Craftsman vise

sanch · Feb 22, 2015

Yup they still make em and I am pleased with mine it bolted right to my potters wheel turn table, 2 bolts and I can use my big ol honking ball too! I'm happy with it!

midmo9236 · Feb 22, 2015

Looks stout to say the least, how much do they go for and was that a catalog order?

atexascowboy2011 · Feb 22, 2015

Sancho, what is the weight so far on your engraving vise base you're building ? Looks super!

dogcatcher · Feb 22, 2015

Nice job of improvising.

monk · Feb 22, 2015

surely handsome enough. what feature(s) made you decide to purchase it ? just curious.

Chujybear · Feb 22, 2015

Defeats the purpose of you bolt it to your potters wheel... Assuming you're working with a scope

sanch · Feb 22, 2015

ok to start I found a thread here about the vise and did a little searching on the sears web sight my cost was less than $40 ordered at the local sears waited for a few weeks and here it is. why did I choose it? cost, being able to tilt it and cost...did I mention cost? I eventually plan on engraving the knives that I make and it seems this particular vise will work for that as you can see by the blade I clamped in it in the pic...@ tex the weight of the whole bench? without the 36lb ball and the 15lb vise? probably about 75lbs? heck I dont know!!I can still move the whole bench on the rollers it had from its former life as an eliptical running machine! (as long as the ball comes off) next on to do list machine an airgraver!! maybe,,....I am actually very pleased with the build quality of this little vise compared to the HF vise I was going to settle for this thing is a tank both the jaw handle and the swivel locking handle are SOLID and made of steel not pot metal once again I feel this was the best answer for me..the cost of a decent ball vise was just too high for my penny pinching A$$...and if I find I dont stick to engraving on it I have a fine quality 3"cradle angle vise for my drillpress!

dlilazteca · Feb 22, 2015

sanch said:
ok to start I found a thread here about the vise and did a little searching on the sears web sight my cost was less than $40 ordered at the local sears waited for a few weeks and here it is. why did I choose it? cost, being able to tilt it and cost...did I mention cost? I eventually plan on engraving the knives that I make and it seems this particular vise will work for that as you can see by the blade I clamped in it in the pic...@ tex the weight of the whole bench? without the 36lb ball and the 15lb vise? probably about 75lbs? heck I dont know!!I can still move the whole bench on the rollers it had from its former life as an eliptical running machine! (as long as the ball comes off) next on to do list machine an airgraver!! maybe,,....I am actually very pleased with the build quality of this little vise compared to the HF vise I was going to settle for this thing is a tank both the jaw handle and the swivel locking handle are SOLID and made of steel not pot metal once again I feel this was the best answer for me..the cost of a decent ball vise was just too high for my penny pinching A$$...and if I find I dont stick to engraving on it I have a fine quality 3"cradle angle vise for my drillpress!

Do you have an item number for the vise, looking for one that is solid, and the price seem right

sanch · Feb 22, 2015

Here is the pertinent info. Dang rotation well there's the model number anyway. ... :shock:

sanch · Feb 23, 2015

Chujybear said:
Defeats the purpose of you bolt it to your potters wheel... Assuming you're working with a scope

Assume nothing 1st rule. ..see the optivisor in the photo? ?? Don't see how it defeated the purpose by bolting it down, the static jaw is placed in a manner on the wheel where mostly anything clamps centered. I am not using a scope as of now. I'm sure that I will find out what you are talking about when I get to use a scope if I get one in the future and I will solve this problem as it shows up thanks.

Sam · Feb 23, 2015

If you use a microscope, bolting the vise in place means you'll have to chase the work around with the microscope. If you're using an Optivisor, then it won't matter.
The purpose of a turntable base is to center it under the scope and then move the vise as needed and not the microscope.

sanch · Feb 23, 2015

sam said:
If you use a microscope, bolting the vise in place means you'll have to chase the work around with the microscope. If you're using an Optivisor, then it won't matter.
The purpose of a turntable base is to center it under the scope and then move the vise as needed and not the microscope.

Yessir! That's what I was thinking was meant that's why I edited earlier to say I was using an optivisor! Thanks Sam, when I do get a scope I will unbolt the vise to facilitate centering the work under the scope the vise is heavy enough I believe to hold the work without any problems.

mtlctr · Feb 23, 2015

I use a similar setup. a an 8" 4 jaw chuck holds bout anything. I still use Opti-visors and sharpen by hand. (gasp) LOL more than one way to skin a cat.

Roger Bleile · Feb 23, 2015

Many of you are familiar with the fabulous work of Paul Lantuch. He does his work using the same Craftsman vise. He doesn't bolt it down. I believe he told me that is is heavy enough to stay pretty stable. He does us a scope for some work.

monk · Feb 23, 2015

thanks, sanch. i made a scope cart, ball vise support long days ago. it actually went thru 4 major changes before i was happy with it. i made mine from discarded bed frames. all welded. very steady, as i'm sure yours is. my cart fotos are somewhere in a dusty drawer in the archive.

sanch · Feb 23, 2015

monk said:
thanks, sanch. i made a scope cart, ball vise support long days ago. it actually went thru 4 major changes before i was happy with it. i made mine from discarded bed frames. all welded. very steady, as i'm sure yours is. my cart fotos are somewhere in a dusty drawer in the archive.

Yup! I can definitely see mine evolving as it has already from the first day the table top went on to now that it has a 4" vinyl lip around the edge to keep chips on the top and not on the studio floor (which is now dry again!) Im thinking of making some Delrin jaw plates for the vise but dont know that I will cause the leather pads I made yesterday seem to work good...Thanks again to all for the kind words and comments!

Brian Marshall · Feb 23, 2015

Delrin is hard and slippery... leather, rubber, wood and lead are generally a better choice for removable jaw liners.

Brian

sanch · Feb 23, 2015

Brian Marshall said:
Delrin is hard and slippery... leather, rubber, wood and lead are generally a better choice for removable jaw liners.

Brian

Yup! I was just looking at my tooling maul delrin head and was really thinking the same...leather it will be I have plenty of it!

jerrywh · Feb 24, 2015

I think that vise handle is going to get in your way big time.

sanch · Feb 24, 2015

jerrywh said:
I think that vise handle is going to get in your way big time.

we'll see but I doubt it....

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