Hardinge Vise value?

[M. Moore]

I just acquired this small Hardinge vise with several other vises that I really wanted.
I understand that these were used on the small Hardinge bench top milling machines.
Any other info on these would be helpful and a current value would be good.

It is small at about 9" long and has 4" jaws. It appears to be in excellent condition with no damage that I can see and it has been mounted and used. It was in a research lab type facility. I did not clean it before the photo was taken.

I did wipe it down a bit to see if there was any damage to the bed but there was none. Unfortunately there was no handle with the vise.

Thanks
Michael

 

[trevj]

Dunno what the going rate is, but may be interested...

 

[M. Moore]

Trevj,
I was thinking that re-uniting this vise with an original Hardinge milling machine would be one goal.
Do you have a small miller?
Hopefully others will chime in with some valuations.

 

[trevj]

Trevj,
I was thinking that re-uniting this vise with an original Hardinge milling machine would be one goal.
Do you have a small miller?
Hopefully others will chime in with some valuations.

I have a small mill, a Centec 2A, not a Hardinge, though. Hard to find appropriate sized tooling for a mill this size.Centec Millers

 

[car2]

Those vises were sold and made for the toolroom (not benchtop) Hardinge TM/UM Horizontal Mills. I have a mill and the vise pictured. They're pretty rare, rarely show up on Fleabay, particularly in good condition and with the swivel-base; yours looks in very good condition. They are very nice precision small vises. IMO and from past recollection on Fleabay, $450 min Fleabay price. Missing handle is no big deal.

 

[M. Moore]

Car2,
I looked on ebay and did not find any listings, for sale or sold. I am surprised by that price although it is a very well made vise and this one is in excellent condition. I suspected they might be a bit rare as the Hardinge name to me means “Lathe”. I did not even know they made a mill.

Trevj,
That little Centec is a nice looking machine with quite a write-up on Tonys site. I was surprised by the low rpms available. For such small work I thought it might have a few faster speeds but I guess only hss tooling was available back then.
Pm me if you are interested in the vise.

 

[car2]

Quite a few of those TM/UM mills floating about, not quite sure when they were discontinued, but well before they stopped making manual lathes (guess in the 70's sometime). Picture of mine below (the overarm arbor support is seen not attached and rotated up in those pictures). They also came with a "milling head" (no quill downfeed) powered by the mill's motor, The "UM" has a swivel table that can be hooked up with a gearbox assembly that attaches to the end of the table in order to mill helical gears. Those vises are the perfect size for most work within the capability of the machine, and as mentioned and as you found, they don't come up for sale often, and they sell quickly, and complete good-condition ones are rare.

 

[L Vanice]

The Hardinge 4" vise was designed for the big floor model TM or UM mills that weigh about 1200 pounds.

They are scarce, but not nearly as rare as the Hardinge 3" vise for the smaller BB2V and BB4 mills. These were sold on either wood top benches or steel cabinet bases and weigh around 500 pounds. The motor and drive has to be mounted below the mill, so they look like bench mills, but have to have a dedicated bench or base.

The handles for these 4" vises were forged steel and made by Williams or Armstrong as standard catalog items at the time. Such handles (cranks) may turn up on eBay occasionally.

For actual use on my TM mill, I prefer a 4" Kurt clone, though I do have a couple of the Hardinge vises.

Larry

 

[M. Moore]

Larry,
Do your vises have the cap screws for locking the swivel? I can’t tell if these are an original item or a replacement.
Do you agree with Car2’s valuation?

 

[L Vanice]

The socket head cap screws are correct.

I never saw a 4" sell for that much. I did get $300 for a 3" vise.

Here is a picture that shows the correct handle.

Larry

 

[jim rozen]

The two cap screws are actually a bit of a fine-adjust feature. Slacking one slightly, and snugging the opposed one, will shift the angle of the vise a bit. Handy.

 

[trevj]

Well, I believe I have made a deal.

If I paid over the odds, so be it, MM comes out to the good, but I wanted it, and it won't take food out of my mouth (not like that wouldn't be good too! LOL!)

I think it will fit in well.

 

[car2]

I distinctly recall seeing those vises sell for over $400 on Ebay, most in not real good condition (haven't seen one in probably two years however, and I have an Ebay search-notification for such items) Cheers.

 

[trevj]

Tell ya what folks. I ran the numbers I had chucked a MM through a currency converter, and I can say that I don't think I have a thing to complain about. They come out pretty close to the ones being chucked around, despite that we are dealing with each other on Canuckistanian Kopecks!

I'd say it sounds like a decent deal for us both.

Thanks Mike!

 

[trevj]

I would like to thank Michael for his easy dealings and the absolutely great shipping box!

Great guy to deal with!

 

[M. Moore]

Thank you Trevor,
It was a pleasure dealing with you, great communication, ++++buyer! Haha

Now to see if anyone wants a little Abrasive Tool grinding vise.....