I dislike the FREE vise I got with my Taig package. What is a good vise for general milling operations on a TAIG? What I usually do is small parts for my slot cars. I do not need anything huge or expensive. $150-$175 max. But a good one that is cheaper is good too!

Dan

Dan,

Like you I was not impressed with the vise. I purchased the Sherline and it is very high quality. I think that some time in the future, I will get a larger vise, but the Sherline works well. You might go onto Dean Williams web site and look at the one that he made. It would be a great project!

Rick Kernell

The Sherline vice is a hair small for some projects. I was looking at similar vises from other makers but I don't see how they attach to the mill.


Thanks for the suggestion. I may go with it if I can't find a 3 or 4 inch one that fits.

Check out http://www.shars.com . I have their 4" vise and it's quite nice, but if I were buying a vise today I would get the 5" (which is slightly shorter than the 4" vise and has a longer opening).

5" toolmakers vise.
Oh man, looks like that vise is out of stock, I wonder how long it'll be before they get some more.
Here's a 4.5" vise It's $2 less, the jaws are taller (by an eighth of an inch), and it doesn't open as wide, but it's in stock.

Most of the parallel sets I've found are sized by the eighth inch (I mean, going from one size to the next means an increase of 0.125" in height). Because of this, I would buy a vise with a jaw depth that is not divisible by 0.125 (in other words: get a vise with a jaw depth of 1-X/16" where "X" is an odd number).

OK, I ordered the 4.5" as it fits my parameters. Thanks to you guys for the suggestions.

I have the 4" vise from Shars and I'm very happy with it. I always use screw vises when form grinding and these "pin" type vises are new to me and take just a little bit to "get on to" the feel of them.

Dave