Vise for Emco lathe milling column

Hi

I'm looking for a vise to fit my Emco V10P which has a milling column accessory. 100mm/4" maximum jaw width. It will only be used for relatively light duty work so doesn't need to be heavy duty, which won't fit it anyway.

The only companies I know are Kurt and Vertex. The smallest Kurt is too big. I rather not get a no-name Chinese vise because I want to buy a vise, not a project I can maybe fix to eventually be a decent vise (or not).

Are there any companies making decent small vises?

The Emco lathe "table" has two lengthwise slots, 90mm apart. Pro Machine Tools in the UK has some tools for Emco and the vise is supposed to be decent (from what I've heard), but it's out of stock.

Maybe I should wait until an Emco one is on ebay, so far I haven't found one that was in good enough condition and was willing to ship to me.

I think I prefer one with a swivel base but if the mounting holes are more than 90mm apart I would probably need that anyway (or make some adapter plate, which could be tricky).

Thanks

Emco actually made a 4" vise to fit. I have one. Very nicely made small vise. However I've no idea if they still make them.

I also have a 4" Taiwanese made milling vise with rotary base that's a nice unit. As I've had it well over 20 years a brand name would be meaningless.

Some of the small toolmaker's vises would work, I think.

PDW

I've had good luck with the Kurt clones from Glacern:

https://www.glacern.com/vises

Joe

Thanks.

The smallest Glacern seems a bit too big.

By tool maker's vise do you mean something like a grinder vise? I have one of those, but too small (2"). These seem to not have a great way to hold to the bed other than with clamps (as opposed to the T bolts/nuts), which is difficult on this lathe because of limited space (plus it's more cumbersome).

Emco doesn't make those vises anymore. They occasionally pop up on ebay, etc. but I've been looking for a long time and so far none could ship to me or were in good enough condition to buy.
Maybe the best option is just wait until one come up, or the new Emco vise copy is back in stock (if ever). It doesn't sound like there are many companies making vises at all, let alone ones that would easily fit this lathe.

Toolmaker's vises are ground on all sides and generally are of high quality, even the imported ones. They can be purchased in larger sizes. Here are some 4" wide ones.

Toolmakers' Vises - MSCDirect.com

I would think that the Suburban ones are very good. But I would not hesitate to buy the Interstate. I do not like the import one on that page because it seems to have an odd mechanism for pushing on the movable jaw and don't know if it is good or bad. But I have seen good ones at similar price levels.

Generally speaking, the toolmaker's vises will have a pair of slots on the sides where clamps can grab them. On a 4" jaw model, the sides will be 4" apart, exactly the same as the jaw width. So you would either have to mount it perpendicular to those slots or make an adapter plate.

clarnibass said:

Maybe the best option is just wait until one come up, or the new Emco vise copy is back in stock (if ever). It doesn't sound like there are many companies making vises at all, let alone ones that would easily fit this lathe.

Click to expand...

"..best option" is to JF make what you want. Rocket insemination it is not.
Parallel clamps and small vises were 'prentice / school shop projects for easily a hundred years, if not three hundred.

In small sections, sizes, and profiles, I would not want Cast Iron, either. It really does need a good deal of mass and sectional thickness to survive and prosper.

Rather, a high-strength steel alloy, and perhaps Nickel Aluminium Bronze. See also Heinrich camlockers that use rods rather than dovetails.

Lots of ways to deliver the modest grip and small size this tiny machine would be happy with.

Much of the work could be 'done for you' simply by starting with precision ground bar and flat stock and stock dowel-pins.

You don't need all that much material, after all. Why wait?

The only one that I have found that fits that is not EMCO is this one from Little Machine Shop. Kurts and others are too long and don't clear the cross-slide crank. It's an 80mm.

Vise, 3" Milling 1647 - LittleMachineShop.com

I think I have a Palmgren vise for my Super 11. The other option would be a toolmakers/grinding vice that has a slot down the sides for clamping. I used a nice 3" one on my EMCO FB2 milling machine for years. I wouldn't worry about a swivel base personally, I've never needed one and the vise can be oriented however you want if you use milling clamps to hold it down.

I also would look at Palmgren, specifically this one:

Palmgren Tool 9618421 Machine vise, 4.5" | eBay

I had one with a small shaper and let myself be talked out of it. Like to have another. It's no Kurt, but it's a stout, accurate, low-profile vise.