Wilton C1 vs. Tradesman 1765

[General Geoff]

To add to the zombie thread: I purchased a Wilton 1765 Tradesman a year and a half ago and was quite disappointed in its fit/finish and overall quality. I've seen better in Harbor Freight vises. Had to request a new spindle and handle assembly as the original was drilled so crooked that the handle was interfering with my work pieces. The replacement isn't drilled straight either but it's not as crooked and at least doesn't cause problems when using it.

 

[Shiftless]

To add to the zombie thread: I purchased a Wilton 1765 Tradesman a year and a half ago

Eight years ago, Wilton moved production of its Tradesman vises overseas. AFAIK, The machinist bullet vises and the C series combination vises are still made in the USA.

They moved Tradesman production overseas in 2018 to save on production costs but did not lower the price of those vises.

 

[General Geoff]

That's fine, I don't have a problem with overseas manufacturing. My largest, most expensive and by far most well-built vise was made in Taiwan.

I have a problem with sheer cost-cutting and lack of quality control, which in my experience doesn't really correlate to any particular country of origin.

Hell I had to return a somewhat expensive USA-made machine to the factory not once, but twice before it ran right, just this past couple months. At least they got it working the second time.

 

[Shiftless]

I have a problem with sheer cost-cutting and lack of quality control, which in my experience doesn't really correlate to any particular country of origin.

True
Overseas manufacturers can build very high quality products and enforce a high level of QC if they are given the budget to do that. If some company just wants to have a product to sell at a lower price than the competition or if that company just wants to make more profit on each unit, that can be done too. We see the results of that all the time across many product lines.

A new Wilton C1 vise is expensive. Amazon has them for a limited time at $1240.

 

[Steve_P]

The comparisons of a C series and a Tradesman are valid but need to mention that the "equivalent" C series cost several times more than a Tradesman when I checked years ago - when they were still making both in the USA. I was shocked how much a larger C cost as IIRC it was 2-3X then, and the Tradesmans werent cheap.

 

[tool_scrounge]

True
Overseas manufacturers can build very high quality products and enforce a high level of QC if they are given the budget to do that. If some company just wants to have a product to sell at a lower price than the competition or if that company just wants to make more profit on each unit, that can be done too. We see the results of that all the time across many product lines.

My experience with cast metal and molded plastic parts is if you are making parts in Asia, having your own employees in country monitoring quality is the only way to insure you get what you paid for long term. My friends in Manufacturing at very high volume computer manufacturers came to the same conclusion.