Vise Recommendations for Mini Mill

Flatgrinder, when you look for a milling vise make sure it has a description associated with it like "Kurt-style", accu-lock, or something of that sort. if you can afford the $70-120, those are the best kind.

The important difference between milling and drilling vises is that a milling vise has a feature designed in so that when you tighten it down there is a force applied in a downward angle. This prevents the problem associated with drilling vises, which is that the side of the workpiece closest to the movable jaw kicks up a tiny bit because the jaw rises a tiny bit as pressure is applied, too. This results in your slots being ever-so-slightly out of perpendicularity.

If you ever want helpful contact with someone who can help you a lot in deciding what accessories to get for your mini-mill, contact Chris at LittleMachineShop.com. They have a good line of quality imports and he is very helpful.

When you buy your vise, buy a set of parallels at the same time.

For a very small but excellent vise, try Sherline. It is the nicest miniature vise I own and fine for guards. It is not a Kurt-style because they don't make hat style small enough for my Taig, but they have that downward-angle thang working pretty good. I went through four small vises before I found the Sherline.
 
Fitzo gave great advise. Get a swivel type machine vise and, like Fitzo says, get a set of parallels. You will need those. When I got my mill I went vise crazy. I got all different ones I could afford. That was before I got into knife making. Since making knives I use only one vise. It is a simple but adequate machine swivel vise. (I too have the Grizzly mini mill.)

rlinger
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Hi, this is Knifemaker2H7 responding to question about Grizzly mini-mill. My advice to you about purchasing this brand of mini-mill is: DONT! I have one and its performance on slotting guards has been less than sterling. If you have already purchased it, my condolences, otherwise you might consider a Smithy, Jet, or even the super expensive line of Prazi products. I have had nothing but problems with Grizzly. It will mill plastics and wood OK, but not metal, and when it does, it completely goes off on a tangent. Had to buy a way-oversized vise just to get the cutting bit to reach the workpiece. Good luck.
 
Hi,

Thanks for all the replies and recommendations. I haven't purchased this machine yet -just pricing everything, so I know what the damage will be ...

KnifemakerH27: is this mini mill really that bad? I read several posts where people mentioned that it would work well for slotting guards. I plan on using stainless steel (either 303 or 416 -depending on the size).

Thanks! :thumbup:
 
Thank you to David Wesner for his kind welcome to Blade Forums! I'm afaraid yesterday I was a little confused, as I did not know what "BTW" meant, but my brother-in-law soon explained it to me and set me staight. So thank you once again for your kind welcome! Look forward to participating when I can. Incidentally, the photo of his hunting knife looks great!
 
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