On 2008-03-27, Pete Keillor wrote:
On Wed, 26 Mar 2008 14:27:16 -0500, Ignoramus13009
wrote:

Here's something interesting that I learned regarding Wilton Tradesman
1765 vs Wilton Machinist vise like 600S.

- Machinist vise costs $1,150 at McMaster and $1,300 at Amazon
- Tradesman costs $289 at Amazon and is not available from McMaster
- They are made of the same 60,000 PSI ductile iron
- Both made in USA
- Very similar construction and parts breakdown, according to drawings
at wiltontool.com:
* http://www.wiltontool.com/PartDetails.aspx?BDID=663
* http://www.wiltontool.com/PartDetails.aspx?BDID=655
- The machinist vise has a much larger throat width up to 10", vs. 6.5
for the Tradesman
- Same applies to throat depth
- Machinist vise weighs 158 lbs, Tradesman is 73 lbs. Much of the
weight difference must be accounted for due to length difference,
but the machinist is probably thicker

I finally decided to bite and will likely buy a new Tradesman for $200
cash locally, if all goes well today. That's kind of expensive by my
standards, but whatever, I live just once and the vise has a greater
chance of retaining its usefulness than the money.

i
I got the 500S for less than $600 on sale from J&L, but that was 2-3
yrs. ago. Today, it's $730, weighs 96 lbs. It was a birthday present
to myself. I've installed a couple 500S's at work over the years.
That's plenty big for what I do. J&L's price for the 600S is $1199.

Pete Keillor

Amazon right now has an insane sale on the 800s vise. I could not
believe my eyes. $870 for a 800s. Way outside my price range though.

i