Worthless vices story for my X2 mill
When I first bought my mill I bought a cheap 80mm vise to learn how to use the mill.
As you can imagine it was far from perfect for precision work and as I was feeling more and more comfortable in using the mill I decided to buy a PRESISION VICE to be able to do some more presision work.
Mr e-bay helped me to find a vise within my budget (80 GBP) and I ordered it.
When the vise arrived I noticed a few things I was not happy with:
A. Marks
B. Holes on the body
C. Missing/broken body parts
D. Scratches everywhere
E. Pin was bent and in bad shape
F. Drop marks
I was so frustrated with the tool I asked the seller to replace it. He agreed under the condition to send back the vise. When I tried to do so I found out that the postage would be half the value of the vise. I felt it was not worth it to pay another 40 pounds for it so I asked the seller to refund 50% of it's value and I would keep the vise.
He agreed and I have a vise I donot like and I never used.
PART B KURT STYLE VISE
Next I put some rectification work on my first 80mm vise and now I can do work on the mill in a satisfactory level
BUT...
I was not totaly happy with it and recently I decided to buy a Kurt style vise for my mill.
I chose I reputable seller (Chronos.ltd.uk) and I ordered a cheap (in comparison to real KURT) Taiwan-made Vertex VA-4 (Four inch) vise.
I thought a 100mm vise will fit nicely on my mini mill....
When the box arrived I was shocked by the size of it.
It had the same size to my mill table!!!
When I opened the box and took the handle out I froze!!
It was half the size of the mill table!
When I put the vice on the mill table I felt a complete idiot.
Even without the base It was a monster
Who will imagine that 20 mm (0.8") will make that difference!
New vise is nearly double the size of the old one!!!!
As I like the vise, from the looks of it anyway, I made an important decision: To keep the vise and change the mill for a bigger one.
That also means that I need a bigger shop and deeper pockets that I have not got at the moment!
Until then I remain with two vises that are worthless tools for me.
Thanks for your understanding!
I had to confess it to somebody.
As you can imagine my wife is not the "understanding soul" that I wish to be, so she knows nothing on that!!!
Petros