"Newish" Kurt D688 vise with s sticky spot

[jmarkwolf]

I bought a new Kurt D688 vise for my home shop about 4 years ago. It's lead an easy life.

Not long after purchasing, I noticed when the jaws are opened about 4 inches, there is a distinct "sticky" or "draggy" spot while turning the handle. There are no scratches or gouges anywhere in the bed that I can see, in fact the vise still looks brand new, except for chips.

I've pretty much only used an aluminum speed handle, so I'm certain I haven't over stressed anything.

You can feel the sticky spot when either opening or closing the jaws, with no load. It "lasts" only a couple of turns of the handle, then feels normal again.

I'm imagining the screw is hard but the nut is less so, and I'm wondering if there may be a chip that somehow got wedged in the nut.

I've never dismantled/re-assembled a Kurt vise. Is there any trick to it? Any gotchas? Any alignment issues after re-assembly?

Any tips gratefully received.

[Toolguy]

The way to check it is to back out the center setscrew in the movable jaw. This is the adjustment for how tight the jaw is during use. Once it's backed out, you can lift the jaw off the bed. The hemispherical part is loose, make sure to keep track of it.
Once the jaw is off, you can inspect the underside of the jaw and the channel it runs in. I suspect a tight spot between the jaw and the inside sides of the bed. When re installing the jaw, you may need to hold the hemisphere on with some grease.

[Lew Hartswick]

It seems to me the whole nut is used for all the travel while the screw is used "different part for each different part of movement" So I'd think if its a chip or such it' got to be on the screw . Hardness has nothing to do with it :-)
...lew...

[Mcgyver]

Time to take apart, clean and inspect imo. On disassembly, do a search, there's lots out there, drawings, disassembly instructions, videos etc

[Danl]

I bought a new Kurt D688 vise for my home shop about 4 years ago. It's lead an easy life.

Not long after purchasing, I noticed when the jaws are opened about 4 inches, there is a distinct "sticky" or "draggy" spot while turning the handle. There are no scratches or gouges anywhere in the bed that I can see, in fact the vise still looks brand new, except for chips.

I've pretty much only used an aluminum speed handle, so I'm certain I haven't over stressed anything.

You can feel the sticky spot when either opening or closing the jaws, with no load. It "lasts" only a couple of turns of the handle, then feels normal again.

I'm imagining the screw is hard but the nut is less so, and I'm wondering if there may be a chip that somehow got wedged in the nut.

I've never dismantled/re-assembled a Kurt vise. Is there any trick to it? Any gotchas? Any alignment issues after re-assembly?

Any tips gratefully received.

I bought my exact same vise about 4 years ago and within a year or so developed the same difficulty through part of the opening starting at about 4-5 inches and going up to about 7 inches. I've taken mine apart, cleaned and inspected it and was unable to spot any roughness on the thread anywhere. Same for the sliding surfaces.

Not a big deal, but I'll be watching this thread to see if others have encountered it.

Dan

[vpt]

I would suspect some sort of spot on the screw if just in one spot.

[A.K. Boomer]

It seems to me the whole nut is used for all the travel while the screw is used "different part for each different part of movement" So I'd think if its a chip or such it' got to be on the screw . Hardness has nothing to do with it :-)
...lew...

Good ole Lew, that's using your noodle.

[Leadfootin]

Look for a smudge or smear of soft material on the screw. Literally like wiping lead or soft aluminum on a piece of steel. It will only appear as a discolouration after all the oil is removed from the screw.

[MTNGUN]

To isolate the screw, remove the screw and nut from the vise and run the nut the full length of the screw, feeling for tight spots. If there are no tight spots with the screw out of the vise, the screw gets a clean bill of health, and the process of elimination would point to Toolguy's suggestion about tightness on the underside of the bed.

If it is the underside of the bed, you probably won't be able to see anything. Lapping might help, though.

[Ohio Mike]

To isolate the screw, remove the screw and nut from the vise and run the nut the full length of the screw, feeling for tight spots. If there are no tight spots with the screw out of the vise, the screw gets a clean bill of health, and the process of elimination would point to Toolguy's suggestion about tightness on the underside of the bed.

If it is the underside of the bed, you probably won't be able to see anything. Lapping might help, though.

This