It would be interesting to see a third party tester. Obviously it is a well made vice, and outperforms in most of these tests. But, it’s hard to trust the maker. You designed it how you like, so whenever you point out something you like about the tool it looks biased. Such as when you were talking about the swivel base handles. Of course you’d like yours more, you made them how you like them.
More use of measured torque values when clamping, using the same torque values when locking down the swivel base gets rid of the issue of the shorter arm on the bolts having a built in disadvantage. Re-using the 100 ft pounds when clamping the bar you hit with the hammer would also be an interesting show of the difference in clamping force from the same “individual”.
Having the bar be hit from the side instead of face forward would be a good test of grip as well. While also see how quickly it takes for the swivel to spin while clamped.
While yours takes longer to break, the swivel base seems to be the weak point for all of them.
Honestly though, its an insanely good vice especially at that price point.
I think the main difference ,from buyer perspective, between the commercial vices and Fireball vice is that the Fireball needs maintenance, where the commercial ones are for “one use only”. The commercial ones use will take care of the common man much longer than a Fireball vice, without maintenance. Also, I think that at the manual, information about the thrust bearings should be included.
Fireball vice is in a different class than your typical bench vice. As others stated, this vice should be tested against vices that are similar to it in construction. A mill vice comes to mind. They all have thrust bearings, large jaws, short handles with great clamping force. You’re not going to find another “bench vice” on the market with thrust bearings, which is why your competition offers longer handles.
So I can afford to buy this vise… and would love to… but I won’t. It’s way too big for a home owner/typical garage. This is clearly commercial class.
You should design a smaller 4" jaw version for us normal folk with all the same features. I bought a Wilton Tradesman 4" a few years ago and have had no problems, but I’d switch to a fireball brand in a heart beat if it was the right size/weight.
I would love to purchase a “hobby grade” version of think kind of vise. Something in the ~$500.00 usd range and 4” to 6”. I think I would be with in your design limits at 1/6th of the current “hardtail” vise
I would love it if videos like this made reference to the original video on the website so that those who are seen the originals know what they have seen already.
Loved the testing rig, but what you should’ve done for the vertical hammer test is weld up 3 samples with the middle bar protruding. Or do another test that way. If you can knock the welded bar outta the pipe, that’s an entirely reasonable vice
My thoughts. Having worked for OEM machine manufacturers, I understand the engineering procees to be like this: Build a strong durable widget that can withstand the unimaginable for xxx dollars. Next trim cost down by reducing the BOM or cost of production in some manner. Do that for years, eventually settling on a widget that does the minumum required for the client demographic you wish to sell too. Along that path if something fails prematurely with one of the design changes, strengthen it slightly, just enough to prevent that failure and continue making cost saving adjustments to other parts and processes. Before you know it you are 75-100 years into a design and the leader in the industry, charging the highest price for the product you can and making it as cheaply as possible. Gathering all the money into large piles and keeping the wealth hidden from your employees. You have just begun this process.
Not sure if this has been mentioned yet. Love having watched the development of this as you tested other vises and incorporated the best of all. Awesome. However, there were two things that stood out to me re: testing of the wilton.
on the horizontal bash test, you had the setup (which you previously show is adjustable) hitting your vise and the Morgan at almost exactly the same “elevation” on the coupon. On the Wilton, it was to my eye hitting at least 1-2" higher on the coupon, and that changes the force. That said I fully belive the outcome would be overwhelmingly in the Fireball’s favor, but it would have been nice to be left without that question.
on the vertical bash test I have a similar complaint. The tests for Fireball were very centered hits, for the Morgan they were more on the backside. The hits for the Wilton were biased towards that backside even more right out of the gate, and then furthermore clearly shown by the deformation of the coupon. This also serves the failure you expected. Once more… I still believe Fireball is on top no matter what but I hope this was not on purpose.
My point being with these two complaints is you made sure we knew the rig was adjustable to fit all the vises and then didn’t actually do it in your testing, once again missing one small variable for (as close to possible as) proper science.
Test 3 (kinda live responding here): Holy heck man you have built a monster. The day I can afford this for my home machine/fab/fun shop I will purchase one. Please let my comments take nothing away from the product you have created it’s just constructive criticism. My favorite things are anything built to excess, and I have loved your philosophy as such. I hope to own one someday.
edit: I totally agree with others comments for something of this quality at maybe 65% scale that would just fit better for people with limited space. Now I don’t want to “waste” money buying other vises in the size range. I’ve been spoiled by our vise at work, this absolute unit of an Athol Starret. I’ll come back with a pic tomorrow.
A bit offtopic but I’m surprised nobody put 1/2 drive on the handle of the vice to tighten it up with power tool. Just need to find a way to lock a handle in the middle
You are using a tool for a job it wasn’t design to be used for and if you truly cared about people and their safety you would encourage the correct use of shop tools. Admittedly there isn’t a “right” tool for beating things senselessly with a hammer, but the tasks I believe you are attempting to mimic would be far faster/safer/easier with a shop press and the correct dies. It didn’t take a 100 years for someone to come along and build a better mouse trap, Over the last 100 years the knowledge of how to work with tools correctly has been lost and apprentices have lost the fear of a crusty old shop foreman needing to stop what he was doing to “impart” their wisdom. I would believe the latter is the cause of the former. Turn on you tube comments and get out of your echo chamber or stop playing around on shop floor and stay up in the sales office.
@AngryScottishMechani Tools get used in all sorts of conditions that they weren’t intended for, that’s just the way it goes. I have a hard time believing you have never opened a paint can with a screw driver or used it as a chisel or pry bar. I would think you’d be happy that a tool designer is over engineering a tool for longevity.
