[LeeWay]

Curious if anyone has tried these yet. I have seen recommendations for Maritool and a few other US makers, but I will be getting two double vises from Glacern, so thought I might as well get my holders there too. They have some nice nickel plated ones that I was considering.

https://www.glacern.com/er_collet_chucks

[JFettig]

I've been running Techniks collet chucks and Maritool hard holders. Techniks stuff I've been getting from allindustrial, I buy in quantity and they give me good pricing - same with collet sets. E-mail their sales team rather than buy online.

I'd stick with better known vise makers - Kurt for example. "Only cry once"

[LeeWay]

I actually had a lot of trouble finding what I wanted on the Kurt site. 4" double vise. I will look again at Maritool.
Our Shars vises in the Pulsar require a whole lot of maintenance, which my Step Son does not do. At all. Then when I want to use them, they seem almost frozen, so before I can do anything, I have to do 20 minutes worth of freeing them up, lubing and adjusting. Okay, cheap vises, but neglect is obviously part of what I am forced to contend with. (Don't hire Family members for important stuff like taking care of your tools).
So the more maintenance free, the better. I got a quote from Orange vise and they are double the GMT cost. That is saying something when the GMT's are $900 each. The Orange vise does more tricks though and has a better screw system I think.

The reason that I want two is because that is how we increased production on the Pulsar. Fewer tool changes per part. Now I am considering that since we do not need to change tools, a single double vice will be just as productive and less costly.
Thoughts?

[LeeWay]

Okay. Kurt has more than one website apparently. I did find a better one today. Now what is a hydraulic vise?
Youtube. No hydraulic vise for us.

[JFettig]

Kurt HDL4J is probably what you want. Orange vises do look nice but I'm in the same boat, I don't have deep enough pockets for that!

I currently have 3 Chick BL4's for my 4" double vise work, got them at auction for $180 each!

Definitely want some higher quality vises - Shars is bottom of the bin, and should be in the bin

[obiwon]

We had (have) six Chick 6in and 4in double vices...The 6in vices failed because of the steele lead screw thru the anodized aluminum base nut. We now use Kurt.

[JenTX]

I am also looking for some advice on CAT40 tool holders and would love any feedback or suggestions. Maritool, Glacern, Dorian, Parlec, Iscar, etc.. what is really the best bang for the buck in the $100-$200 range? I prefer US made or higher quality manufactured tools whenever possible and try not to waste money on cheap trash bin quality tools. Buy once, cry once.

My understanding is that the Glacern are made overseas, but I can't really find any negative reviews on their quality. Maritool has mixed information that they're US Made and also not US Made, but get great reviews. Again, suggestions are appreciated.

[Matt@RFR]

Orange vise and Kurt are about the same cost wise. I own six Orange 6" doubles and don't have any plans on going any other routes unless we get in to hydraulic or pneumatic vises. If you think an Orange vise is expensive, go get a quote for a Schunk. Orange is going through an expansion that apparently isn't going well... it took months to get our last 4 vises, and they only shipped when my tool rep climbed up their ass about it. We haven't put those in to service yet, so we'll see if there are any quality issues.

For cheap tool holders, we use Techniks for all of our ER collet chucks and Mari Tools super stubby endmill holders. Very happy with both, but stay away from Mari Tool collets, whatever you do. Techniks even just made a custom run of BT30 ER16 & ER11 holders for us for something like $5/ea more than their existing part numbers. Took 'em 9 weeks, but they're here.

Anything below the above levels, to me, is false economy. If you're looking to do high quality work in an efficient manner, don't cheap out. You WILL regret it.

[LeeWay]

I have decided today to just get an orange vise. It is just a little more than the Kurt. I will certainly get a guaranteed ship date before forking the cash over though.
I imagine they sell a lot more big vises than 4.5" ones. They may just have one of those in stock for me.
I was under the impression that Glacern or GMT was US made stuff too. Maybe some more checking on that before
I try the Glacern tool holders. I just think the nickel plating will hold up much better than the black oxide.
Our TTS tooling looks terrible. The specs on the GMT tool holders look good. I may give them a shot after confirmation on where they are made.

[JFettig]

Matt, you're absolutely on point. I do have one Mari collet - I don't think I have used it yet but it definitely doesn't look as nice as Techniks collets.

It's my understanding that Glacern is NOT US made. It's my understanding that they're of Asian origin and I've heard that they're a little rough in places.

The only black oxide holders that have been an issue for me are Command - they're the only ones I have had rust, and they rust quick. Still nice holders, but even YG1 holders don't rust that quick!

[LeeWay]

"Glacern Machine Tools is a manufacturer and distributor of CNC vices and tool holders located in Southern California. Our goal is to help businesses grow by providing quality tooling at reasonable prices. Our high performance lineup of tools is designed to make tooling up easy without breaking the bank. You can place your order directly on our website 24/7 or if you prefer give us a call - our helpful customer support is available between 10-5pm PST. We sell direct in order to eliminate distributor costs & delays and our global network of manufacturing partners in places such as the United States, Europe, and Japan make it possible to combine high-grade precision tooling with affordability. Processes such as cnc machining, grinding, heat treating, assembly and final inspection are performanced locally. This allows us to maintain excellent quality control while reducing overhead. Browse our entire catalog of CNC tools directly on our website. "


That is from the website, but it doesn't say they are not from Asia too. At first read, I read more into it than it actually said.
It's not super critical that I buy US made tools, but I would like to if and when I can afford it. Especially for things like tool holders that will have long term usage. Maritool and Techniks prices are comparable top GMT. Good to hear about the black oxide lasting a while. Still not totally sure what I will get. I know I will be taking my time tooling this one up. Since I have a working mill now doing production, I can make more informed choices. Like the Orange vise if in stock.

