PM-30MV Vise Choices

daveog

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Hello all,

I will be finalizing an order for a PM-30MV this week. I am kind of stickler for work/tool holding and am vise shopping. I really like the Kurt DX4, but they are expensive and hard to come by. I placed an order with All Industrial Tools and got an email that the expected ship date was in August, so I cancelled that order. I've looked at the Glacern vises, but have heard mixed things about them. I must say I like the 6.5" opening on the Kurt 4" DX4. The question is this: given the PM-30MV is a chinese machine and expectations must be managed, is it even worth spending the extra cash for a top of the line vise? After all, if the vise is far more capable than the machine it's on, it's kind of overkill, isn't it?

Thanks!
Dave
 
A good vise will be your friend. I speak those words as a rank amateur. I bought a Grizzly vise and while it works it does sometimes leave me wishing I had bought better, at times jaw lift is a pain. I have heard Orange vises are also good.
 
A quick check on the orange vise website revealed they only have a 6” vise, which is bigger than I want and it’s $1,000! I have heard good things about them, but more and bigger than I want.
 
I have a Glacern vise & I have been happy with it. Of course I wanted a Kurt like most everyone else but at the time I was tooling up for the mill so I wanted to save some money to buy other things. Years later I had no desire to upgrade to a Kurt (they don't make a 5" anymore anyways). I'm actually thinking about switching to a screwless vise.

A couple others to consider is the Homge vises that Matt sells and Magnum vises. The vises sold by Tormach are Magnum. Edit: Were, looks like Tormach doesn't sell the machinist style vises anymore, only CNC. BTW, Magnum is made by Conquest in the USA.
 
I really like the Kurt DX4, but they are expensive and hard to come by. I placed an order with All Industrial Tools and got an email that the expected ship date was in August, so I cancelled that order.

MSC has 37 of them in stock right now. Only $7 more than All Industrial's price. There's a promo code going on right now, won't save much on the vise but brings the price down to $564, so $6 cheaper than All Industrial. :) Shipping is free.
 
get the best vise you can afford, if you are going to try to make money from the mill.

if you are going to use the mill in the hobby sense, it doesn't matter as much what you get.

i have and use both Kurt and import vises, large and small
i also have screwless vises in varying sizes and quality too.

i'm partial to my Kurt D-40

you can combat the effect of jaw lift by using a small diameter aluminum, bronze, or brass rod between the work and the movable jaw.
the work will be forced against the immovable jaw, the softer rod grips the work in a small patch and under great pressure per square inch.
the rod may roll slightly during the tightening sequence, but as long as the work is tapped down, the process is very effective
 
MSC has 37 of them in stock right now. Only $7 more than All Industrial's price. There's a promo code going on right now, won't save much on the vise but brings the price down to $564, so $6 cheaper than All Industrial. :) Shipping is free.
I saw the promo code, but how did you get free shipping?
 
MSC has 37 of them in stock right now. Only $7 more than All Industrial's price. There's a promo code going on right now, won't save much on the vise but brings the price down to $564, so $6 cheaper than All Industrial. :) Shipping is free.
And the price I see is $653, which is one if the most expensive ones I’ve seen. Am I looking in the wrong place?
 
I saw the promo code, but how did you get free shipping?
And the price I see is $653, which is one if the most expensive ones I’ve seen. Am I looking in the wrong place?

I get free shipping for any order over $49, will show free shipping after going to checkout. But I have a local MSC store now so I no longer place orders online. Have to login to see prices otherwise you'll just see the full price. The code I plugged in is from my email MAY35.
 
They’re hitting me with $80 in shipping and tax, which is driving the total to $650. :(
 
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