Its time for a new vise for my Clausing knee mill. Has anyone used a
6" Kurt on a 8520? I know a 5" would probably be the better choice but the cost is prohibitive and they rarely show up on ebay.Thanks for the help, please reply to group Woody
The good news is that Clones of the 3" Kurt are currently available for around a hundred bucks.
Regards, Dave
I have an 8520 with a 5" Kurt copy and I think it is the maximun size for this mill. One thing I had to do to make it fit, was mill off the coolant trough at the rear of the vise. It would hit the column when the Y was cranked all the way in. Machining it off is easy. I clamped the vise to the mill table hanging off the rear edge. The fixed jaw was clamping on the table surface, and the movable jaw was clamping on the X table way sliding surface. The vise screw is parallel with the spindle. This allows end milling for removal of this coolant trough and I fly-cut the final amount for a nice finish. That ductile iron sure cuts nice. By the way, I bought this vise through Penn Tool. It is a copy of a Kurt 5", made by Auto-Well in Tiawain. I must profess that the quality and accuracy is excellent. I think I paid $265 a couple years ago. The Y travel on the clausing is slightly less than
5" and that is almost what that vise will open, so I conclude this is a good size for a clausing. A 6" would definately hit the column. I just want a 3" though, cause they are so cute. I gotta get out more.--Doozer in Buffalo
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