# milling vise plans



## dethrow55 (Aug 22, 2018)

hello all just bought a taig mill. and it came with a not so good screw vise . been looking for ideas or plans for a kurt type vise or similar. thanks


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## XD351 (Aug 22, 2018)

You might be better off with a small screwless / toolmakers vise  . I don't know of any plans for a kurt vise but i wouldn't be surprised if there are some out there on the internet !


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## DJP (Aug 22, 2018)

I would purchase the best Kurt style and size for your mill that you can afford. It's the one part of  mill that is important for life and a good one is easily justified over a long time period.

In fact, consider buying two. There can be times when securing  a long work piece with two mounted vises makes sense.

I built a vise for an Burke horizontal mill with vertical attachment but it never was secure or strong enough. Building it was an exercise in making a vise without having a vice. In the end a 3 inch was the perfect size and I just had to wait for a good deal.


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## Wizard69 (Aug 22, 2018)

The problem with the Taig and a Kurt style vise is that the Taig is a light weight mill (literally and figuratively).   The commonly available Kurt style vises are simply too big for the mill in my opinion.   As such I suspect that you would be better off with one or two good screwless vises. (never liked the term "screwless" for this type of vise).

Now all of that being said there is nothing to keep a person or persons from building a small scale Kurt style vise.   Unfortunately I have never seen plans for such a vise.   Then again I've never looked for such plans.     You might want to look towards some of the Asian suppliers to see if you can find a 3 - 4 inch Kurt style vise, again I never looked for such so I don't know if they exist.   Still you need to consider the over all size of the vise as it is very easy for a vise to be too big for a mill.   Even some of the Kurt vises are too big for a Bridgeport in my opinion.   

Your fundamental problem is that the bed on the Taig is only 3.5" wide.   As such you would end up with most of the vise and the work piece overhanging the table which is less than ideal.    The Taig is actually a good place for a screwless vise that is maybe modified just a bit to bolt directly to the T-slots on the Taig's bed.   If I was to design a vise for this mill I would keep that in mind and try to make it as low profile as possible.   The idea being to have a vise that is suitable for the capacity of the milling machine.


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## ruzzie (Aug 22, 2018)

There are plans for a "light weight vise" in Model Engine Builder Vol 29 - digital back issue is about $6
W 3.75" x  H2.25"


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## ShopShoe (Aug 23, 2018)

Not a Kurt style vise, but plans for a small vise are available in the downloads section:

https://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/threads/small-machine-vise.29025/

I have made one of these, modifying the plans and dimensions to suit what I wanted. 

--ShopShoe


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## XD351 (Aug 23, 2018)

Fwiw , by the time you buy the materials then machine them ( which may be pushing the machines limitations ) you could  buy  a Chinese made toolmakers vise twice over ! The vise  pictured above is essentially a toolmakers ( aka screwless ) vise  and if you get one that has the scallops cut out of each end you can mount it longitudinally on the bed as i did with my X2 sieg . At least that way you will have an accurate , hardened and ground vise and they come in different sizes from 1" up to 4" .


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## DJP (Aug 23, 2018)

I agree. The vice needs to be hardened plus parallel and square to the bed to be of any use. Parallels in between the jaws that sit on a precision ground surface are very critical.

Build a vice if you want the experience but best to buy one that is precision ground. The vice that I built was an exercise in using clamps and squares as I didn't have a vise. Since then I have purchased a few that are a proper milling vise and not a drill press vice. Fast and repeatable set up in a milling vise is also important unless you buy multiple toolmakers vises. Some precision milling vises come with a rotating base which is a bonus or they can be mounted without the base if height is an issue.

My thoughts for your consideration. We all need to start somewhere so try making a vise first to build your milling skills and tooling collection. You can always buy one later.


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## Wizard69 (Aug 23, 2018)

One thing to consider is pre hard steel if you really want to make your own vise.  I don't have a Tag so i don't know how well it would handle prehard but it might make for a vise good enough for the home shop.  It would save the heat treat steps but not the grinding.   It might be possible to get a serviceable vice with fly cutting but you need a precision vice to do precision work.   

Honestly expect to end up with a collection of vises as you build up the shop and find good deals. I have three and haven't even gotten a mill yet.  You need to be flexible with respect to work holding, sometimes a vise isn't the answer at all.


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## BobsModels (Aug 23, 2018)

Hi

Have a look here:
Free plans to download

http://www.morrisonandmarvin.com/mill_vise.php

And check out this build:

http://www.modelenginemaker.com/index.php/topic,8231.0.html

Bob


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## Chiptosser (Aug 27, 2018)

If you want to make a vise to use on a drill press, for practice, to gain skills, make one.

If you want one that is accurate and will hold that little piece securely, I would buy one made.

If you don't have a surface grinder and the skills associate with precision grinding to make all surfaces square and parallel plus heat treating.

You will ether give up on it , or trash it down the road.   Don't even consider making a screw push type vise, total waste of materials and your time.

Sorry for what some may find harsh, I have work with too many apprentices from other shops that give projects to their new people and they find out that they have a paper weight, and end up throwing them in the trash.
Just trying to save some people grief.


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