HFS (R) 4" Milling Machine Lockdown Vise -Swiveling Base - Hardened Metal - CNC Vise

I am extremely happy with the quality of this vise! I got the 4” vise for my small drill press to get better accuracy when drilling metal parts. I do use a set of parallels to help with the squaring up of my work. Overall this seems to be a great vise and came well packaged, clean and ready to mount. I will say that this is one heavy and large vise and can only imagine what the 5” & 6” ones are like. I probably could have used the 3” for my application. I highly doubt the larger ones could be used on any of the smaller mills or drill presses. They would have to be used on a full size machine for sure. If the absolute best precision is needed this may fall slightly short, but for the hobbyist this will do just fine. The only issue I had was with the handle to tighten the vise. The vise has a well machined 12mm hex on the end to tighten the jaws, but the handle is cast and is more like a 13mm and is very sloppy on the vise. If you don’t remove it when it’s not being used it will fall off pretty easily. I did order a speed handle on eBay for about $25 and although I could have made one myself, it would have cost almost the same for the materials plus my time. I have been using a 12mm socket on my cordless drill to open and close vise and the handle that it came with to just to snug it up on my work. This is only until I get the speed handle. Anyway I really like this beast of a vise and feel it was a great investment for my tool collection.

As others have stated, this vise is rough around the edges as shipped. I invested a couple of hours disassembling and cleaning things up with a diamond file and stone. In doing so, I have managed to address all of the issues I observed with the exception of vertical squareness of the fixed jaw. It is still out approximately. 004" over the 1.25" jaw height. I think this is due to some residual high spots I observed on the under side of the fixed jaw block, and more time with a stone will will get it closer to right. It's best to creep up on right rather than overshoot. Additionally, I was reading .005" jaw lift when clamping at the top as received, after working over the extremely rough cast surface that interfaces with the half sphere inside the moving jaw with a series of files, I got it down to effectively zero. The ground top surfaces of the base showed no more than .0005" out on my indicator (I'm not using the swivel base). Overall I'm pleased for the price.A few more observations: threads are not acme, but move smoothly. There is a nice thrust bearing at the base of the screw. The included hardware is close to garbage quality. And you should plan on dedicating a 12mm socket for opening and closing because the handle internal hex looks like it was carved out by hand and doesn't fit at all.

I don't see any way to rate less than 5 stars. I was prepared to be disappointed but I gave it a shot based on reviews. Fit and finish well exceed price point. Function is smooth, machined surfaces look properly finished. Vise arrived with jaws accurately adjusted and only basic cleanup was required before using. This is not a made in USA vise but supporting a hobby I can't always justify paying 4 times more. There's no tick mark to reference against the base. There's a machined surface but no mark. This is the only flaw I'm aware of. I'll use this on a recently refurbished 60's era drill press. It should exceed my needs. If something changes I'll update this review.5/17/17 After some use this tool continues to impress. I'm using with a set of parallels and work is more enjoyable. The end of the screw is cut to 12mm, a 12mm deep socket fits snugly. I added an adapter and now use a small 10V cordless drill to open and close the vise quickly. I still use the provided handle to tighten but opening the vise wide open and closing takes a only few seconds with a drill. The idea came from seeing guys use cordless drills to operate knee crank on milling machines. Small drill with 12mm socket can hang off the end of the screw without issue. Hope this helps somebody.

This is my first Amazon review. I was leery about buying a cheap Chinese vise, but it is for using on a gifted Smithy 1220xl. The vise is rock solid. It was rough at first, I had to take it completely apart and clean off all the shipping goo and lubricate. I adjusted everything and set up with a dial indicator. I was able to get everything within .001" It is very repeatable, it made my almost worthless milling machine usable. I suppose if you have a $25,000 mill the Kurt is probably awesome, but for hobbyist, and 100 dollars it is worth it. I am writing this review because I was looking for a vise was hemming and hawing on what to get to serve my purpose I didn't want a worthless piece of garbage. I was happy that this turned out to be a very usable tool. I am sure if you have the $600 for the Kurt it would be worth it.

For the price it’s hard to be super picky, but the moveable jaw moves upwards significantly when you tighten it down. Overall it is okay if you’re not trying to be super accurate and just need a vice. It’s far from a Kurt quality vice, but it’s also far from the Kurt price, so, keep that in mind.