"jim rozen" wrote in message
...
In article , Harold and Susan Vordos says...

From the description, I'd suggest it's a good stop. The idea would lend
itself to my vise, which is *not* a Bridgeport. I had one, but finally
got
rid of it. They simply are not good enough for the kind of work I used
to
do. One job in particular was a large quantity of read and write heads
that
were destined for IBM, made from 5/8" square leaded brass.

Hmm. Sounds like a good company...

jaw of the vise being out. That job was one of the reasons I ended up
with a Kurt. Small one------5" jaws. Best vise I've ever used for the
kind
of work I did.

I've never been terribly impressed by b'port vises. Possibly because
the only ones I've seen were pretty old and abused.

Mine didn't wait to get seasoned. It started out crappy. One of the
things it did that was really annoying was permit the fixed jaw insert to
move (slightly) under load. That tells me that something was out of flat by
some means, be it the body or the insert. The other ongoing problem was
that parts would ride up when the vise was closed. That necessitated
tapping each part down properly, which isn't all that reliable when you're
trying to hold a half thou. The moveable jaw goes through a bit of lost
motion before permitting the part to slip, and it isn't necessarily
consistent. Need I tell you I became an artist at loading the parts?
Once a routine was developed (including tilting the head, and abandoning the
handle, using a small parallel clamp in its stead) I beat the problems, but
it gave me all the reasons I needed to buy a decent vise when the money was
available. You shouldn't have to abandon all common practices in order
to have a tool work as intended.


And as you say, any time vise matter at the workplace, there seems
to be one made by Kurt. Yours comment is another confirmation.


It's hard to understand when you don't have one, and I'd never used one when
I bought mine. I was assured by the dealership that they were a distinct
improvement----a step up. It took using it to fully understand.

On that subject, years ago, when I was first introduced to RCM, one of the
people I encountered lives about 60 miles from me. He firmly attached
himself to me, hoping to learn something from someone that had worked in
industry. He, to this day, is still in close contact, although he long ago
quit following the news groups. He is a self taught machinist/weldor and
does very pretty work. About six months ago I finally convinced him that
his vise was a great deal of the trouble he has been having with the work
he's been doing. He's now retired and does machining on a limited basis for
the community. Just today he sent me an email, in which he said:

"If the cylinders turned out at all good it's due to your help and that new
vise. What a great addition. Suddenly things are starting to come out
square and on size."


I've also found that the tiny toolmakers vise made by hardinge for
its horizontal machines is very nice as well. But someday there
may be a Kurt vise in my future...

Jim

Not having used one, I probably don't understand its fine qualities, but if
it's in keeping with the balance of Hardinge equipment, I'd likely agree.
Still, the feature built in to Kurt, that minimizes jaw ride-up-----makes
them worth the cost.

By the way, the vise my friend bought came from ebay----in fact, I got it
for him. It wasn't cheap, but less than half the cost of a new one, and
was almost unused. He got an outstanding buy and has no regrets, as you
can deduct form his quoted comment.

Harold