I finally broke down and ordered myself a 3" milling vise. LMS had them on special for $75 and I can't turn down a bargain. This is the same vise that Enco sells under their brand name. My first thought on opening the box was "Damn...that thing's cute!". It looks for all the world like the 6" Kurt vises I am used to seeing on B'ports but in 1/2 scale. It's just cute. :big: And greasy...
I have not gotten it to the shop to clean it up yet but my observations so far are that it is well ground, well painted, and seems very solid. With the swivel base it weighs in around 20 pounds (9 kilos). The hardened and ground jaws are removable, and can be mounted on the outboard vise faces like a Kurt for holding much larger work. I noticed that the jaws are slightly misaligned on the top so I will be chucking the vise up on my surface grinder and truing them up. I plan to fully dismantle the vise before I use it to check for sand, casting voids, etc. So far though the action is smooth and even. The swivel base is well marked and seems to be plenty solid. It only takes an additional inch and a half or so of vertical space up so I don't see a problem fitting it to my x2. I will take pics of the clean-up and assembly process.
All in all I am happy with it so far.
I have not gotten it to the shop to clean it up yet but my observations so far are that it is well ground, well painted, and seems very solid. With the swivel base it weighs in around 20 pounds (9 kilos). The hardened and ground jaws are removable, and can be mounted on the outboard vise faces like a Kurt for holding much larger work. I noticed that the jaws are slightly misaligned on the top so I will be chucking the vise up on my surface grinder and truing them up. I plan to fully dismantle the vise before I use it to check for sand, casting voids, etc. So far though the action is smooth and even. The swivel base is well marked and seems to be plenty solid. It only takes an additional inch and a half or so of vertical space up so I don't see a problem fitting it to my x2. I will take pics of the clean-up and assembly process.
All in all I am happy with it so far.
