[jed102]

I may end up having to do something like that Gus, but for now I would like to get some feedback from various Kurt vise owners and even other brand owners to see what is normal for Kurt and other brands.

I really would like actual measurements from people, because if Kurt is loosening up their tolerances or presently slacking off in the quality control, people should have the right to know and make buying choices accordingly. I know it would have been helpful for me to here feedback in hard numbers.

[dertsap]

if you can t take out that kind of slop after doing any kind of adjustments , i would take it back and ask for another one , if machinists are going to accept their (kurt)product being that sloppy , they will keep on putting that out , respectable companies will give us what we ask for , but if noone is asking, then they will continue to put sloppy products out , if they are working in less toleranced manufacturing , then manufacturing is cheaper , less scrap ratio , less machine time , precision costs money and if ANY company can get away with it they will
just take it back drop it on their counter and tell the it crap

[jed102]

I couldn't have said it better myself dertsap!!

[jed102]

By the way, how high were you suggesting I drop it on there counter from?

[HuFlungDung]

As a principle of clamping, it is simply not sound practice to clamp a part at one end of the vise jaws, without a fulcrum spreader or spacer on the other end. I really don't care if the vise has .0005 clearance, torquing up the screw with a piece at one end will still skew the movable jaw enough that your part is clamped only on the inner corners.

In addition, the clamping effect is extra springy unless you have a fulcrum at the opposite end of the jaws.

[jed102]

Yes, actually for me it is a matter of degree of slop. For instance my old no name vise has no problem grabbing the type of parts that I normally work with on one side.
Granted it has many other short comings which the kurt likely doesn't, but again I say maybe I am too fussy, though I expect there are a lot of perfectionists out there

[dertsap]

By the way, how high were you suggesting I drop it on there counter from?

as high as you can lift it

[jed102]

I'd like to laugh, but I'd better watch myself!

[jed102]

Well, Kurt sent me the dimensions/tolerances for the ways and inner slide. They were both out of tolerance. The outside dimension of the slide piece was .020" under the minimum tolerance. The inside dimension of the rails were .003 over the maximum. Together adding up to .023" of extra clearance.

So, I tried sticking brass shims in to take the slop out. That ended up only taking the slop out of the slide, but the movable jaw still had side to side slop from somewhere else.

Oh well, Kurt is going to take the vise back for inspection. I'll keep you posted.

Frank

[jed102]

Well I received my replacement Kurt D675 vise, the one which was sent back because the movable jaw guide rails were seriously out of tolerance. The replacement is still a fair bit out of the specified tolerance, although a bit better. Now there is also another problem which the other vise did not have,- excessive play coming from the thrust bearing (guess I can live with that).

Kurts response to my disappointment was to buy another more expensive model -(this vise was already expensive enough). They did apologize I'll give them that, mind you that doesn't really help me. Anyway, I just want to let people know of my real experience, so that everyone can make better informed decisions when spending their hard earned money.

Frank

[Ben Colby]

You have an adjustment for this in the middle of the moving block that you attach
your move jaw on.
If you are looking at the vise on the handle end, the adjustment is looking right at you,
centerline in the move block, stick a allen wrench or a t-handle hex wrench and adjust.
This adjustment draws the move block up or down. I would also suggest that you
check the fixed jaw block for tightness. This is done from the under side of the vise.

[jed102]

Yes Ben I already tried the allen key adjustment with the first vise and it does not adjust side to side slop. I will try tightening the fixed block, but I really have my doubts that it will take care of everything since measurements don't lie.

Thanks,

Frank

[msomerville]

i bought a d688 a few months back, and it doesnt want to sit against the parallel by the moveable jaw. i have tried using the o rings they give you and that still didnt work. any suggestions?

[single phase]

I got curious so went and measured my Kurt 3600V CNC vice, it has 0.006" slop.


Dave

[JRoque]

Frank, sorry to hear about this. It's a shame that Kurt would not have a quality product to send you. I'm wondering if the model you bought is a Chinese copy that they simply slap their name on. Then again, they charge plenty good for those vises so you would expect better quality.

I wonder how many potential buyers will read this and not buy their product. Quite a few I'd say: type "Kurt D675" on Google and see who's the 3rd hit down.

JR

[DareBee]

I have 3 - D675s and 1 - D688 and have no holding problems of this nature that I have noticed or been told of, although we would never hold a severely offset part without blocking the jaw. Even on a high accuracy vise physics dictate this.
If all your work is only using half the jaw length, maybe you should be using a vice half the size.
This is not meant to be rude, just my opinion.

[One of Many]

Making soft jaws a bit taller than the standard height can make this such a non-issue. Cutting a step into both jaws while clamping together or on something used as a spacer will become a built in parallel to set the parts on. This also allows the part to be gripped on the center of the jaw. The jaws are sacrificial, so cutting and drilling into them is no big deal.

Constant off center loading without blocking the opposite end will eventually turn a precision vise into a sloppy vise anyways.

How's that saying go?.........Use it, don't abuse it?

DC

[jed102]

Wow! I tried that google search JR. Customer feedback can only be healthy for the consumer I figure. I'm not trying to stir up anything, just want people to know what they will be getting for there hard earned money.

I know there is always a work around that can make it tolerable to deal with certain short comings, but for the amount of money being spent we shouldn't really have to.

I'm a machinist and if parts left the shop which where out of tolerance like that there would likely be fur flying. :boxing:

Frank

[One of Many]

I know there is always a work around that can make it tolerable to deal with certain short comings, but for the amount of money being spent we shouldn't really have to.

Frank

I would not consider it a work around a'tall. I have always thought of this is an ounce of prevention. First preventing the part from being ripped out of the vise due to poor jaw parallelism. If not ripped out, then it may shift during the cut. Secondly preventing addition wear from repeatedly putting the moving jaw into a bind.

I'm a machinist and if parts left the shop which where out of tolerance like that there would likely be fur flying. :boxing:

Frank

It is sad to see a work horse vise manufacturer that we consider top quality let their QC process become so lax that the customer is forced to deal with the difference in what quality they expect verses what they get sold. To get told to go buy a more expensive vise is just plain wrong. Nothing wrong with trying to get what you pay for. Obviously our customers wouldn't put up with that. Why should we put up with it from Kurt!

We recently had a similar issue with an Aloris AXA set for our Sharp CNC toolroom lathe. Only 2 of the 8 holders would go onto the post wedge. Their claim was that they lost the master that they judge fit by. Say what!? (*@#$%).

We had to send them the tightest and the loosest holder so they could match it up to a nominal post. They took care of us well, but why did it come to that in the first place!

DC

[Geof]

....Their claim was that they lost the master that they judge fit by. Say what!? (*@#$%)....DC

No, you have to be joking or mistaken or something...please......either that or your parenthetical comment is not expressive enough.