"you're usually at a point where stuff is going really really wrong if you need to do that" I knew this video was gonna make my day. I just didn't know it was gonna make it THAT GOOD 😂🤣
"I don´t want to make a huge project out of this..." he says, having already thrown parts on the lathe and surface grinder. That is why we love you Stefan, lol.
I honestly found this episode to be extremely entertaining. I do apologize for finding pleasure in Stefans increasing level of disgust as he worked through this quick job to make this cheap vise work perfectly for his application. So, I second it "That is why we love you Stefan"
one must know one's limits though . . . i am about a three-pound hammer mechanic on a good day . . . my father was a twelve-pound hammer mechanic . . . i once watched him pick up the big hammer, take a full swing and make things better.
When I got my first home mill, I didn't have money to buy a good vise. I purchased a very crappy import one and just made do until I found a used Kurt. Years later I found that old one and decided to accurize it. Did many of the same things you did and now I have a decent, light-duty, mill vise. Mainly use it for quick one-off parts and don't want to break a setup on my main vises. Enjoyed the video!
I almost goes for this kind of vise but decide to get regular Bison bench vise instead for my first vise in the shop years ago. Thank you for showing that it can be improved (with enough skill and dedication of course).
I put a thrust bearing on the tightening screw. Much smoother to use and easy to tighten and loosen. I got my vice from princess auto in Canada, paid under a 100 for it. Same design but better finish and paint.
Nice job Stefan, as usual so that should go without saying. When I get an import item, especially if it has castings, I just automatically consider it to be a project kit. Some need only small things like tossing all the fasteners and replacing them with better than minimum grade hardware. I never have had access to a surface grinder so can't give things that treatment. I've scraped a few surfaces that just did not fit. Even with my minimal facilities and talent I can have a fairly decent tool for a affordable price, most times, I can't match Stefan's results but better than when it came in the door is better than nothing. Just getting the burrs off the edges is a giant step forward. Flush out all the crap and chips they exported helps greatly too.
Thanks Stefan - excellent as usual. I could say a lot, but I'll comment on only one thing: I'm glad you mentioned that scribing with calipers is bad for the calipers - it drives me mad when I see people doing it!
Or get one of those (or make one) which takes hss/carbide round bar instead of one of the jaws. My dad has a pair made by a machinist from like 30 years ago where the inside diameter jaws are removed and one carries a roller and the other one holds a HSS round of about 1.5mm diameter. They see regular use.
Enjoyed seeing your approach to a lower-precision, "just make it work" kind of project - I tend to lean towards being too perfectionist when machining, and end up not getting much done (hobbyist, so no time pressure either), so it's always interesting to see what corners people cut and why, especially from someone who normally lives on the precision side of things :) (Side note: at 21:30 I was doubting if you'd really skip cleaning up the ends, after already bringing out the grinding vise... and whaddaya know, next shot they're back on the grinder in spite of the narration :P)
I have a very nice version of this sort of vice, by Swindens, a English company. One of the less obvious things you can do with it is hold a pipe or bar in the pipe holding jaws (the cast iron ones, in your case) and then ROTATE THE VICE 90 degrees on the axis of the screw. As long as your bench is high enough, you can now work on the END of the securely held bar/pipe rather easily.
Hi Stefan, Possible workaround for mounting the vise. Inset a plate into the bench, securing the two plates to each other with clearance holes for M8 on the top plate and thread the lower plate. You could perhaps utilise the setup for attaching any other tool/ fixture deemed suitable.
I tried copper jaws, I do not like them very much - I always had a problem of pressing steel chips into the soft jaws which would then damage any part clamped in them. Hardened jaws have worked way better for me in that regard.
So will you be joining me in machining the dynamic jaw for a thrust bearing and making a new heavier rear nut from some actual Cast Iron or steel? 😁These vices are better than they should be but with a few tweaks even better.
Bench vices are one of those tools that start very cheap, and get very expensive, very fast, if you want a really good one. Though I am not sure that you can get _very_ good ones any more. The last time I saw a Record cast steel, quick release, bench vice listed new it was around £5000. But since record were bought out by Irwin there is nothing in that class from them. I have a Leinen that I was given by a very generous German, but my dad's old Records were better, I think. The Leinen doesn't clamp up quite entirely square on parallel parts, to they still slip when sawing. And that's really the most important thing in a bench vice.
@@arjanvanraaij8440 Yes. I know, I spend a fair amount of time in German workshops. But they are not the same class of thing as the old fitter's vices (most of which have quick-release too). And then there are things like the Record 518 8" vice which (according to the internet) weighs > 100kg...
I have a similar vice, a littler bigger, made of steel, No markings, Chinese I assume, quite useful. It was a trade, and didn't come with those disk jaws you are modifying at 40:00. Marked the holes like you did, and made up some steel plates as "original" -- I assumed. Well, the screws wouldn't drive. A little examination showed the threaded holes were not only sort of randomly placed, NP, but they were drilled, and threaded, at an ~8-10 deg angle off vertical each one different. Sigh. Put it aside until I feel like lugging over to the mill. Haven't needed that feature for the last ten years so that may be never.
