How repeatable is the average self centering vise?

A couple hundredths? A couple thousandths? Somewhere in the zip code?

I've got a job I do routinely that would be greatly speed up with one, but
not if its not that great. I probably cona't justifiy the price of a Kurt
so I am looking at cheaper brands.

"Bob La Londe" wrote in message
...
How repeatable is the average self centering vise?

A couple hundredths? A couple thousandths? Somewhere in the zip code?

I've got a job I do routinely that would be greatly speed up with one, but
not if its not that great. I probably cona't justifiy the price of a Kurt
so I am looking at cheaper brands.

Are there any smallish ones (3-4 inches) that do not have mounting ears? I
would much prefer to set it in another vise rather than mount it on the
table.

"Bob La Londe" fired this volley in
:

Are there any smallish ones (3-4 inches) that do not have mounting
ears? I would much prefer to set it in another vise rather than mount
it on the table.

Bob, the 'accuracy' might not be there, but repeatability will be pretty
good until the screws and nuts wear. It'll probably be within just a few
thousandths, so long as your stock is accurate as to width between the
jaws. The real variability with them comes from non-linearities of cheap
screws. So various stock widths will affect centering, but the same
stock width over and over will repeat well.

As to ears... hey... you've got a mill! (Where'd those ears go? G)

Lloyd

On Friday, December 18, 2015 at 10:53:48 AM UTC-8, Bob La Londe wrote:
How repeatable is the average self centering vise?

A couple hundredths? A couple thousandths? Somewhere in the zip code?

I've got a job I do routinely that would be greatly speed up with one, but
not if its not that great. I probably cona't justifiy the price of a Kurt
so I am looking at cheaper brands.

If you can't afford a Kurt vise it's time to close the doors DumbBlonde.

On Fri, 18 Dec 2015 13:03:00 -0600, "Lloyd E. Sponenburgh"
lloydspinsidemindspring.com wrote:

"Bob La Londe" fired this volley in
:

Are there any smallish ones (3-4 inches) that do not have mounting
ears? I would much prefer to set it in another vise rather than mount
it on the table.

Bob, the 'accuracy' might not be there, but repeatability will be pretty
good until the screws and nuts wear. It'll probably be within just a few
thousandths, so long as your stock is accurate as to width between the
jaws. The real variability with them comes from non-linearities of cheap
screws. So various stock widths will affect centering, but the same
stock width over and over will repeat well.

The repeatability will depend to a large degree on the design of the
screw's thrust bearing. In a normal vise the play in the thrust
bearing is taken up when the vise is clamped, not so with a centering
vise.

If the thrust bearing is adjustable, as in a Kurt, there should be
minimal play and good repeatability.

The only way to take the free play out of these vises from Grizzly is
by shimming the screw.
http://www.grizzly.com/products/Prec...ing-Vise/H7576

I've purchased these on a couple occasions over the last couple years
and the quality is a crap shoot. Several have been quite good right
out of the box, others required some attention to make them barely
usable. We make custom jaws to use them as work supports to hold long
workpieces of varying diameter at a fixed center height - think
adjustable v-blocks.


As to ears... hey... you've got a mill! (Where'd those ears go? G)


The ears disappear off those Grizzly vises in a twinkling.


--
Ned Simmons

On 19-Dec-15 4:33 AM, Lloyd E. Sponenburgh wrote:
wish they were available he in OZ would give me abase to build a better vice





"Bob La Londe" fired this volley in
:

Are there any smallish ones (3-4 inches) that do not have mounting
ears? I would much prefer to set it in another vise rather than mount
it on the table.

Bob, the 'accuracy' might not be there, but repeatability will be pretty
good until the screws and nuts wear. It'll probably be within just a few
thousandths, so long as your stock is accurate as to width between the
jaws. The real variability with them comes from non-linearities of cheap
screws. So various stock widths will affect centering, but the same
stock width over and over will repeat well.

As to ears... hey... you've got a mill! (Where'd those ears go? G)

Lloyd