Finally bought me a vise

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supermanotorious

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As any experienced "wrench" knows, a proper tool collection is a lifetime endeavor. Sure my old man had a vise in the garage that I'd use as a youth but it's been missing in my own garage as an adult until the sweet age of 37. I guess I've managed with various C clamps but I've always had a hankerin for a real vise. So I bought this Irwin from Amazon. Under $100 I suppose the quality is what you'd expect. This may seem like a silly post to some but by gum I finally have me a vise.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009TOCZEC

I'm gonna drill and tap my welding table to mount it but it wont be a permanent fixture on that table.
 

Tpdingo

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****...100$. Must be a good quality vice. Well I dont know, if it is a good chunk of steel with some good clamping pressure, it is a good vice.

The pictures on Amazon are a bit misleading, so I helped you out and made some more accurate ones. Tell us your thoughts when it arrives.
 

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supermanotorious

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I just wrote a review on Amazon, here are some pics to show I'm not thrilled about how the casting interferes with one of the pipe/tube clamps, as you can see, you're limited by the width of the machined jaws for depth that a pipe can be inserted
 

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anickode

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****...100$. Must be a good quality vice. Well I dont know, if it is a good chunk of steel with some good clamping pressure, it is a good vice.

The pictures on Amazon are a bit misleading, so I helped you out and made some more accurate ones. Tell us your thoughts when it arrives.

$100 would be a real good quality very small vise.

I have a 6½" Wilton vise that was around $600.

An 8" Wilton Machinist's vise can cost upwards of 4 GRAND. Looks just like mine, but the tolerances are precise to the thousandth, zero slop or play anywhere, the jaws are absolutely perfectly parallel and even in all axes, etc.

That's not to say that a $100 chinese vise won't be perfectly fine for most anything you ask of it, but there will be significant noticeable differences in overall quality. Like pipe jaws that can't hold pipe. Hardness and precision of the threads on the acme screw is another big one. On my Wilton, when it bites down on something unsquishable, say, a piece of steel, you can manage maybe 1/4 to 1/2 turn past that before you can't physically crank anymore. Whereas on my cheap Chinese one, you can usually reef another 2-3 turns out of it, and that's all from flex in the frame and the screw stretching.
 

Nosandwich

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I'm aware it is not for bending. However my point is really more that the machined pipe clamps are basically useless.

Well, some of us aren't trying to clamp crack pipes.:rolleyes:

---------- Post added at 07:31 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:28 PM ----------

$100 would be a real good quality very small vise.

I have a 6½" Wilton vise that was around $600.

An 8" Wilton Machinist's vise can cost upwards of 4 grand. Looks just like mine, but the tolerances are precise to the thousandth, zero slop or play anywhere, the jaws are absolutely perfectly parallel, etc.

That's not to say that a $100 chinese vise won't be perfectly fine for most anything you ask of it, but there will be significant noticeable differences in overall quality. Like pipe jaws that can't hold pipe. Hardness and precision of the threads on the acme screw is another big one. On my Wilton, when it bites down onsay, a piece of steel, you can manage maybe 1/4 to 1/2 turn past that before you can't physically crank anymore. Whereas on my cheap Chinese one, you can usually reef another 2-3 turns out of it, and that's all from flex in the frame and the screw stretching.

You've got too much money, you need to donate to the Poboy fund.
 

anickode

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Well, some of us aren't trying to clamp crack pipes.:rolleyes:

---------- Post added at 07:31 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:28 PM ----------



You've got too much money, you need to donate to the Poboy fund.

If I had too much money, I wouldn't be building go karts out of spare parts and free engines. I invest in quality tools to do my work. Having those tools at my disposal for hobbies is a plus, but I've broken (as in cracked, bent, or snapped) several cheap vises over the years. Same with many cheap tools I've purchased, they have failed me, and always at the worst possible moment. Between having to buy a replacement(s), the time lost on a job, and the potential for damage to reputation as a reliable and quality craftsman, I've learned that going the cheap route on an essential tool is ultimately more costly than sucking it up and buying a quality product in the first place.

For hobby and personal stuff, I'm all about cheap. My garage is full of harbor freight and other various no-name Chinese stuff. But not for work.
 

itsid

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I'm aware it is not for bending. However my point is really more that the machined pipe clamps are basically useless.

For pipes and tubes sure,
for short non-square parts gripping they're just right.

say a cent clutch bell or the weights of a series 30 TC
or a piston orrr orrr...

heck it even makes a nice coffee cup holder on your bench in case it's crowded :D

'sid
 

KartFab

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i was impressed with the irwin drill bit set i got for drilling jets. ive been thinking about getting a new vise for a while but i like the one i got used for $20. probably has lead paint on it but these things last forever.
 

J.S.@SMS

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Is that a forged or cast vice? I ask this because I used a cast vice ONCE before it broke in half while trying to remove a bicycle cassette. So I do not recomend cast vices.
 

anickode

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Is that a forged or cast vice? I ask this because I used a cast vice ONCE before it broke in half while trying to remove a bicycle cassette. So I do not recomend cast vices.

Casting is not such a big deal, but the material it's cast from is. Cheap stuff will be made from high carbon, high sulphur grey iron. Tough stuff in compression, junk under tension and shear. Ductile iron is much better, but a heat treated steel casting can prove incredibly strong.

Back when I worked at a prototyping/small run foundry, the pattern maker there had one for a nice 6" vise I cast the parts for one with the leftover from a 4130 melt, but never had the time to do the machine work to finish it. Ended up scrapping it several years ago.
 

supermanotorious

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on a loosely related note, look at this RIDICULOUSNESS, giving away a work bench WITH vise attached while asking for someone to come replace CEILING FANS for him, this guy has a wife and I find this humorous as well as offensive that a modern "man" could even make a post like this
 

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