VCCA Home Forums GENERAL DISCUSSION General Discussions Drill Press Vise

Recently I acquired a floor drill press. It is a 16 speed, 17”, 1 hp unit. While it is not a production precision machine tool it is more than adequate for my needs.

I want a drill press vise so I can safely and more accurately use it. The problem is that as is normal in today’s world you can find a full price range of offerings which all claim to be perfect.

My thinking is that I want a 4” vise which should meet all of my needs.
- What are the design features I should check before I buy?
- Should I consider a dual axis vise if it is the only one I have?
- What are the price points that make sense to get a safe and reliable vise?
- Are there any brands that stand out or that I should avoid?

Thanks for the ideas.

I bought a cheap one. You get what you pay for. It's barely adequate for the stumblebum work I do on it and there's no way I could do precision work with it.

I have a grizzly cross slide vice, and a HFT standard drill vice and they are totally sufficient for most of the work I do. The cross slide is great for light machine type work where repeatable accuracy or any type of alignment sensitive work is done. I will probably buy a self centering (Both jaws move & converge on center) vice next time as you don't have to continually reposition for different size work pieces, but a bit more money.
Check out grizzy's offerings. https://www.grizzly.com/drill-press-vises

Thanks Connor and Tiny!

That is the type of guidance I was hoping to get. I definitely will look into the self centering design.

I completely agree with Tiny that it seems that you get what you pay for especially at the lower end. I was looking at one the other day at Theisen's, a regional farm supply store. The screw action was really rough and the moving jaw had so much freedom that it would almost fall off the slide base.

On the other hand, I'm not sure I need to spend all the money for a Wilton product. I will check grizzly.

go down the middle... cheap is cheap and expensive well is jsut that, unless you are doing high end work.

i have a nice 3" drill vise that works for what little i do. takes some time to get everything lined up but has worked great for me. used it to drill out the holes in the oil pumps i rebuilt, drill the holes in the oil line brackets, along with several other small projects.

also look out for those that have cross supports or rods that may interfere with drilling THRU a part.