drill press vise

May 28, 2005 4 Replies

I need a decent drill press vise. Is one of the HF varieties good enough, or do I need to spring for a better one. I don't need a machinist style that is highly accurate, or will do angles. Just a vise to hold things instead of clamping them or using my hands, which gets a little hairy at times............



Any suggestions on a good one without spending two days pay? ( I make $27 an hour.)



Steve


I forget what I paid for my "quick release" Craftsman vise but it wasn't much.

Tractor Supply had a basic one on (this afternoon) for under $12.

I just bought one of the basic models at my local Harbor Freight store last week for about $12.99. I started to get the fancier one with cross slide capabilty, but since the drill press isn't a mill, all I need to do is clamp the object. I also picked up one of those clamps like a half of a vice grip that bolts to the drill press work table to clamp relatively thin flat work down.

If you want the cross slide capability, the HF models on display looked OK as long as you aren't looking to do precision milling or anything like that. I think the smaller ones in the 4" or 6" range were about $40, maybe.

You can buy a cheap one, but you're likely to find that it's got issues; typically, the moving jaw lifts when pressure is applied and then your work isn't flat to the table. So what's worth more to you.. your money or the quality of your work?

John

Get one that moves left and right. I know you don't need one but they sure make lie easier make sit easy to line up and hit the "X"

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