Tramming a Mill Vise

[Bill Kirkley]

I have tried several techniques to tram my vise. None were very satisfying. Edge Technology has a vise tramming device that uses two indicators. My 5 inch vise is too small for their product. I used their technique and found it is easy to set up. It works well. Below is a link to a YouTube video showing how to use the Edge Technology technique.

 

[ttabbal]

I wouldn't have thought of it, but it's a lot like using a spindle square to align the head. Cool idea and pretty easy to use. Thanks for taking the time to show it without needing a special tool.

 

[Bill Kirkley]

I wouldn't have thought of it, but it's a lot like using a spindle square to align the head. Cool idea and pretty easy to use. Thanks for taking the time to show it without needing a special tool.

I have tried the back and forth method and was never very good at making the right adjustment after each pass. I also tried the method where you tap the vise while the table is moving until the indicator holds a reading. Again not much success.

Edge Technologies two indicator method works well for me. The only fiddling is acomidating for the shift when you tighten down the vise, which is necessary with any tramming method.

 

[ChazzC]

I've always used Tom Lipton's method; fast, simple and works well, even with a 3" vise on my mini mill:

For more accuracy you can clamp a long parallel in the vise and indicate off of that.