Possible Kurt vise

[Hex173t]

Hello

First post, thanks for having me.

I just got a new to me mill that came with a vise. It's pretty crusty and needs a good cleaning. I was poking around at it this morning and under the movable jaw was cast "D60-2"

I assumed it was a knock off Kurt style vise, it isn't painted blue (it can be best described as painted in crud). But seeing that number vaguely reminded me of a Kurt model vise. Verified on the ol' internet, there is a D60 vise by Kurt.

This got me thinking - when a company makes a copy of an item, do they copy markings on the castings? Can I assume I have a Kurt vise?

Thanks
Bill

[GlennW]

Welcome to the group!

The earlier Kurt vises were gray, not blue.

[Richard_W]

I answered an add for kurt style vises at a dealer. $100 anyone on the pallet. I asked if they had a 1/4" Allen wrench, which they brought out. The adjust screw for the moveable jaw took the 1/4" Allen wrench perfectly. Which showed it was most likely made in the U.S.A. So I bought it. While cleaning it at home in faint letters on the side it said "Kurt". It was missing the solid jaws which I assumed it was used on a CNC with soft jaws and the jaws became separated from the vise. At that point I wanted to go back for more, but didn't have the money at the time.

Richard W.

[SteveHGraham]

Smart!

[SteveM]

I picked up a second 3" Kurt vice cheap on ebay. It was not listed as Kurt, but all the pieces looked like mine, and it had all the correct part numbers cast in, so I took a chance on it.

When I got it, I compared it to the Kurt that I had, and the castings were identical, down to imperfections. The movable jaw does not have Kurt stamped it in, however.

All the fasteners are imperial.

So, it appears I have a 3" Kurt for $50 (about 1/3 of what the first one cost).

Steve

[PeteM]

As suggested above, the early Kurt vises were very lightly etched -- easy to miss the name.

Generally speaking, you can still get repair parts. Only real problem with the early Kurts (up to around year 2000 or so?) is that you had to order a matched pair to assure getting 2+ of them the same height. Differences of up to .01" height were common. Today's Kurts are all matched within .001" or so.

[SteveM]

Generally speaking, you can still get repair parts.

Not on the 3" vises. They have sold out and discontinued them .

Steve