On 22 Feb 2007 12:21:56 -0800, wrote:

I am in the process of designing a workbench and am planning on
installing a Tucker vise on the front/left corner. Does anyone know
if this vise can be installed with the rear jaw flush with the front
face of the skirt without interfering with the vise's ability to
swivel and rotate?

Also, does anyone have any experience with the Taiwanese copies of the
old pattern maker vises? They are much cheaper than the Tucker but
I'm not sure how much quality is sacrificed.

You'll have to provide some clearance to the sides of the jaw to allow
rotation.

I've got one of the Taiwanese copies--it works fine.

The main things that you get in the Tucker are a quick release (that
can be foot-actuated), a latch for the parallel jaw position, and
round rather than "D" shaped dogs. All of these are useful, whether
they are useful enough to justify the price difference I can't say.

I wouldn't say that there's any significant amount of quality
sacrificed--the Chinese (are they Taiwanese or mainland?) model that I
have seems to be pretty much a straight clone of an Emmert #2, at
least it does when comparing it to photos of the #2. All the
adjustments move smoothly and stay put once latched. Jaws seem flat
and seem parallel in the direction that doesn't adjust (in the other
direction of course they're only as parallel as you set them).
When it's locked up it doesn't move, which is more than I can say of
the bench to which it is attached.