A user review of the Orange Vise

[swarf_rat]

Well I hope he gets things going again. I continue to use the two that I started this thread with, and they are pretty good kit. He was selling the jaws for very reasonable cash, they are so easy to swap that I don't change the removables much, just swap the whole jaw with the soft jaw fixtures attached.

Its a nice product. I hope he hangs in there.

 

[Milacron]

Well I hope he gets things going again. I continue to use the two that I started this thread with, and they are pretty good kit. He was selling the jaws for very reasonable cash, they are so easy to swap that I don't change the removables much, just swap the whole jaw with the soft jaw fixtures attached.

Its a nice product. I hope he hangs in there.

Since it's been a few days now and he's not responding to my response to his email, I will say he wanted me to at least temporarily remove this thread due to the mysterious bru ha ha (my description, not his) and I refused, telling him he didn't start the topic and alot of work went into this thread, especially your review.

FWIW, I get request all the time from folks wanting me to remove topics but I rarely do for that reason. I do sometimes however, like when an employee isn't thinking and posts some propritary info and he is worried about getting fired !

Anyhoo, maybe he will reemerge as Tangerine Vise Co.

 

[Milacron]

As I understand, non-compete clauses are unenforceable anywhere in the US by case law. Basic reason being, the holder of the non-compete can be held liable for future financial distress. (By denying employment opportunities)

When I sold my Squaretap tapping machine line to my competitor back in 1999* I signed a covenant not to compete clause for a period of 10 years as I recall. The funny thing is for years afterwards I would have nighttime dreams of selling my tapping machines at IMTS with great success, only to suddenly remember "wait a minute, this is illegal !" and getting worried about Flexarm employees finding out ! LOL.

I also signed a "cnc" with Porter Cable when I sold my dovetail jig system, but the funny part there is they acted like they couldn't have cared less...it was actually my lawyer's idea and if he hadn't mentioned it they probably would never have even brought it up. With Flexarm it was a pretty important part of the deal however.

http://www.practicalmachinist.com/squaretap2.jpg

============

*This was probably the worst time to suddenly have "excess" cash due to the stock market tech bubble that I promptly got sucked into. By 2001, I lost about half the money in that fiasco and had to get back to work !!

 

[CBlair]

Yea it is a funny world, just think Don if you had come out with either one of those now you would be worried about someone from Asia copying and selling your design before you could even sell it to someone. I wonder how much more successful you would have been making those yourself if you had the internet access you do today? But these are subjects for another day, not really for this post.

Charles

 

[pvsora]

Back in the game?

It looks like Sol's website is back up and running. Hopefully he got those legal issues worked out. I wish I would have known, I just bought 2 Kurt's last week.

 

[swarf_rat]

And, they're on sale too. I'm happy to see it back and running. Its a very nice vise and I didn't want the two I have to be orphaned!

 

[ewlsey]

He only makes dual station.

 

[jrmach]

No single vises showing.Maybe not all's well?

 

[3t3d]

Orange Vise Company - Quick-Change CNC Machine Vises

 

[jrmach]

This was not there earlier today.

 

[swarf_rat]

Of course, his dual station can be made into a single station in about 60 seconds using the supplied parts, with either front or rear fixed jaw - one of the many advantages of the vise.

Not sure what "In Stock" and "Coming Soon" on the same page means though.....

 

[ewlsey]

Of course, his dual station can be made into a single station in about 60 seconds using the supplied parts, with either front or rear fixed jaw - one of the many advantages of the vise.

Not sure what "In Stock" and "Coming Soon" on the same page means though.....

I'm guessing that it's like other dual station vises, it cannot close fully when converted to single station.

 

[swarf_rat]

I'm guessing that it's like other dual station vises, it cannot close fully when converted to single station.

True, though you can leave the center jaw and close against that - also true of other two station vises?

I'll bet he would sell you the shorter clamping screw though, which would slide in and allow closing fully on the same body and jaws. I've thought of this myself but haven't really found the need. If you were switching frequently between wide and narrow parts, it would be far quicker to slide in the short screw compared to mounting and zeroing a short vise - take about a minute.

 

[Kelly@PDM]

They look nice, and are on my list now. On a side note I bet it was snap jaws that made a stink.

 

[sfriedberg]

On a side note I bet it was snap jaws that made a stink.

Are you talking about the lawsuits, plural? That was absolutely his two partners in Glacern, nothing to do with Snap Jaws.

 

[Kelly@PDM]

Are you talking about the lawsuits, plural? That was absolutely his two partners in Glacern, nothing to do with Snap Jaws.

If that's the case he might be in for more. The hard jaws are based off of snap jaws, and they are patented.

 

[swarf_rat]

The Snap Jaw patent was published in 1990, so I think it has expired.

 

[csharp]

I know this is an old thread, but congratulation Sol. I saw you supplied the Double vise model for the CAM360 demo for Autodesk University. Looked very nice in there in the software demo

 

[Mike Henry]

We can also customize the length on the current 6" wide vises to anywhere between 400mm (15.75") and 20". After we update some of our fixturing, we'll be able to go down to 14". These will of course have limited travel in the double station configuration, so carvable soft jaws would be used predominantly in that case.

A narrower vise is in the works. Some engineering challenges will need to be addressed, since certain elements cannot be easily scaled down proportionally.

-Sol

Any progress on these engineering changes in the past year? I've been thinking about a new vise for a Tormach mill but the OV-175 is a little long for that.

Mike