Proxxon 24260 Precision machine vise for MF 70

This solid steel machine vise is one of the best made and can be one of the handiest machine vises for any mini or micro mill, as well as an insert vise for larger vertical mills. I have used one for over 6 years and have been more than satisfied with it for more than 6 years. I just ordered two more. The original one was made in Germany and came in a very nice wooden box. I hope they are still made in Germany.Until recently, I have basically used it for drilling on my drill press, because the hold down slots using M6x1 hex headed screws and using a 10mm open end wrench is very awkward. I recently drilled a couple of 3/16 inch holes right above the screw position trough the bottom jaw surface of the vise and used 10-32 socket headed set screws. The steel is not hardened and any high speed steel drill bit will work. This allows me to use 10-32 square nuts with my Proxxon MF70 mill, standard T-nuts with my Taig Micro-Mill, standard T-nuts with my Sherline mill, any Sherline T-nut supplied with any other mini or micro mill. This vise, with my modification, handily and easily mounts on my Sherline 4 inch rotary table.I have gone through many imported vises of the so called "screwless variety" and still often use the Sherline #3551 model. The precision machined right angle parallel sides allows for easy squaring onto the mill table, just like ant precision screwless machinist vise. While it might not be as good at preventing "movable jaw rise" as the screwless type, with my modification, the Proxxon is a real pleasure to use and it provides faster clamping and unclamping of parts for low volume production.Update: September 9, 2010.Yes, this vise is still made in Germany and comes in a slide top box. With custom "T" slot nuts, a have found this vise to be one of my favorites. I now own three of them. I so small ot production of specialty items and tooling. This has to be one of my favorites. It's worth every cent. You get what you pay for - precision German Made product that is second to none.Update: February 10, 2023Yesterday, I received my fourth one of these vises that I purchased for my Taig mill. Again, I drilled a hole above the mounting slot so that I can use socket headed cap screws (SHCS) for easy mounting and removal with a Allen type hex wrench.Having forgotten on how I drill the holes, I again developed the technique on how to drill the holes perfectly centered in che correct position in the center of the circular mounting radiused area.A 1/4 inch outer diameter centering drill bit accomplices this easy. Opening the vise to clear the movable jaw away from the place where the hole needs to be drill and mounting on a drill press vise upside down. I slid the bit on the vise against the radius of the slot to drill a centering hole in the web above the slot on each side. A 3/16 inch bit was used to drill each center hole with a trough hole.I used specially made T slot nuts, but M6x1.0x12 button head cap screws would allow this vise to be mounted with the supplied M6x1.0 square nuts to the Proxxon MF70 mill table using a M4 hex wrench through the 3/16 inch hole above each slot.The photos show a heavily used vise and it's mounting on my MF70 mill, as well as the mounting of my fourth vise on my Taig mill.Contrary to one current reviewer, the access holes had no effect on the strength or accuracy of the vise.Thankfully, this vise is still made to a high standard in Germany.

I had tried another vise on my Proxxon MF 70 mini mill but it was just too big and so I decided to get this one made by Proxxon, even though it is very small and seemed over priced. Well to my surprise it is worth every penny. Size does matter when you can't make it work, it is a real pain in the neck. This little precision vise is a work of art! It will also work as a precision parallel, and V-Block because it has a channel cut in it to hold round stock as well as square. It comes in a sweet little wooden box with the hold down clamps, and T-nuts, and will impress you the first time you open it. Quality from the word go. I might buy a bigger milling machine, some day, but if I do I will keep this fine little vise, when I sell the Proxxon MF 70. In the meantime this vise will hold a lot of live steam model parts. If you have considered buying this vise don't hesitate you will like it, and it works great.

For the projects I have in mind for this small vice it works very well. The craftsmanship is very good.

A very high quality precision vise. This is a small vise and that's what makes it a perfect choice to add to your toolbox. I have 2 Sherline mills and a Sherline lathe, I use the Sherline vise alot and found the Proxxon vise is very handy and quick to use as it does not require a wrench to clamp. It is small enough to fit in most setups, yet big enough to handle a lot of work. The advantage of this vise over the Sherline is its low profile. On a small machine you do not have alot of headroom, the lower the vice, the taller the work piece can be. It is always a benefit to keep the workpiece as low as possible on a small mill or drillpress, the lower the head on the column of the machine, the more rigid and accurate machining will be. Much of the time I need to use parallel blocks to raise small work high enough to clear the sherline vise jaws, with the lower height jaws of the Proxxon it is seldom necessary, and the setup is more rigid. I also like the deeper cut v grooves of the Proxxon which holds round work more securely. The wood box affords safe storage and helps to eliminate rust. I reccomend this vise to anyone doing small precise work.Update 12/30/11I clamped a 3 inch long x 1/2 inch piece of precision ground drill rod in the v groove and placed it on a Starrett granite surface plate for inspection. I checked it with a dial indicator and was stunned as there was no detectable error, it was perfectly parallel to the bottom of the vise! The small size and weight of this vise allows it to be mounted on the faceplate of a 6 inch or larger lathe. This allows you to clamp pieces in the vise on the bench where you can adjust, measure, and shim more easily, then mount the vise on the face plate and align it. I did not drill holes in the vise to mount it on the Sherline. Although drilling holes thru the vise as suggested in another reveiw would be more convenient I decided that it would weaken the vise and flexing might destroy the accuracy. If you get two 10/32 X 1/2 inch hex head bolts and washers ( not socket head, hex head as the groove on the Proxxon vise blocks tightening with a hex key wrench, the hex head can be tightened with a open end wrench) and file or grind a little from there lenght, they will work perfectly with sherlines T-nuts and it fits the 1&1/2 inch T slots on the Sherline mill. The accuracy of this vise is excellent and I am going to buy another.

To answer your main question, yes it is worth the price. 90 degree cuts, flat milling, this thing actually saves you money and material, and most importantly a lot of time and frustration, makes hobbies fun again. Never going back to the cast proxxin vise that's not even that cheap, $30 i believe. Just buy this thing, you won't regret it. Don't worry about the price, just be glad this thing exists