My new quest - a small vise for a shaper, made in USA

[ChStu]

Greetings, all.

I recently bought an Atlas 7B shaper - not in bad shape, and now in the midst of some reconditioning. Unfortunately, the original vise was long gone. The seller included a rough shop-built vise, which is better than nothing but not much.

I'd like to buy a new US-made vise for the machine, but it's tough to tell what would suit the purpose. Palmgren sells a 4.5" swivel vise, model 425B, that looks decent. Wilton has a 5" model 12365, although I'm not sure where it's made.

Does anyone have experience with these vises? Or are there any better ones out there?

Thanks for any thoughts or opinions.

 

[stevehuckss396]

Or are there any better ones out there?

Take a look at Kurt. They are expensive but the quality is outstanding.

http://www.kurtworkholding.com/vises-towers-tombstones-general-purpose-vises-c-570_28-l-en.html

 

[steamer]

Plus 1 on the Kurt Vise! Great stuff!

I have heard some horror stories about some of the Kurt imitators though!...

You could also try the ubiquitous tool makers vises?

http://www.littlemachineshop.com/products/product_view.php?ProductID=1590&category=

Dave

 

[Mosey]

In my experience, admittedly naive, I bought an Enco 4" angle locking Kurt rip-off made in China, for about $125.00 with rotary base on sale at the time with free shipping. The machinist down the street ground it parallel on top, and it couldn't be better. Of course it ain't a Kurt. It isn't $500.00 either.
Mosey

 

[stevehuckss396]

In my experience, admittedly naive, I bought an Enco 4" angle locking Kurt rip-off made in China, for about $125.00 with rotary base on sale at the time with free shipping. The machinist down the street ground it parallel on top, and it couldn't be better. Of course it ain't a Kurt. It isn't $500.00 either.
Mosey

It would have been $500 if you had to pay the grinder to true up all the surfaces. I had a Kurt clone that I gave away when I got the real thing. The fellow i gave it to spent many hours grinding it in to make it what a true Kurt is.

 

[jonesie]

go with the kurt take it out of the box , clean it up a little and start using it. i have used them at work for years alone with other brands and none are better then the kurt. you get what you pay for.just my 2 cents jonesie

 

[moconnor]

Hello:

I have an Atlas 7" Shaper and a 4" Kurt Vise that I use on my milling machine. The 4" Kurt vise is way too big for this machine. Although you could mount it on the machine with an adapter plate or drill and tap the table, I think it would take up too much room and seriously limit your work envelope. The Atlas vise is a low-profile, purpose designed vise for that machine and ideally you would like to find something similar.

If you want to see what a proper shaper vise looks like, take a look at Harold Lee's thread on his Philip Duclous Topsy-Turvey Engine. On page three there is a photo of his 8" Logan Shaper and the original Logan Shaper vise. There is also a video of it in operation. That is the ideal type of vise for a shaper.

Maybe look at a smaller than 4" screw-type toolmaker vise for your shaper. They will be hardened and ground all over and nice and square. You can find all shapes and sizes of this type of vise and you may be able to find something more suitable for your small shaper. You could probably adapt one of this type to a swivel base with a little ingenuiity.

If it would help, I could take a few pictures of the 4" Kurt vise on my 7" Atlas Shaper to illustrate just how much room it would take up. Actually, a 3" Kurt vise would be much better. Take a look at the Little Machine Shop 3" Kurt-type vise. I think the swivel base would again be on the large side for the Atlas 7" Shaper, but much more suitable than the 4" Kurt model. Let me know if some photos would help.

Regards,
Mike

 

[ChStu]

Thanks, everyone, for the feedback and ideas. I knew there would be sound advice and ideas out there.

Mike, I'd love to see some pictures of your setup. Just knowing that another Atlas owner has tried a 4" and thinks a 3" is a better fit is a great help.

Has anyone tried the Palmgren vise?

 

[stevehuckss396]

I have a palmgren swivel vise just like the project of the month. Like all the other cheap vises out there it serves it's purpose. It's rough but they are not too bad.

 

[ksor]

I've made one myself, OK, a small one to fit in a bigger when milling in degrees.

Look here http://kelds.weebly.com/lille-maskinskruestik.html

I'm not too impresed of the finish - nothing to feel, but suddenly to see !

I had to find another knob.

(Let Google do the translation for you !)

 

[AR1911]

I had a Palmgren Vise just like this that came with my Millrite:

http://www.georgia-market.com/State...palmgren-milling-machine-vise-low-boy-nos.asp

It's low and stout and is the closest thing I have seen to a real shaper vise. Note it's called a "Lo-Boy". They don't make these anymore.
But it would have worked on the Atlas.

When I got my Atlas, the seller wanted to keep the vise. I had to swap him the Palmgren to get the Atlas vise. A good trade, but I sure wanted to keep the Palmgren. Still haven't found a new vise for the mill.

 

[boxcarmj]

Try this web site, go to #10 there's a vise you can build.
http://rick.sparber.org/ma.htm