WEN Cross Vise, 3.25-Inch with Compound Slide for Mills and Drill Presses

I got my Wen 4.25 cross slide vise this morning. I don’t know how Amazon can deliver it overnight for free? Box was in perfect condition and I knew I was off to a good start. I unboxed it and started playing with it. It comes with the slides locked and handles off. I assembled it and adjusted it and I was pretty excited about how nice it looked and functioned. I disassembled it and cleaned it up and used valve lapping compound on all the contact surfaces. Lubed it up and reassembled. It works really great for an 80.00 vise. I read reviews about the quality and I think it’s great for the price. You can probably get a 700.00 to 1,000 dollar vise that is near perfect. Everyone would still buy this vise because they don’t want to spend the money on a high quality piece, myself included. I did buy 4 new set screws and nuts to replace the set screws that doesn’t have nuts. It made a big difference because I had screws back off when I was playing with it. I have yet to mount it or clamp anything in it but I don’t see any problems with it. The casting was smooth and looks good also. I wanted a Wilton 5” for my JET IDP22 but I couldn’t get any Dimensions on the base to see if it would work with my table slot locations. It looks small on my drill press… if you are willing to spend some time on it, you will have a good tool…

Use with drill press. Works great

I wasn’t expecting anything incredible because of the reviews. It’s super heavy, and I spent some time cleaning it up. One axis was completely frozen but oiling it up, it started moving. I spent some time wiping the dirty oil from the working groves, and it started freeing everything up. It’s actually a very nicely manufactured for the price, and I would recommend this for hobby/garage use.

Exactly as stated by several people who bought it. I spent a few hours after disassembling it (watching carefully, for reassembly). I cleaned off all the factory oil film. I polished all the friction areas using 600 grit sandpaper. This removed some small roughness and burrs. After thoroughly cleaning the threads of the worm screws (Longitudinal Feed, Cross Feed and Leadscrew) I observed if there were any imperfections. I don't know if I was lucky, the CV413 unit I received came with very well-defined threads. After all the above process, I lubricated the rails, bearings, worm screws, and even the handles, all with a layer of WD-40 Specialist White Lithium Grease Spray. I reassembled the vise, readjusted the screws that define the longitudinal and transverse displacement pressure and the result was excellent and surprising, showing that the WEN is a good quality tool, needing only a little rework after leaving the box. Smooth movements without play, except in the crank handles when reversing the direction of movement. Yes, that was the only downside... It is a small deficiency mentioned by others, however, it does not compromise the tool in my humble opinion. Anyway, great cost-benefit! With this procedure, I would recommend its purchase without any hesitation.

I thought I knew what I was getting with this WEN vise as I'd read many of the reviews before purchasing. I knew I was going to have to take it all apart, remove the thick sticky grease the manufacturer used to hide the sloppy machining, apply some proper lubricant, and make careful play adjustments. But this vise is on an entirely different level of terrible machining. One of the axis drive screws was machined larger than the hole in the mounting end bracket and so would not go in far enough to attach the axis screw handle. I have attached a photo of the machined screw end, if the word machining could be used for how this was made. It looks more like a rasp was used to cut down the axis shaft! I am so fed up with Amazon and their crappy products from China. They couldn't even include two of the correct unlock nuts to hold the handles on the axis shafts! I just read that Amazon removed an extension they once had on their page that filtered out all products from China. I guess they needed to keep a couple of products on their site. Let the buyer beware, and if Amazon ever eliminated or charged for return shipping I would be done with them.

I bought the WEN drillpress and works flawlessly! So I figured why not buy the WEN 4" crossslide vise. CONS: It took a little sanding and lube to get it to work rightish. I had issues with backlash so I tightened the set screws down some vibrated out. Two broke in half I probably over torqued them. Over the weekend I needed to shape some 1/4 inch metal and broke the guide🤦‍♂️in 2 pieces. If you plan on using this as a cheap man's milling table/vise it will need more work to it than it comes. Doesn't handle vibration well out of the box. It also probably doesn't help when a money that doesn't know anything gets to play with tools (myself😅). Pros: It'll need a little work out of the box either way but, for small projects where your accuracy doesn't need to be 100% precise it's a great option to start out with. Good for wood and plastics. Not bad for drilling as long as it's not abused😅. Note: Hobbies aren't fun unless you spend money and break stuff in your shop and figure out how make it better. Don't tell the Wife 😬.

Pleasantly surprised by the build quality. Works very smoothly. Packaging was also very good. No chance of damage the way it was packaged.

As with all the Chinese made machine tools, it's rough out of the box. I took an hour or so to dismantle, clean, adjust, and lubricate the vice, and it works fairly well. Don't expect a precision device, this is for hobbyists or laymen, not for true machine work. It will serve my purpose fairly well, I'll use it for holding stock and some light machine work (80% lowers). I'll be measuring and marking everything by hand, although the marks on the dials are accurate. There is a lot of play in the worm drives, particularly when changing direction, and both of my acme screws are warped which makes them hang up more in certain areas of the revolution, and move free the rest of the time. It isn't terrible, but it isn't smooth either. My vice will travel from stop to stop in both axis. The only real issues with the vice is that it will not directly mount to the Wen drill press, and will not cycle enough on the (left to right) axis to get the edge of the vice under the bit. In essence, you could not machine a part from end to end, because there is no way to get the vice to travel enough that the part would pass entirely past the bit. Both are unforgivable oversights. I will make a mounting plate that both mounts directly to the drill press and indexes the vice base to the right enough to machine to the edge of a part.

Todo muy bien buen acabado buena calidad, lo negativo es la altura, el espacio entre la prensa y el chuk es muy corta (1. 3/16"),le sobra altura, yo necesito max 3" para espacio de las brocas

This is made to a low price point. Both the sliding screws/shafts are bent, which in practise makes it's hard to turn with a point of easy turn. I'm keeping it bcos well there's nothing out there that competes on price, even though the quality is pretty low. I tried bending the screws so that the sliding mechanism was more consistent, however that caused more variation. The actual vise is good, just the sliding mechanism is unsatisfactory.

A bit rough around the edges , not the best for precision work. All it needs is a bit of love and a big hammer

Very Happy with slide vice, small bit of backlash from bottom slide due to threaded guide not fixed but a floating pin other then that its great value for money.

clamped it onto my drill press table and used it today, other than having to snug up the guides it performed perfectly drilled a line of holes straight & true, really like the jaw depth as well. quite accurate for my usage for sure