Benchtop Vise Recomendations- split out from Regulator Service Technician Training - Unrestricted

[OTF]

Beware of the casting quality of those very cheap chinese-made vises. Some might be fine, others might have voids in the castings or just bad metallurgy and will snap in half. Seen it happen.

 

[rsingler]

What is wrong with this setup?

Grip Master Vise Only

The Grip Master is a fantastic (albeit expensive) cam vise or speed vise. It has available aluminum jaws perfect for holding brass regs. It's great if you need firm clamping action and are servicing multiple regs, because it saves 15-20 seconds every time you clamp. That adds up, especially if you switch between thick and thin items that would otherwise require lots of vise unscrewing.

When the cam closes, the vise jaws will move in about 2mm if your material allows it. What that means in practice is that if you want to clamp lightly, you need to leave the jaws about 1mm open, depending upon that travel to finish with a light clamping force. If instead, you try to clamp lightly by only partially closing the cam, the lever will pop loose.

Once you're used to it, it's really fast and easy, but it's not the best vise for either very light or really heavy force application. And you do need the optional (read: more $$) aluminum jaws. I love it. My frustration with my old style vise when servicing several regs in a row made the price easier to swallow after a week of using it.

 

[BoltSnap]

The Grip Master is a fantastic (albeit expensive) cam vise or speed vise. It has available aluminum jaws perfect for holding brass regs. It's great if you need firm clamping action and are servicing multiple regs, because it saves 15-20 seconds every time you clamp. That adds up, especially if you switch between thick and thin items that would otherwise require lots of vise unscrewing.

When the cam closes, the vise jaws will move in about 2mm if your material allows it. What that means in practice is that if you want to clamp lightly, you need to leave the jaws about 1mm open, depending upon that travel to finish with a light clamping force. If instead, you try to clamp lightly by only partially closing the cam, the lever will pop loose.

Once you're used to it, it's really fast and easy, but it's not the best vise for either very light or really heavy force application. And you do need the optional (read: more $$) aluminum jaws. I love it. My frustration with my old style vise when servicing several regs in a row made the price easier to swallow after a week of using it.

I had one in my store and all technicians that worked for me loved it and wouldn't use anything else. We got rid of the old vise and never used it again.

I asked the question above because others implied that something is wrong with it that I didn't know what they were referring to here. It turned out that it was only the price.

 

[rhwestfall]

If a commercial operation I understand. For an at home DIY, it is money spent better in other areas...

 

[The Chairman]

I love my parrot vise. It's quick enough and I've abused one for at least 30 years and the other for15 or so. However, I did a quick search on a cam vise and found this for $53.00 shipped. I do need a small vise for the drill press so this might fill two roles. Better hurray, there's only one left!

AmazonSmile: Palmgren 12321 QV30 Quick Vise, 3.0-Inch : Everything Else​

 

[The Chairman]

Blast from the past bench vise... I made this out of 3/8" brass. I drilled a thru-hole in the brass and threaded a nut to lock it in place underneath. I drilled/tapped an NPT fitting (1/4"?) into the bottom of the valve and put a whip with a male DIN on the other side. One of the two holes in the front was drilled/tapped for HP and the other for LP. I screw one of Scubatool's first stage handles into the appropriate port on the first stage and then into one of the threaded holes, and that first stage is not going anywhere and it won't get scratched either. OR... you can slip the same first stage handle into any vise with the same effect. So, I have a bench height valve to adjust my regs on or a handy method to hold it in place while I work on it.

my combo valve vise

First stage handle

​

EDIT=> My apologies for the blurry picture. I'll be out in the shop tomorrow and will take a sharper one and even put a first stage with handle on it so you won't have to imagine it​

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

View attachment 680091

Just received today a soft version of these. Looks perfect.

 

[Open Ocean Diver]

If you’re looking for something to cinch and trim your mouthpiece zip ties and/or remove them by cutting off the head the below tools is perfect. Made in Japan the quality is excellent.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0756YR7XX/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[OMyMyOHellYes]

Nevermind.