Kurt Alternatives? - Printable Version

Kurt Alternatives? - Printable Version

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Kurt Alternatives? - Roadracer_Al - 12-31-2015

Hey there gang --

I held on to my 4" ERON vise when I sold my mill/drill. It was a great size for the M/D and has been nothing but good to me.

However, it's really not big enough for a standard vertical mill, so I've been keeping an eye out on Craig's List and sales flyers for Kurt vises. While they are truly a very nice vise, IMHO, you're paying a lot for the name, kind of like buying a Bridgeport brand mill.

I don't have access to a surface grinder, and even though I know how to scrape, I sold my surface plate to move to CA, so tuning up an abused or otherwise sub-par vise isn't a workable proposition at this time.

Has anyone had any good experiences with other, less expensive brands? How about brands to stay away from?

Also, what is the consensus on these 2-piece vises? Seems to me that they couldn't possibly include the "angle-loc" technology into the moving jaw, which would make it somewhat less ideal.

Thanks in advance!

RE: Kurt Alternatives? - Mayhem - 01-01-2016

I have a Taiwanese Vertex vice, which I am happy with. I looked at Glacern and Kurt but shipping from the US to Aus was way too much. I could get a Kurt here but for twice what you pay in the US. The Glacern look to be very nice.

RE: Kurt Alternatives? - johnnyc14 - 01-01-2016

The Homge vises that Matt sells have a good reputation.

http://machinetoolonline.com/VisesHighPrecision.html

RE: Kurt Alternatives? - EdK - 01-01-2016

(01-01-2016, 07:45 AM)johnnyc14 Wrote: The Homge vises that Matt sells have a good reputation.

http://machinetoolonline.com/VisesHighPrecision.html

I agree, those Homge vises are supposed to be pretty decent. I've heard good things about the Glacern vises also.

RE: Kurt Alternatives? - wawoodman - 01-01-2016

I bought the Glacern 5, and I'm very happy with it.

RE: Kurt Alternatives? - Dr Stan - 01-01-2016

I have an older made in Taiwan Dayton 4" vice that has the angle-loc technology I bought used. All it needed was cleaning up the jaws on my surface grinder.

RE: Kurt Alternatives? - Roadracer_Al - 01-02-2016

That Glacern 690 sure looks nice! Lifetime warranty, too. That's usually a good indicator.

RE: Kurt Alternatives? - PixMan - 01-08-2016

Glacern, Teco, Orange, all excellent alternatives.

RE: Kurt Alternatives? - zmotorsports - 01-08-2016

Love my 5" Glacern.
[Image: 2d7g0tf.jpg]

Mike.

RE: Kurt Alternatives? - Roadracer_Al - 02-26-2016

Great news! Patient trawling of Craig's List yielded results. I scored a literally like-new Kurt 688 for $375. The former owner used it on 2 firearm uppers, and lost interest in machining. Only downside is he also lost the handle. It was advertised for $400, so I offered that I'd give him the other $25 when the handle showed up.

I didn't get a lot of "follow-through vibe" from the seller, so I'll build my own handle.

Now I get to make my 4" ERON all clean and shiny, and put it on Craig's List for $100.

Thanks for all the input, I was pretty close to pulling the trigger on a similar sized Glacern with the V blocks to get the price up to $500 for the free shipping, but this came up.