I hate the Sherline vise

Sherline uses a “screwless” vise. They’re pretty proud of the benefits of this design, but IMO it’s hard to use. More often than not my part isn’t as secure as I’d like it to be - so I take lighter cuts and spend beaucoup extra time milling.

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Does anyone know of a 3rd party alternative for this vise? 2" wide jaws would be plenty - swivel and tilt are not mandatory.

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https://www.busybeetools.com/products/vise-precision-milling-machine-2in-jaw-wid.html

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Yes, it does get hard to use, especially when the lower chamber gets crapulent. It does need to be cleaned out once in a while. What is good is that one can go from wide open to nearly closed without the labor of a lot of screwing. And there is no need for a lever handle for which there isn’t clearance for in the Sherline design.

The Penn Tools vise could work and is fairly cheap. The Busy Bee looks interesting; but I don’t think that the handle shown can clear the y axis saddle, and while it looks like a rotary vise the center of rotation axis appears to be fixed at the back jaw of the vise, so might be less than a real rotary vise, functionally speaking.

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For me, the biggest issue is getting the jaws in a sweet spot relative to an “adjustment slot”. And frequently I have to completely open it up to move it to a different adjustment slot in order to move the jaws something trivial like 0.030". Yeh, following the directions helps (the 45 degree to 60 degree business) but still …

Bob and I found a different vise in the drawers where the small lathe and mill tools are that seems like it could be used. Just a heads up about it :slight_smile:

Thanks. Bob showed it to me on Sunday and I forgot to mention that. It’s a Micromark vise. We were able to clamp it to the bed with the side clamps (name?) that come with the Sherline vise.

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Kurt, IMO…is the best vise out there

Agree. Do they make one suitable for a Sherline mill? I wasn’t aware of one that small.