[JenTX]

..For cheap tool holders, we use Techniks for all of our ER collet chucks and Mari Tools super stubby endmill holders. Very happy with both, but stay away from Mari Tool collets, whatever you do. Techniks even just made a custom run of BT30 ER16 & ER11 holders for us for something like $5/ea more than their existing part numbers. Took 'em 9 weeks, but they're here.

Anything below the above levels, to me, is false economy. If you're looking to do high quality work in an efficient manner, don't cheap out. You WILL regret it.

I'm not really looking to go cheap, I would rather buy something quality that is going to last for a while, but I don't want to break the bank either and spend over $200+ per tool holder.

[Matt@RFR]

I'm not really looking to go cheap, I would rather buy something quality that is going to last for a while, but I don't want to break the bank either and spend over $200+ per tool holder.

Cheap was a bad choice of wording. Techniks is excellent quality at very good prices. We use a lot of very small tools (think .010" range) and runout is critical. Our Techniks ER11 and ER16's with their standard collets gets us in the .0003" TIR range reliably.

That is from the website, but it doesn't say they are not from Asia too.

I think you are getting in your own head about this. There's plenty of junk that is made in the U.S.. There's plenty of high quality products that are made in China. Glacern is junk no matter where it was made, according to at least two threads on this very subject on practical machinist. The owner of Orange used to be an engineer at Glacern and bailed for many reasons, not the least of which was quality & service issues if I recall correctly. It boils down to what you need the vises to do. We tend towards tight tolerance parts so high quality work and tool holding is imperative. Even if you aren't chasing tenths all day long, a really good vise will help with consistency.

And for what it's worth, all of our tool holders (couple hundred) are bare steel on all critical surfaces and none have rust issues. This is a coolant concern. Look at really high end tool holders (Schunk, Big Kaiser, Erowa, etc.) and none of them are plated. We have a $700 Big Kaiser ER16-ish holder that is 100% bare steel.

[LeeWay]

Thanks for the feedback. Coolant issues were never really a problem on the mill we use now. We were using koolmist 77, but finally switched over to something that would not eat our polycarbonate.
It is Castrol Syntillo 9918.
It actually came with our Timesaver wet sander finish machine. I liked it so well that we us it in everything. Different percentages.

I hope to place my tooling orders sometime next week. I will be trying to get the Orange double vise at 4.5" width. Some Maritool set screw holders. Then an assortment of Collet chucks and collets from somewhere. Haven't decide yet on Techiks or not. Quite possible though.
My DSL line crapped out yesterday and cannot be fixed until next week. On a Jetpack now, so browsing is a little limited.

[JenTX]

Any thoughts on the Dorian tool holders? I use a lot of Dorian stuff for my manual and cnc lathe and have been pretty happy with it. Right now I'm looking at MariTool,Techniks, Dorian and Lyndex for the CAT40 holders. I looked at the Big Kaiser and they sure are nice, but can't justify the cost right now.

[LeeWay]

I am in the same boat with a few Dorian tools for the lathe. They seem to be of good quality. Worth the price I paid for them. I will be researching the same ones you are now. Oh and I live about 20 minutes from the Gulf of Mexico. This is the main reason I have seen a lot of our TTS tool holders rust. It's not the ones that we run day in and day out. It's the ones that seldom get used. They are of varying quality too. Didn't do a lot of shopping around with those.

We don't have real tight tolerances on anything we make, but good to prepare for that capability and use it as often as we can.
Oh and the Dorians are made in Italy.

[JenTX]

Houston sucks for humidity and rusting, well, everything.

Are you sure they're made in Italy? I believe Dorian makes stuff here in Texas.

[LeeWay]

The holders I saw on Amazon were listed as made in Italy.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CB0W3PW...=1J8XPHQIE1PSP

I am in South Alabama between Mobile and Pensacola, so similar conditions to Houston.

It may be just the lathe stuff in Texas.
Products « Dorian Tool International Incorporated

[D.D.Machine]

I had some parts I needed a double vies for a few years ago and got 2 of the Glacern vises ,,, there "JUNK" ..... I wish I would have got kurt or Orange double vises ,, yes there more $$ but I would be a happy camper .
as for tool holders I have about 200 techniks cat 40 holders in the shop and have been vary happy with them. I have a few mari holders and there nice but more $$ than the techniks and I have never seen a down side to them. I`m under the understanding that most of the Mari holders are made in the USA and might look at buying them just for that reason.

[JenTX]

Interesting on the Dorian holders being made in Italy but they're stamped Dorian Tools USA.

I ordered some of the maritools collet chucks as they seem like a good middle ground between the high end stuff and import junk.