My old vise jaw snapped clean off during a roughing pass yesterday

Honestly, I was hogging out a big block of 4140 on the VF-2 when I heard a loud crack. The fixed jaw on my Kurt just sheared right at the bolt holes. I had to shut everything down, pull the part, and spend the next hour cleaning chips and finding a spare. Has anyone else had a vise just give out like that? I'm thinking maybe the jaw was just tired from too many years of heavy cuts.

3 comments

3 Comments

the_ben10d agoMost Upvoted

Check if the jaw was maybe cracked before you even started.

hannahj4910d ago

Check your torque settings first. Seen jaws crack from being cranked down way too hard over time.

dakota_miller9310d ago

Yeah, that "cranked down way too hard" thing is real. I had a cheap bench vise that I always just reefed on, and one day the static jaw just snapped clean off. Now I use a torque wrench on my good vise, following the manual. It feels weird not to go full gorilla on it, but nothing's cracked since.