Been saving my money for an Emmert for awhile. The guy I share a shop with has a K-1 that I've been using more and more frequently. I didn't see one at the MWTCA meet here in Georgia a few weeks back so I contacted a guy about one of the Fleabay that hadn't sold. I know, I know, that can be a dangerous proposition, but don't get ahead of me here. So, we agreed on a price. $400 for the vise, $100 to ship. Not a great deal, but what I would consider a good deal. The seller's feedback was perfect and all the pieces and brackets were there.
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I'm not crazy about the silver paint, but hey, I'll have a turtleback of my very own. So within 3 or 4 days, the package arrived. I was very impressed with how well the seller had packed it. He really went to a lot of trouble to bubble wrap the individual pieces. The vise shipped in two different boxes. One with the rear jaw and tilt mechanism and the other with the front jaw and bar. After some rigamarole with UPS, I finally got both boxes in the same place at the same time and went to cutting and tearing like Christmas morning.
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After I figured out what was what I started putting it together. I had my friend's K-1 to reference so it wasn't that tough. As I was sliding the bar into its housing I noticed that the cast iron turtleback cover was cracked. We're not supposed to use profanity on this forum, right? Well, then, use your imagination. I'm thinking of a few right now.
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I continued putting it together, not knowing if something else was missing. I clamped a 2x10 to my bench and temporarily installed it on there so I could check the tilt and what-not. It seems to work fine. All the parts are there. But I have just one little problem. The advancing action of the screw seems really tight. It goes in and out just fine, but again, comparing it to my friend's K-1, which I can turn with one finger, this one doesn't advance as easily as I'd like. Any suggestions on this? I checked the threads and they seem fine. Also, if I take the screw out of the front jaw and screw it into the female threads in the rear jaw, it has plenty of room. Also, when I slide the bar down into the rear jaw, it moves just fine. Its only tight when the two are together. On the K-1, the bar has a little wiggle room. I've filed just a little bit off of the housing pictured here (I'm probably not calling that the right name).
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I've only filed a little--maybe 1/128ths if I'm reading my calipers right. Should I go a little more or is there something else I can do? Any ideas? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Oh, and as for the cracked turtleback...When I contacted the seller and said I thought it was UPS's fault since clearly his photos didn't show a crack before it was shipped, he said I coud pursue an insurance claim with them. Both packages were insured for $400 each. UPS might give me the money or pay to have it repaired, but you could never tell how long that would be since they tended to be stingy at paying out on insurance. In the meantime, he refunded me $200 for my trouble. While the dust hasn't completely cleared, as of right now, you could say I got a Emmert T-5 for $300. It might be tight and have a crack in it, but I'm thinking due for a little gloating.
After all, as Leonard Cohen said, "There's a crack in everything; that's how the light gets in."
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