The clone "Kurt" vise acquired in July 2009 has a few vices. This is the story of one such vice.
The two bolts that clamp the vise to the swivel base felt spongy when tightened, and tended to rotate the vise when tightened, ruining the alignment. The reason is interesting.
The castings seem to have been made using original Kurt components as forms, but the resulting castings were fitted with metric hardware. Specifically, the as-cast holes were for 1/2 inch hardware, but 12mm hardware was used, along with a very thin washer to bridge the gap, and too-short bolts that didn't quite fill the nuts.
The solution was simple. It turns out that the vise and swivel base are sized to accept real 1/2-13 hardware, including a T-slot bolt sliding around freely in the circular T-slot in the base. No machining was required. Just install the hardware. It made for a considerable improvement.
The bill of materials:
Two T-slot bolts, 1/2-13 by 2.5" (Gibralter 842525-G, MSC 77415826).
Two 1/2" spherical washer sets (Jergens 41105, MSC 82429358)
Two 1/2" hex nuts (Jergens 20714, MSC 04555322).
The total cost was 2(4.42+3.96+1.44)= $19.64, call it $20.
The bolts are about 1/4" longer than really needed, so I may trim them.
Joe Gwinn