Economy Engraving Block

Found this deal: http://www.contenti.com/products/_new_items/_item.html?itemno=210-199&secthome=engraving-tools&s=e&c=0908 Not bad for $179

This is the type that I am starting with and it is a ok vise for small things. Have not done any big pieces
in it yet. I found mine on ebay for 100.00 dollars I thank it was Finding King or something like that.

`Hi Tony,

I've got the same one straight from india.
The only problem with mine is that the holes are not drilled evenly.
For the rest it is a great cheap vise!
I want to weld a plate unto the top of the vice and drill the holes properly.

Greetings,

Daniel

Compared to a GRS it's a piece of junk. But compared in price it's not to bad for a first vise. I have one. It's not bad but the fit and finnish is very loose so don't be disappointed with it.
It will however serve you until you can justify shelling out $500 for a GRS or the like.

I would recommend putting that $179 toward a vise of good quality. I've seen a lot of vises that look similar to this one, and most are made in China and are sloppy pieces of junk. I can't speak for this one because I haven't seen it, but putting that money toward a quality vise is a better bet.

This reminds me of a friend who tried to get ball vises made in China. It was a small ball style vise without a rotating crown for a special application. All it was was a ball, a plastic base, and a simple expanding ring holder on the top. In other words, no rotating crown, no bearings, and no jaws. It couldn't really be called a vise. He provided machinist drawings and tried for months to get a suitable product made. He finally abandoned the idea because they never could get it right. Something was always wrong and the quality was garbage. Maybe one day a good vise will come from China, but I haven't seen one yet.

~Sam

Hi everyone,

It probably is a piece of junk. The holes don't mach, there is some room between the rotating vice and the base and in the screw. But for trying out for me it is good but hope to get a better vice some day.

Still have one question, The block with gadgets, could someone tell me what they use the gadgets for?
Most things are obvious but the two things in the middle escape my comprehension.

Greetings,

Daniel

Daniel

The things in the middle look to be watch holders. I've got some that came with my pantagraph and figured out what they were by a process of elimination (everything else listed I could identify so they have to be the watch holders. )

Sam

If you want something done really cheap go to China or India. If you want it done cheap but actually to your specs go to Taiwan. I used to do biomedical stuff and they had (may still have) a factory in Taiwan doing most of the assembly. We did have an issue once though - one of the engineers figured out that a new product was failing because almost all of the parts used were right at the edges of the specified tolerance and in combination the circuit would fail. He redesigned for sloppier tolerances and fixed the problem. Benchmade (a knife maker well known for their quality) has a facility in Taiwan building their 'Red Line' knives. But they do inspect each one at the factory in Oregon.

Rather than spend $179 for a cheap vise I'd probably go with a home built one, say, putting one of those self-centering vises on top of a cut off bowling ball.

One thing to consider is down the road. What will you do with a cheap vise if you decide you want to sell it, say when you decide to upgrade, you won't be able to very easily. I would consider spending a little more now, say on a standard GRS vise which are as good as you can get for the money, and if you ever decide to sell it you can knock $50 or so and sell it, and you will have gotten to use a quality tool while you owned it. That is how I look at it anyway.-Brian

Ream the top holes and use Drill Blanks

Hi,

Yes they are cheap and sometimes the top holes are not all the same size.

Get a #28 machine reamer and ream the holes in a drill press and all the pins and #28 drill blanks work great.

Better yet Buy a self centering vise from Grizzly and a cheap TV lazy susan off ebay you will have the same invested and have a Super Setup for centering a piece for scrolls. Have both and the Vise and lazy susan wins hands down over any ball vise.

I am taking lessons from Bryan Bridges who worked with Lynton McKenzie here in Arizona and the vise and the lazy susan is what they used. Bryan mades a Motorized version of the turntable that is great.

AirAmp

airamp said:

Hi,

Better yet Buy a self centering vise from Grizzly and a cheap TV lazy susan off ebay you will have the same invested and have a Super Setup for centering a piece for scrolls. Have both and the Vise and lazy susan wins hands down over any ball vise.

