Hey all. It's been quite some time since I was able to jump in but I'm almost ready to make some steady contributions. There is a long story that goes with it but that will be posted somewhere else.
On with the deliveries. I acquired a mini mill and mini lathe almost exactly a year ago. The mill came with a lot of tooling and a grinding vise. I wanted a regular mill vise and picked one out on Amazon. SWMBO said just pick the one you want and I'll order it. I went through the search and picked out the usual, inexpensive Chinese vise because that's all I need to fiddle around on with this little mill. My selection was a 3" vise that comes with the swivel base. She placed the order and it arrived in a few days later here in Colombia (part of the long story). Unfortunately, I didn't scrutinize her order closely enough and she accidentally ordered the 2" vise, not the 3" version. It's a cute little vise but it's roughly the same size as the grinding vise and might be a little undersize to grab a bigger workpiece. There's always the option of mounting the workpiece on the table and the mill came with a pallet predrilled with lots of holes. Still, I kind of wanted the bigger vise so she said since it was her stumble go ahead and order the 3" vise. Cool, I love you honey! The 3" vise arrived a couple of days ago and here they are. I threw my 12" square in as a scale reference.
As you can see, the 3" is almost twice the size of the 2" vise. I thought about sending the 2" vise back, but it's just too cute and I'm sure I'll find some way to use it in the near future. They both need to be stripped, cleaned, lubed and reassembled but on first look they seem to be just fine. The operation of the 3" vise is much stiffer and solid feeling than the 2" vise. Don't know why yet but I doubt it affects the "accuracy" or function. Can't wait to start whittling but we have a month long vacation coming up in September so it'll be just a little longer before chips start to fly.
On with the deliveries. I acquired a mini mill and mini lathe almost exactly a year ago. The mill came with a lot of tooling and a grinding vise. I wanted a regular mill vise and picked one out on Amazon. SWMBO said just pick the one you want and I'll order it. I went through the search and picked out the usual, inexpensive Chinese vise because that's all I need to fiddle around on with this little mill. My selection was a 3" vise that comes with the swivel base. She placed the order and it arrived in a few days later here in Colombia (part of the long story). Unfortunately, I didn't scrutinize her order closely enough and she accidentally ordered the 2" vise, not the 3" version. It's a cute little vise but it's roughly the same size as the grinding vise and might be a little undersize to grab a bigger workpiece. There's always the option of mounting the workpiece on the table and the mill came with a pallet predrilled with lots of holes. Still, I kind of wanted the bigger vise so she said since it was her stumble go ahead and order the 3" vise. Cool, I love you honey! The 3" vise arrived a couple of days ago and here they are. I threw my 12" square in as a scale reference.
As you can see, the 3" is almost twice the size of the 2" vise. I thought about sending the 2" vise back, but it's just too cute and I'm sure I'll find some way to use it in the near future. They both need to be stripped, cleaned, lubed and reassembled but on first look they seem to be just fine. The operation of the 3" vise is much stiffer and solid feeling than the 2" vise. Don't know why yet but I doubt it affects the "accuracy" or function. Can't wait to start whittling but we have a month long vacation coming up in September so it'll be just a little longer before chips start to fly.
JScott, proud to be a member of MetalworkingFun Forum since Mar 2014.