What's new
What's new

Machinist vice jaws?

Jduke

Plastic
Joined
Jun 15, 2021
I have 3 machinist vises that I got that had no jaws.
The holes in the face of the vice are threaded 10mm and are 92mm apart.


I know I can make jaws and probably will make some, but where can I find hardened jaws fir these?

This also may seem like a silly question, but here goes.
When one calls a vise 8” does that mean width of jaws, or how far the jaws open?

Thanks
Duke
 
A 6" vise generally means it's 6 inches in jaw width. The distance it opens is a secondary dimension. Kurt for instance, uses the model number to advertise that. I.E. a Kurt D688 is a 6" vise that opens to 8.8" all the way open. As far as finding jaws for your vise, what brand is it? Metric stuff may be harder to find, I would check eBay.
 
Thank you for the education regarding measuring vises.

Unfortunately I can’t find any marking to Identify make of these vises, I was hoping that there is some standardization in the metric vise market like there seems to be in the SAE market and someone would recognize the measurements and point me in a direction.

Thank you
Duke
 
Measure the distance between the bolt holes and also from where the parallels sit up to the bolt holes. That may make identification a little easier.
 
Thank you for the education regarding measuring vises.

Unfortunately I can’t find any marking to Identify make of these vises, I was hoping that there is some standardization in the metric vise market like there seems to be in the SAE market and someone would recognize the measurements and point me in a direction.

Thank you
Duke

I've got one old vise I bought years ago, used and cheap.
Its basically a Kurt D60 clone, except for the jaws that
came with it, and how they attach. The jaws are 150mm wide
instead of 6" and the bolts are 12mm instead of 3/8"...
However, the hard hard jaws from a Kurt fit just fine, and
I use the "Metric" hard jaws that came with it all the time on
Kurts (Extra tall hard jaws).

10mm and 3-5/8" spacing.. Any chance that is the same spacing that
was on the 5" Kurt they used to sell.. Or maybe still sell? The 6"
are 3-7/8" spacing and 1/2" bolts.
 
Oh, the semantics! To me, a machinist vise is mounted on a workbench or a "unipod" vise stand. The vise bolted onto a machine tool to hold a workpiece is a machine vise.

Please note that this comment is intended only as a perhaps-pedantic comment on terminology, and not intended to be critical in any way.
 
You bought these 3 vises gambling you could find a source for jaws later? That's quite sporty of you. But it looks like you lost.

I made new jaws for my 6" bench vise. I made them of soft steel and so far I have not regretted it at all. Nor did I serrate the faces. Plain soft steel. They're pretty easy to make; just be careful about your measurements and don't assume anything about any measurement.

metalmagpie
 
I have long had a nice 5" swivel vise with no jaws. (Before everyone puts down swivel vises let me state that this is a secondary vise for non-precision work- I have a Kurt DX6 for the important stuff.) I wanted hardened steel jaws and looked all over the web. ( 5" jaws are much harder to find than 6".) The only place that had them was Glacern.com. I have never used them before but ended up very impressed. They list them under their "Vise Accessory" link. The were very responsive when I emailed asking for a diagram showing hole placement and measurements. With shipping they cost $150 a pair which is way more than I wanted to spend but I could not find hardened steel 5" jaws anywhere else. I was very impressed with Galcern. The jaws were perfect, nicely etched with their logo, and securely packed.

If you want aluminum jaws look at MonsterJaws Mfg - High Quality Chuck and Vise Jaws (Machinable Soft Jaws) I have not used them but aluminum jaws are much cheaper than steel ones.
 
Doesn't seem to be a "standard" size, checked 5" jaws on Monsterjaws and the center distance is 3.125" (79.38mm). You can buy a 2' length of A2 toolsteel for about $170 thru Alro, maybe cheaper thru someplace else.... Haven't had any heat treat done in years so don't know what the cost would be, but I guess you could make up a couple pairs of vise jaws and heat treat them for less than $250, buying hard jaws would probably cost you about half that for one pair...
 
Thanks for the tips and advice, looks like I’ll be making some jaws, that’s why I have these machines after all, to make stuff.

Thank you
Duke
 
I happened upon a set of mitee bite jaws made for a Kurt 6” and at a price I couldn’t pass up so I took a chance and they fit perfectly.

Thanks all, looks like my gamble payed off on at least a couple things (I also bought the mitee bites without knowing if they would fit)

Duke
 








 
Back
Top