Drill press vise

[Eugen]

Bit the bullet and got this drill press vise. It's the 4" model. My previous one was a joke and was not able to hold the hydraulic rod steady to drill it with a 5/8 bit. This one had good reviews and decided to order it. It's quite heavy and it seems well machined. Will report how it performed.

[RoamingGnome]

Is that a nice shade of Powerfist Blue? I have an old 2 way cross slide vice on my drill press - wibbles and wobbles all over the place - cleaned up all of the shim strips behind the slides a few times - but they always seem to come loose - guess it's good enough for my caveman / cave-gnome fab shop...

[Eugen]

Is that a nice shade of Powerfist Blue? I have an old 2 way cross slide vice on my drill press - wibbles and wobbles all over the place - cleaned up all of the shim strips behind the slides a few times - but they always seem to come loose - guess it's good enough for my caveman / cave-gnome fab shop...

I wished for an xy cross slide but they're so expensive

The new one is not power fist, ordered online for $115 free shipping. My old vise one was PA, on sale for maybe $12. It shows right? It's naughty mounting the new one different shade of blue eh?

[RoamingGnome]

I wished for an xy cross slide but they're so expensive

... Not too expensive if they wibble and wobble all over the place

@Eugen - Sorry, I keep forgetting that the "Cheap" pricing of my major tooling is not only because it's Powerfist quality... but also that it was bought 30+ years ago

[Eugen]

Gerry, you know better than me, many times the old tools are heavier and stronger made than new ones. Someone's selling a few Kurt machinist vises on the market place. I'm sure they're better than what I got, but at $400 a piece... not for me. It's not often I buy something new. If I still can't drill that hole I'm going to ask Dave to put a hole in with his milling machine.

[thebuildist]

You may have to use a grinder to flatten out the spot you want to drill and to penetrate partly down through the hardened chrome layer. The hard layer is generally about .100" thick.

Or if you have a carbide spot drill, that will get through it.

But a regular HSS bit is going to have a hard time getting started on that domed hardened surface.

Bob

[Eugen]

@thebuildist Bob, I did just that, used the grinder to take off enough to get to the soft part, which, like you said, it was about 0.1 inches. One thing I'd like to say, if anyone ever runs into this, is that you need to grind wide enough and on both sides of the rod or else your hss bit will get dull in a hurry.

This is how much I ground. The hole is still small diameter and was enlarged with bigger bits.

I'm glad to report that the new vise has made a big difference, and I like it. Don't know how others do it or how it's done by the book, never took a machinist course or read a book (note to self: read a book on machining). I drilled with progressively larger HSS bits up to 1/2. Although I had ordered a 5/8 HSS bit from amazon, it was supposed to be delivered next week. But on my stop at Princess Auto on Tuesday I saw a carbide tipped 5/8 on sale and obviously couldn't stop myself getting it. Yeah, I know, I shouldn't have done it, but I did it. Sharpened the edges of the carbide tip on the bench grinder and then used it to enlarge the 1/2" holes to 5/8". I took my time and it worked just fine.

[thebuildist]

Good catch. I keep several carbide tipped masonry bits onhand, preferably Bosch branded. The Bosch brand has a decently large carbide insert at the tip, and you can sharpen that carbide to a fine edge and use it for drilling hardened steel.

I first punch through with 1/8" or 3/16", and then enlarge the hole like you described, with a series of masonry bits (again sharpened to help them cut)

It's an imperfect process for a couple reasons: 1. You need a diamond embedded grinding wheel to truly get the carbide sharp, and
2. The carbide, though it's very hard, so it can cut the hardened steel, is also very very brittle. So if you ever get the bit snagged or hung up, the carbide will just break off, forcing you to replace the drillbit.

So the bits end up being basically disposable. That's why I keep several of them onhand in various sizes. They're generally 3 or 4 dollars apiece, and there are times where I'm happy to risk 4 bucks in order to get the job done. But for these reasons, I only drill in hardened steel if I must.

Bob

[Toolslinger]

That new vise is likely to be just fine for drill press duty. Basically a Kurt clone... It was a special day when I finally bit the bullet and bought my 6" Kurt (the classic style)... I promptly had to close my shop, and sell my mill shortly thereafter, and never actually used it with my mill. It now gets used in the CNC mill I run prototypes with, along with 2 other 6" Kurt Versatile Lock units, and a 4" Kurt Crossover. Mine has the largest throat, which I only occasionally need, so I typically abuse the 3 company vises before going to mine. All those Kurts are nice, but there are even nicer vises available... I'd be looking at something from Orange now if I needed a serious vise, and was spending someone else's money...