machinable steel jaws but I've never tried them. Maybe make your own?

My D40 is often setup with aluminum jaws and Talon Grips.

I frequently need to change jaws and that is a pain with a hex key. I use a tiny 1/4-drive impact wrench from Princess Auto that together with https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B0186N7B8Q/ makes jaw changes quick and easy.
 
If you change jaws frequently cut slots as per the pic. I did this on an older set of jaws.
jaw.webp
 
kstrauss said:
Monster Jaws has machinable steel jaws but I've never tried them. Maybe make your own?
Click to expand...
They say 1018, they look reasonably finished so guessing maybe surface ground but obviously not hardened. I mean surface ground would be nice, but if you're going to machine them & they are soft, one could buy a lot of jaw metal for that LOL. Even 4140 or stress relieved alloys would be a step up.
 
Well my eBay D40 arrived today. The jaws are pretty messed up, but they can be changed. I took it apart, cleaned it, did some measuring while it was apart and then some rattle can blue. About 0.001 out near the handle end (last inch or so), all the rest is really flat and equal side to side.

Added bonus, it came with keys, they are a little bit too wide so I will need to mill them just a touch.

IMG_0268.JPG
IMG_0267.JPG
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top