Orange vice company

[Rocketmachinist]

We just ordered our first vice from them and some people are complaining that the vice was not ground that, the whole thing is milled. It is a very nice finish I will admit but they are adamant that it should have been ground. We called them and they said they got better flatness out of milling then they did when they were ground.

 

In your guys experience how do they perform compared to Kurt vices?

[crazy^millman]

We called them and they said they got better flatness out of milling then they did when they were ground.

 

 

 

Wow now all they have to do is convince all the tool an die shops and other who have ground parts for years they are wasting money and life will be good. :laughing:

 

Whoever they had grinding their parts didn't know what they were doing if milling is flatter than grinding.

[Sticky]

Are we talking flat or parallel? How far out is it? Is it actually a problem?

 

I don't have any of their vises, but I don't care for the threaded holes in the sliding surface.

[cincy k]

I recall seeing something similar to this with the pallets on Makino horizontals. Pallets used to be ground, now they are milled. There may be some truth in the explanation. 

[Rocketmachinist]

We haven't measured it. It was just people expecting to see all surfaces ground and they are not. I would try it out and see how it works before blowing things out of proportion. But scraped ways don't look flat but they are closer than grinding. I could imagine that it could work in a similar fashion.

 

I have never been a huge fan of Kurt vices, they work alright but their is definite flaws in their design so trying other companies can be a good thing.

[Bob W.]

My BS meter is pegged.  If I received a vise that hadn't been ground I'd send it back.  Even the Chinese crap is ground...

[Machineguy]

I'm with Bob ^^

[brandon b]

They've got a youtube video showing the vise being machined

[Rocketmachinist]

They've got a youtube video showing the vise being machined

In the video it does show it being ground.

[Rocketmachinist]

We might run up there and talk to them. I thought they were made in SoCal but apparently their whole manufacturing has moved about 30 minutes away from us.

[Matthew Hajicek - Singularity]

I'm using a Shars 660U:

http://www.shars.com/products/toolholding-workholding/vise/6-660u-cnc-milling-machine-vise-0-0004-1

 

$440 and it's all ground.  It's treating me well so far and I can't find anything on it that's inferior to any other vise I've used.

[Rstewart]

That's probably the fist complaint I heard about Orange Vise.  I do not own one, but just about everyone that does has nuttin but good things to say?

 

I would be weary of a milled vice myself

[jeff]

Get your money back and buy a Chick One Lok, and don't look back.

The closed off center alone is worth the switch. Kurt and Orange both have the open center for chips to pile up. 

[Rocketmachinist]

It was bought for an EC-400. I would say return it and invest in a chick tombstone vice and not have to worry about it anymore.

[#Rekd™]

I have always used Kurt vices on our manual mills and our VMC.

[FROZEN]

milling is cheaper then grinding

[crazy^millman]

milling is cheaper then grinding

 

There is the full answer in a nut shell right there.

[Josh Kinney -Elite Engineering]

The Toolex dual lock is the best vise by far IMHO. I've looked into the Orange Vises. Looks like great stuff. I like the jaw interchangeability.

[Bob W.]

The Toolex dual lock is the best vise by far IMHO. I've looked into the Orange Vises. Looks like great stuff. I like the jaw interchangeability.

I have 10 of the Toolex Vises (4" & 6") and they work great.  Zero complaints about them and the quality is good.

[Josh Kinney -Elite Engineering]

They have many features and capabilities that Chick vises don't. Way more flexible. I've used both.

[jeff]

They have many features and capabilities that Chick vises don't. Way more flexible. I've used both.

Like what? I'm genuinely curious, as we may be getting a couple more vises soon.

I can't seem to find a single station Toolex vise, all i see are double. 

 

The reasons I like Chick are the quick change jaws (I make my own), the solid closed off center portion, and the quick slide movable jaw which makes it so much easier on the operator in a job shop where we do many jobs per day.

[Josh Kinney -Elite Engineering]

One thing is the ability to use the full range of travel without switching out plates.  Chick is designed primarily as a machine your softjaw vise. The Toolex starts off as a jaw vice and then expands to fit any need. With the toolex you can machine a  step down section in your softjaws so then locate in the x axis and repeat between setups.

 

I'm speaking of the double station. I have no real need for a single.

[Müřlıń®]

I run my indicator all over its surfaces and it reads zero and don't kick up when I tighten the handle where I can't use one hit with the dead blow to seat the part....its all good...

 

one more thing...the vice mustn't rock when you have a surface gauge/indicator one one corner while pressing all around on the vice as it sits on the surface plate...