Need a Mill Vise, Kurt D40?

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mu38&Bg#

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I need a new vise for my mill. The grinding vise I have been using works OK, but I need something with replacable jaws. The Kurt D40 looks nice and is about as big as will fit on my small cnc mill. They are expensive, but are they worth it? I did find some clones out there. Are any of those worth a darn? I avoid buying the imports when I can. Any other suggestions? There was a new D40 on craigslist locally for a reasonable price, but by the time I got some cash it was gone.

Greg
 
Greg,
My personal feeling is that there are significant differences between Kurt and the typical imports. Will the imports work...yes....that's what we have and use here at school but I have noted that the the end of the screw shaft (where the handle fits) are softer and tend to wear much faster or "round" over some. Have also seen that the alignment of the jaws and jaw mounting holes varies a lot in those cases where you need to move a jaw from the inside to the outside of either the fixed or movable parts of the vise. I am assuming the D40 has this capability as well. The last 4 I bought actually came in with thei handles totally missing ??? MSC made it good and sent us some better spider handles at no charge but still...

Its mostly a matter of personal preference and pocketbook, but like you I prefer buying US made where feasible. To me Kurt is worth the difference. Just my 2 cents though.

Bill
 
I have an import cheapo copy of the Kurt that I paid about $125.00 for with swivel base. The base is good for ballast. The vise is OK, but I was lucky to get a neighbor machinist to grind it flat on his surface grinder. Otherwise it had about .002-.004" inaccuracy in the jaws. Now it is very good. The accessory speed handles will not fit as the hex is not standard size.
Get the Kurt if you can afford it.
 
I'll by import tooling more often that I should, but I'd never buy anything other than Kurt as far as a mill vise is concerned.
 
I'd go with the higher priced Kurt vise over some 'iffy' overseas unit. Ask yourself if the aggravation of a vise that is not accurate to any sort of degree worth it in the long run. For drilling holes in a piece of 2x4 the cheapos may be alright but for holding tolerances that we currently run into, they usually do not come up to snuff. Go with the Kurt and do not once think or look back on your decision.

BC1
Jim
 
If you refuse to buy imports, are there any alternatives other than Kurt?

I have no personal experience but have read some favorable reports about Glacern vises. However, they are imported AFAIK.
 
mklotz said:
If you refuse to buy imports, are there any alternatives other than Kurt?

I have no personal experience but have read some favorable reports about Glacern vises. However, they are imported AFAIK.
Click to expand...
Partly true, from what their web site says.

The rough castings and billets are made off shore to their standards while the finish work and final details are done in the USA.
I've had a Glacern on my short list for awhile but my current vise is serving me well, so I haven't ordered one (yet).
 
I have the glacern. Very nicely machined. No jaw lift.
Everything I've gotten from them has been first rate; face mill, vise and R8 chuck.
I'd buy them again. Worth a look
Best
Stan
 
Mosey said:
I have an import cheapo copy of the Kurt that I paid about $125.00 for with swivel base. The base is good for ballast. The vise is OK, but I was lucky to get a neighbor machinist to grind it flat on his surface grinder. Otherwise it had about .002-.004" inaccuracy in the jaws. Now it is very good. The accessory speed handles will not fit as the hex is not standard size.
Get the Kurt if you can afford it.
Click to expand...

I'm with you here I have 2 imports and had to totally regrind everything on them, and fix the angle lock so the movable wouldn't lift up. Now that I've rebuilt them I am perfectly happy with them!
SO if you have access to surface grinder and have some time to fix what needs to be fixed the imports will work fine but if you just want to slap a vise on your machine and go then by all means you are better off getting a Kurt or a Parlec and I know there are others that are good but I've only had experience with those 2 and they are good vises.
 
Kurt is the only name that comes to mind for a quality vise. I was wondering if I missed something.

Thanks for the input.

Greg
 
The mill vice that I use all the time is the one I made myself. It is accurate, easy to use, opens to 80mm, has provision for soft jaws for very accurate work or holding odd shapes and was cheap and easy to build.

If my luck holds, we might get a photo attached

Jim


Rail Vice 25mm.jpg
 
dieselpilot said:
Kurt is the only name that comes to mind for a quality vise. I was wondering if I missed something.

Thanks for the input.

Greg
Click to expand...
From the vises I've used in the past I would have to say that Parlec surpasses Kurt in quality I think it also surpasses Kurt in price (if I remember right a little more spendy).
 
I managed to buy a pair of (very) used Kurt D40s a couple of years ago for $100 each. I haven't had access to a surface grinder since to true them up, but with soft jaws on the CNC mill they work well. I put them in parallel so that I can hold long work pieces.
 
Rohm ALMOST as good as Kurt??
Kurt vises are good, but In my experience nowhere near as good as Rohm.
In fact Rohm, Gressel, and SMW far exceed any offering from Kurt. although the three mentioned are the dreaded imports [from Germany].
Titex.
 
I found a vise. I was shopping for a D40 when I bumped into a new Kurt PT400 for the price of a new D40. I couldn't resist. It looks great. I just have to make some clips to hold it to my table. If I had access to grinders I would have taken a chance on a 100USD PT400 clone. The PT400 doesn't have mounting lugs so it lets me use some compact clamping options on my small table.
 
I have a 6" curt D687....Bought it new as an investment about 8-10 years ago....I would never go back to anything less.

Dave
 
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