Do I need a swivel base for a mill vise?

For occasional use, you can clamp your milling vise to the table and use a protractor or sine bar to align it. It is not as convenient but for once in a blue moon, it will do the job. Using a sine bar will be far more accurate than using the protractor on a swivel base. A .0005" test indicator can get you to within 20 seconds of arc.
 
A swivel vise is not necessary to make angled cuts. A vise is not necessary to hold work. Much work can be attached directly to the table. Think outside the vise box...

yep, agreed, That's my backup plan. I don't think you can always rely on hold down clamps though. Sometimes they get in the way.. it depends.
I'm leaning toward pulling the trigger on a base that would fit my 5" bridgeport vise.
 
There should be no loss in rigidity with a swivel base; height MAY be an issue on benchtop mills, but not most others.

not a benchtop, its a clausing 8520.. so I have room. As a matter of fact, I'm often amazed that most of my work is with the table pretty close up to the quill. I guess I haven't done anything big yet.
 
It all boils down to versatility. Sooner or later you will need one. Rigidity hasn't been a problem for me so it is on the mill
most of the time in case I need an angle cut. It's really handy for thin material circle cutting with a center pin. It's all in
the operations you do.

How do you cut with a center pin. I know in woodworking and a router. But not with a mill. Are you saying you move the material w/o it being locked down, or you clamp it in the vise, and use the centerpin on the swivel base as your center, and rotate the vise?
 
How do you cut with a center pin. I know in woodworking and a router. But not with a mill. Are you saying you move the material w/o it being locked down, or you clamp it in the vise, and use the centerpin on the swivel base as your center, and rotate the vise?
Jeff, it is not at all clear what you are specifically trying to do, so that makes it difficult to give specific suggestions.
 
Jeff, it is not at all clear what you are specifically trying to do, so that makes it difficult to give specific suggestions.
I was really curious about what cathead had said, not what I was doing. Clearly he has a way of doing something that I would like to learn about.
 
How do you cut with a center pin. I know in woodworking and a router. But not with a mill. Are you saying you move the material w/o it being locked down, or you clamp it in the vise, and use the centerpin on the swivel base as your center, and rotate the vise?

Jeff,

I built a little indexing jig from wood that clamps in the vise with repeatability. The pin is located at the center of the
axis of rotation and used to have it centered if that is needed. Clamp down the workpiece or many times I have clamped the
work with wood screws. Then loosen the bolts on the vice so it will rotate and cut with an end mill. I used this method to make
discs or rings of various sizes. I have a rotary table as well but for small and simple jobs, it works just fine. The metal strip with
the two screws makes the jig indexable to center the pin every time. The screws go into a short
piece of 2x6 clamped in the vise and the 2x6 is also affixed to the top plate.



I took a photo for you since a picture is worth a thousand words they say.


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