Beautiful color choice, one question I have is do u feel the tradesman vises are as high of quality as the machinist series and the C series combination vises. Looking to make a Wilton purchase soon. Any info would b greatly appreciated.
It seems that color is one people either love or hate! I think the casting and machining on the Tradesmen line was just as good as the machinist or C-series, but they recently moved production of the Tradesman line to Taiwan and I haven’t seen one of those in person yet. The jaws that Wilton uses on the Tradesman line are made of sintered metal (heated powder) and while they’re sharp and dimensionally accurate, they regularly chip and crack. More often than not, when I get a Tradesman at least one of the jaws is cracked right through the bolt holes. I replace them with tool steel jaws on virtually every one I restore. Kevin at Wiltonviseparts.net makes the best replacements, and probably the only ones available in tool steel. The other thin is that most of the Tradesman line doesn’t have an inner ring for the swivel base,so they move around more and aren’t as secure as the machinist or C-series will be. The 1780 does have an inner ring and that’s probably because it’s so heavy it really needed one to work properly. I’m very eager to see a new Tradesman in person and see how they hold up over time.
Beautiful color choice, one question I have is do u feel the tradesman vises are as high of quality as the machinist series and the C series combination vises. Looking to make a Wilton purchase soon. Any info would b greatly appreciated.
Thanks Jay,
It seems that color is one people either love or hate! I think the casting and machining on the Tradesmen line was just as good as the machinist or C-series, but they recently moved production of the Tradesman line to Taiwan and I haven’t seen one of those in person yet. The jaws that Wilton uses on the Tradesman line are made of sintered metal (heated powder) and while they’re sharp and dimensionally accurate, they regularly chip and crack. More often than not, when I get a Tradesman at least one of the jaws is cracked right through the bolt holes. I replace them with tool steel jaws on virtually every one I restore. Kevin at Wiltonviseparts.net makes the best replacements, and probably the only ones available in tool steel. The other thin is that most of the Tradesman line doesn’t have an inner ring for the swivel base,so they move around more and aren’t as secure as the machinist or C-series will be. The 1780 does have an inner ring and that’s probably because it’s so heavy it really needed one to work properly. I’m very eager to see a new Tradesman in person and see how they hold up over time.
Not as good but definitely a gift for your grandkids after you use it as hard as you possibly can…
Looking to purchase a Snap-on 1760