New vise - Teco or Shars Tegara

springer

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Ready to order a vise. Looking at these 2.



Not much chatter about either but it's what I've narrowed it down to. My thought process, found the shars as a reasonably priced unit I suspect to be a step up from the typical imports but then found the Teco with a huge 9" jaw opening that may even be nicer for just a little bit more.

Before the kurt recommendations come, if it comes down to it, I'll get a cheaper one as the teco is already pushing my budget.

Thoughts?

Thanks in advance.
 
If you have a Bridgeport, I believe you would not be happy with a 5" vise. An 8" vise is just way bigger than needed. Ergo, get the 6". And yes, a 9" opening is pretty valuable.
 
Guess I didnt realize the tegara had similar jaw opening. Or maybe I've forgotten. I've been looking at these for a while until now that I'm ready to order. Just found the teco today and dont know much about it

Anyone think the teco is worth the extra $$?
 
TE-CO purchased the vise line from Parlec. I've never used one but Parlec vises were pretty nice, made in Taiwan. No idea if TE-CO changed anything with the vise line.
 
I would stay away from kurt nowadays, use them at work daily and the new dx6 is a step backwards from the older d688.
Defiantly get a 6" vise, you wont regret it.

Another good company is glacern, just picked up four of their 6" vises and have no regrets, import castings but machined and ground in the usa.
 
I'll throw glacern in the mix too. When I was looking at a 5", I took glacern out of the consideration. But the 6" is comparable in both price and jaw opening.

So now, tegara to save some $$ or a glacern or teco?
 
I've got a 5" Glacern & I'm happy with it. Kurt no longer makes a 5" & I didn't feel like searching for a used one. As said, the castings are made in Taiwan & the final grinding is done in the US. Great company to deal with too if you ever need customer support.

Not very many options if you want a 5" since they are not common. Magnum & Homge offer 5". Tormach also offers a 5" which used to be made by Magnum, not sure if they still are.

Glacern often has sales so if you can wait I would wait til the next sale. They'll probably have one for July 4th. Next ones after will probably be Labor Day & Halloween.
 
The Shars vise linked in the first post is what I have on my RF31, where 5" is the right size. It's a nice vise, I think it's a good value. Get a 6" for a knee mill.
 
If you have a Bridgeport, I believe you would not be happy with a 5" vise. An 8" vise is just way bigger than needed. Ergo, get the 6". And yes, a 9" opening is pretty valuable.

As mentioned the most popular size vise for a Bridgeport is 6". Having said that I have 4", 6" and 8" vises. the 4" and 6" both have swivel bottoms. They work fine, but raise the vise about 2" higher off the table. That's alright in most cases, but I do find occasions where the additional height causes interference problems with large parts.

The one most often used is an 8" Palmgren without the swivel. It's so old it was made here in the US. In any case it looks and operates like new. It's shorter that those on the swivel bases. Without the swivel once it's bolted to the table it's pretty much a stationary piece of iron so I don't have to tram it every time I use it. The downside of the Palmgren is its weight. It weighs in at a little under 140 lbs. It's a beast to move from the mill to the storage cart. That may be another reason it's the most used.

The vises in order of use are: Palmgren 8", 70%, Bridgeport 6" with swivel base, 29%, and no name 4" with swivel base 1%.
 
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