Fowler52-475-050-0, All-Angle V-Block and Clamp with 1.3125" Capacity

This V Block is wonderful. Standing it up on its end, you can tighten down a part, and measure some otherwise difficult dimensions with complete ease. I use the to check all kinds of things on machined shafts at work. It's made well, and almost reminds of you of the old time machinery (you know...Quality). Glad I bought.

Spend your money on a quality v-block that is made in the U.S. I bought this one and it was 0.017" out of square I had to set it up and re-grind it myself (to get it to 0.0002" where it should be from the factory) plus the the threaded hole in the clamp and the tightening bolt are very poorly threaded the bolt fits very sloppy in the clamp so I'm going to have to make my own tightening bolt and make a new clamp from better material. I've had other fowler products in the past that were ok (travel indicators) but this v-block is damn near junk to use out of the box in a tool & die setting.

I'm giving this four stars as a hobby user who appreciates but doesn't need very tight tolerances. This block is made in India and they seem to be doing a much better job in recent years in terms of machining accuracy and finishing than they used to. This is well finished without any burs on working surfaces or block channels - clamp fits snugly, decent smooth surface finish, block threads are cut true and pretty cleanly. I don't have the means to measure with authority but using a 875/00 3" Czech square all but one corner are squared without light leakage and measure to the same thou with a Starrett dial caliper - the one side slightly out of square is maybe .0015 or a tad less. Everything seems good and flat, sure seems parallel to me. More than adequate for anything I will do. I'm sure this metal is a bit softer than Starrett or B&S but it's good quality tool steel. The clamp is adequate but that's where the shortcomings are on mine. These things are never packaged well, so almost as expected the clamp arrived with a good scrape on it. It's steel, has a too-thick coating of paint on it which I will probably remove and hard-finish. The leveling bar rotates freely around the clamp screw and can be locked in place - both end caps will thread off. May not be real important but both of those end caps had their holes tapped pretty crooked so that the end surface will never lay flat and fine adjustments will wander - I'll replace those with something else soon. I think Fowler is offering a decent block here...probably the exact same one as Groz and several other "brands" do. I ordered a similar one from Shars that was a bit cheaper, made in China and still overall very good quality, but I returned that one because it did not have the pin/drilling hole in the channel as its description stated. Pleased with this one and it's a good buy, imho.

The v block it’s self was in good condition but the clamp was damaged and the threads on the bolt for the clamp were damaged. I had to cut the old bolt out in order to remove it because of the damaged threads. Then make a new bolt to fit it.

Overall happy. Was however out of square. Had to grind in. But now it's correct