4" vise for a small hori. mill?

I'm in the market for a vise to go with a Sheldon No. 0 horizontal miller, I've also got the vert head that is driven off the rear of the spindle. I'm leaning towards a 4" vise with a swivel base. I'm not in a production enviroment so, I can't justify the cost of a Kurt (even though if I ever get one I'll wonder how I got along without it.)
Is there a noticable difference in quality between any of the imports, specifically these Bisons ? Most of the imports seem to be very hit and miss on QC.
Thanks
Tom

I had a 3" Kurt style vise on my Vernon (same as your Sheldon), and I thought it was a pretty good fit. I think the 4" might be a little big for the table.

Have you looked into Palmgren?

I have no personal experience with Bison vises, but the product should be better than one made in China. I have a five inch Kurt copy from China and while it is pretty good on being parallel, the lock down jaw does not work well.

I'm open to any brand of vise. Seems I'm headed towards more invested in the vise than in the rest of the machine.
ztarum, do you remember the make of the vise you had?

I have a 4" vise on my small Jefferson Horizontal but it is too big IMO. I would opt for a 3" for sure. Just my .02

I bought a 3" Kurt clone from littlemachineshop.com and am pleased with it. It is their so-called premium vise. It is noticeably better than a Phase II, and is about as accurate as I can measure. Also, the hardness checked out when measured here at work. My complaints are (1) I had to disassemble and clean it, as it had oily dirt in it (grinding residue??), (2) the paint chips fairly easily, and (3) the wrench is cast iron and a bit clunky. It fits nicely, though. YMMV

I bought a 4" PhaseII vise from getmachiningtoolsdotcom. It's a Kurt clone and I've got it clamped down on my Clausing 8520 and it's pretty decent so far. I got good service from them.

Usual disclaimers apply.

Andy Pullen

Thanks, rklopp

I was hoping to hear from someone with one of these.

I have a Pratt & Whitney Model 3C bench mill, and the original vise is about 2-1/2 or 3".

I have a 3" Royal on it, but the mounting base gets in the way. It's also not a Kurt-type and it lifts a bit.

I'm looking for a replacement and can't afford the Kurt either.

Steve

Tom: I have the same mill. In general, I like to have a larger rather than a smaller vise, e.g., a 4-in rather than a 3-in, to accommodate a wider range of workpieces. But these measurements are for jaw length, or perhaps you were referring to jaw/jaw maximum separation, and say little about the height of the vise, and with the mills we have, it is the height, the z-axis clearance under the tool, that is the killer, being so limited. My advice is to get the lowest-height good quality vise you can, and then worry about jaw dimensions. The other point I might mention is that a swivelling vise is good to have. But since your need for the swivelling feature is likely to be limited, and since the swivel base adds to the height of the vise, the vise in day-to-day use can be directly clamped down to the table, with the swivelling base removed and sitting on the shelf to be put into service for the specific jobs that require it. I use the 29 pound Sheldon swivelling vise A9042 and like it. It has 5 in jaw width, 1.25 in jaw depth, and maximum opening 3.5 in. It is 3.5 in high with the swivelling base.

Keep your eyes peeled for one of the small
hardinge vises, they show up on ebay on
occasion. Very high quality, low profile,
swivel, nicely made.

Jim