Okay, I now have 7 vises, what do I do with them

Matched pairs if you can, with T-slot locating keys on the underside - great for holding REALLY long parts on the mill without messing around with machinist jacks.

Dave H. (the other one)
 
Matched pairs if you can, with T-slot locating keys on the underside - great for holding REALLY long parts on the mill without messing around with machinist jacks.

Dave H. (the other one)

Absolutely fantastic advice. I have two pairs of lock down vises like that, and one set of three screwless vises I used that way, but have since sent them off to individual machines. I have also used three of my little 1" screwless insert vises that way in a larger vise after micing them to make sure they were "good enough" for the job. I use softjaws in my lock down pairs so I can tru them up to each other after indicating them in as well as I can first.

I have a pair of 6" that have been on my Hurco Table together for a year, and I had a pair of 8" on the (XX)45 until I tore down the POS for parts. By using the front and rear the 6" will handle just about anythign the mill will cut anywa.
 
As far as get rid of the Bridgeport vises , send them to me I know how to use them . If you can only use the fancy lockdown jaws your welcome to them. Bridgeport vises work extremely well have and will if you know how to use them. I've had one for forty years it's never let me down.
 
As far as get rid of the Bridgeport vises , send them to me I know how to use them . If you can only use the fancy lockdown jaws your welcome to them. Bridgeport vises work extremely well have and will if you know how to use them. I've had one for forty years it's never let me down.
Those old BP vises are very high quality. Mine looked like hell when it came free with my first mill, but cleaned up into a very nice vise. The bed is not as high as Kurt type vises, and the box way design makes it possible to achieve a nice tight sliding fit with almost zero jaw lift. I have no wish for another vise.
 
Matched pairs if you can, with T-slot locating keys on the underside - great for holding REALLY long parts on the mill without messing around with machinist jacks.

Dave H. (the other one)

I'm guessing the "right" way of doing this would be to make new jaws, key and fixture them, then run an endmill along the jaw faces to make them perfectly parallel?
 
I'm guessing the "right" way of doing this would be to make new jaws, key and fixture them, then run an endmill along the jaw faces to make them perfectly parallel?

Probably easier to find keystock / ground flat stock that fits the table tee slots, clamp and wedge in position and flip the vices upside-down, clamp them on (you may need temporary jacks / shims / similar to support the free ends) - this should put the fixed jaws parallel to the table slot, then you can mill a suitable slot in their bases for the keys - less work than making new jaws etc.?

It might be worth first taking a flycutter to the vice bases with them clamped jaw beds onto a Suitable Piece of Bar as a reference so the heights are exactly equal - if they aren't already, you need the two vices to be exactly the same bed height or you'll end up with accidental tapers...

Dave H. (the other one)
 
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