Thread: $50 3" swivel milling vice review

Still sorting out electrics for the Hercus mill.
Meanwhile, under very helpful guidance from Anorak Bob, have been having fun purchasing basic accessories to get me started.

The mill came with a 5" vice shown in the picture below.
Bob suggested I consider purchasing a smaller basic vice like a 2" to maximise the gap between the arbor and the top of the vice. He also suggested to make sure it had a crank and not a knob type handle, and that the vice component be separable from the swivel and still be useful.

I had a look around in the usual places and saw a basic 2" from India but it was over $110 and then this 3" one from Ozmestore for $50 (+$10 delivery).

As you can see its seriously chunky/sturdy for its size.

The handle shaft end is 14 mm hex so could be driven by a standard 14 mm socket.

Twovices.jpg
It's nominally a 3" vice but the jaw length is 80.5 mm
For a budget level vice it's quite well finished with no burrs or rough edges.

The vice can also be separated from the swivel and has T-slot locators both in the bottom of the vice and the swivel which is one thing I wanted.
The T-slot locators blocks are 14 mm wide so too big for my table but it should be easy enough to make up a couple of suitable locators to suit my table
TslotAlign.jpg

FWIW it even comes with an unsigned Accuracy statement. I haven't checked any of their claims
Accuracy.jpg

Backlash is something between 1/24 and 1/12 of a full turn.
The tops of the jaws look like they need pretty well but there is a 0.02 mm difference across the jaw contact line you can feel it with a fingernail.
Jawstop.jpg

The sides of the jaws do not align with a complimentary ~0.25mm step on each side.
side1.jpg

The max opening is 68.5 mm and when the jaws are opened the main screw is always covered which I think is a good idea.
openJaws.jpg

One thing that could be improved is the handle on the crank which is fixed to the crank and it would be nicer if it perhaps it rotated - still could be fixed without too much trouble.
Handle.jpg

Despite its short comings I think it has a number of useful features and represents pretty good value for money.
I will probably still buy a 2" sometime in the future, but at least this one will get me started.

Bob,

To extract more usefulness from the 3" vice you could drill a counterbored hole through the base casing near the jaws and another near the back end of the base to facilitate the installation of a couple of hold down capscrews. The existing mounting holes in the vice base will only allow its mounting with the jaws parallel to the X axis , not the Y.

You could root around setting it up on the angle plate but if you don't have a suitable slot dill or end mill for the counterbore, it might be easier to bring it here.

Bob

Originally Posted by Anorak Bob

You could root around setting it up on the angle plate but if you don't have a suitable slot dill or end mill for the counterbore, it might be easier to bring it here.

Thanks Bob - much appreciated, I'm still some way from having it running anyway - still buggerizing around with VFD mountings wiring etc.

Pretty sure that vice has the mounting holes that Bob is talking about anyway.
I purchased on of these when I first got my mill and it’s nice and small but I do wonder about getting the 6” that magpro are selling on eBay.

That 5" vice is a highly sought after Douglas SHAPER VICE! It's not a milling machine vice at all....

Originally Posted by jhovel

That 5" vice is a highly sought after Douglas SHAPER VICE! It's not a milling machine vice at all....

Thanks Joe, maybe I should take it back and say they made a mistake in giving it to me!

After Hercus took over the shaper from Douglas and it became the Hercus 270 shaper, the shaper vise remained the same, or at least almost identical.
So, that could be a Hercus 270 shaper vise. That might be how it came to be associated with the Hercus mill?

More likely that both of those machines were purchased and put together in a school. Moving a vice around from one machine to another is common, especially if youre not using the shaper much (and many didnt get run very often at all). Hell, Ive seen teachers swapping tailstocks from one lathe to another...

Originally Posted by EFI_914

Pretty sure that vice has the mounting holes that Bob is talking about anyway.
I purchased on of these when I first got my mill and it’s nice and small but I do wonder about getting the 6” that magpro are selling on eBay.

It did have some mounting holes but would not fit the T-Slot spacing on the Hercus Mill.
I took the vice around to Anorak Bob's place yesterday afternoon and there was JUST enough room on teh base place to open up the holes as short slots so they now fit the Hercus table spacing.
Thanks again Bob.