Click to expand...

I would highly agree with this, except that typical lazy susan is too sloppy for work under a microscope. Its a really pain to to be rotating along and all of a sudden your scroll "moves" an 1/8 of an inch.

Thats great you are working with Bryan Bridges, we were talking at the Engrave-In wondering what happened to him. Can you post some pics of his current work?

Bryan Bridges

Hi,

Yes I will be posting pictures of him and some of his work.

He is working with a knife maker in Arizona mostly so some of the pictures are of him, some of his past work and some of his current work.

Really a great mentor and he just started teaching classes. I am lucky since he only lives about 1 mile from me so I go once a week. I am a rank beginner so I am trying to learn what he knows and starting from they way it was done.

He has a self centering plate vise that has to weigh 65-85 lbs 12 inches long and 7 inches wide. He got it over 40 years ago and that was from a old die maker so it must be over 100 years old. I have not been able to find anything like it anywhere.

The closest thing now is this a new Grizzly self centering vise that weights 28 lbs and has 4 inch jaws. The Turntable is for a TV and is sold on ebay. It can hold 100lbs no problem and it does not move at all. It seems to be made of a tough plastic, it is not on ball bearings so it does have some resistance with the vise on it but doen't move irregularly at all under a scope.

It is not a GRS turntable but will do for now.

Anyway I will be posting Bryan's pictures and work this weekend.

regards,
Mike

Hey everyone I'm Jim, new guy here. Just thought I'd chime in on this vise I just bought one from Contenti.
I called the owner to ask about the vise. He said he would take one out of the box and check it over and call me back. He did and said although it was an economy vise he was rather impressed with the vise, didn't think it was loose. I asked if the drag was adjustable or off/on. it is not adjustable only free or locked. It has a rubber base.
I couldn't justify a GRS as I'm not an engraver but a wanna be jeweler and would like to one day make fine engraved jewelery. Anyway I got the vise, it's different in that it doesn't have top plates that fit into the vise jaws, the holes for the pins are drilled directly into the vise jaws similar to the grs microblock. The pin holes are evenly spaced. Nothing on this vise is loose. The chrome finish is not good, passable.
The vise will not move on the rubber base, good for stonesetting so to practice engraving I cut off about 3"
of 4" pvc on which to set the vise which works very well the only cavet being the locking screw is located on the bottom half of the ball and if I angle the vise towards to screw it limits the travel as the screw strikes the edge of the pvc. A quick shift of the base away from the angle I'm leaning the vise solves the problem.
There were no instructions of any kind nor any marks or stamps to show where it was made.
I don't know if the rest are made as well but I'm happy with the one I got at least until I figure out if I have an apptitude for engraving. Now if I could just get those gravers wicked sharp :/

I don't know about Contenti tools but there is an engraver's ball put out by Pepi tools for about $250 that several of my students have purchased. It is made in Spain and compares very well with the Viger that I bought in 1975 for about $500. Keep in mind this is a light engravers ball for small parts jewelry and watches not gun and motorcycle parts. So it depends on where you want to go with your art if your goal is bigger as in guns etc. save your pennines and get the heavy GRS vice you will be glad you did. If you are going jewelry then the only thing mentioned about this vice that bothers me is the holes drilled right into the top of the vice. You REALLY need a pivoting jaw on your vice to accomdate add shaped things. Even with all the holes and pins with out the pivot you are really limiting what can be held ...My $.07 (inflation)
Owen Walker..........www,walkergoldsmiths.com

I have a 6" Pepe. It came with a set of pivoting jaws that fit into the holes drilled in the top of the vise jaws. One piece has 2 pins the other one pin in the center so it pivots. These are then drilled to accept the accessory pins. I like mine for jewelry work but then I have never worked with a GRS.

It seems that Rio has discontinued the Pepe block and Otto Frei shows it as out of stock.

Mike