Question - are you sure the tube/body that holds the moving jaw is cast iron? It's a thin walled tube, so cast iron would be a very weak choice. Moreover, steel tube is common and cheap!
Yep! They are sold by kemmler tools: www.kemmler-shop.de/en/iso-12164-1-hsk-a/collet-chucks-er-collets-mini/hsk-a-32/7951/er-collet-chuck-hsk-32-1/7-50-er-11-mini?c=5796
@@StefanGotteswinter Yes, machine is not bad, but their torch on said machine was useless, it made cuts worse than worn out oxyfuel torch. With TBI or Trafimet torch it is quite nice machine for the money.
I see no reason why those jaws needed to be ground anywhere but the face to get rid of the “teeth”. As he says, it’s a bench vise. It doesn’t matter in the least. Countersinks, counterbores. Why? If this were for a milling vise I would do that too, but it’s not. The work won’t be any better for all this. It’s just all too anal. As far as the wood counter goes. It won’t be crushed as the area of both the plate and the bottom of the vise is great enough to spread the pressure over a large enough surface on both sides, that the compressive resistance of the wood will be higher than the force generated by four 8mm screws.
My work, my choices :-) The effort to clean up all 6 sides while running the grinder is just a few minutes. Counterbores, because they don't draw the jaws into a position, but allow alignment to each other.
I was expecting to see the entire vice under that grinder at that point.. then other random pieces in the workshop.. then probably the Alps.. you know once you are at it..
About the screw plate... I think it would be fine, rifle stocks are held together with this sort of metal-wood-metal bolted sandwich, often with only 2 M6 bolts. If you're worried about long term crush, perhaps you could take a page from them? Pillar bedding is a technique where metal (usually aluminum) sleeves are placed over the bolts, cut to length just slightly shorter than the wood thickness, allowing the screws to be torqued down while limiting the amount of force the wood sees.
Fun video Stefan. Being a cheep fellow I've bought quite a few import tools and mostly found that, with some work, decent stuff can be made out of them. As many others have said: "Your not buying a tool, your buying a kit." Also, as you have shown so well here, they are cheep enough to modify for special uses, our creativity being the limiting factor.
This comment is unrelated to this specific video, but I recently bought a 9x20 import lathe, moving up from my old 3x8 Sherline... and by sheer coincidence it seems to be more or less the same as your old 9x20 way back when. I just want you to know that your videos, even almost a decade old, are still helping hobbyist/home shop machinists out there :D. Now a solid toolpost is a given for me, but do I want to do the tailstock quill mod or do carriage drilling? Decisions, decisions...
Ahoi! Congratulations to the lathe - They are a great and very versatile size of machine. With the solid toolpost and if you like drilling with the toolpost (you have to try that, if you like it), I would not do the capstan/rack pinion tailstock.
There's hope for you yet! That's almost down to us mortals standards, almost. 😜 Looks like you can make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. I love watching your work.
I'd probably give it a hard plastic pair of jaws honestly. Given its inherent potential weakness, it would be then forcibly relegated to easy duty. And it's not like something like that wouldn't be useful.
The proverbial sow's ear becomes silk purse. Actually the vise wasn't all that bad to begin with. But, your modifications certainly make it a far more valuable tool. Thanks for another excellent video.
10:40 if you have some tubing, you can replace that part with a reaching nut. Essentially, the moving jaw's riding surface becomes fully encapsulated and the nut is moved from the back of the vise all the way to the front at the static jaw. Popular mod these days as it puts the nut against the casting and thus makes it stronger.
Very nicely done Stefan! It takes a lot restraint to not go Science project on something like this. I liked the screws to hang the other vise when not in use. ATB, Robin
For milling the pipe jaws I would have used adjustable parallel under the milled and ground jaws. I also would have been proud of that setup... :) Lovely video as always!
Four fairly large diameter, steel bushings counter bored into the wood top with the steel plate below would be a good option. That way when you tighten down the vise, it’s gonna land on the bushings . Would likely still leave an imprint in the top but at least it would be rigid and easily removable on and off.
Cheap Chinese tooling is usually written-off as either “works okay for the money” or “straight in the bin”. It’s really cool to see you make these modifications. It helps me understand the strengths and weaknesses of these products. Really useful (and of course entertaining). Thank you!
Hey Stefan, if compressing the bench wood is an issue, drill four 10mm holes in the periphery of the plate seat on the wood itself and fill it with jb weld epoxy and you'll have four wood embedded 10mm posts that will counter the vise/plate compression.
Stefan, add 4 drill bushings thick wall, into the wood table, all drill bushings same height and inside diameter to the bolts being clamping. The vise and lower plate will clamp on the drill bushings not the wood, just an idea.
4 short bits of tube in the wood table would help stop crushing the wood, maybe a 1 or 2 mm shorter than the thickness of the table would make it grip but not deform the table too much when tightened. You just doubled the value of the cheap vice.
Stefan. What about recessing the bench top and insetting the plate. Then bolt the vise to that. Also when vise removed it would make usefull hard area.
Stefan what is your favorite coffee. You will always go that extra step and that is what makes you top of line machinist. Its something i try to do in my hobby machine shop.
