# New Machining Vise - 80mm Accu-lock



## JamesSX2_7 (Aug 13, 2016)

Hi,

Was having some trouble with my old home made vise, so I decided to buy a new one.
I have a Seig SX2.7 milling machine, and a 4" (100mm) seemed a little too big, and at 16kg, too heavy.
I found an 80mm (3"+a bit) and bought it.

Unboxing seems to be the rage for electronic gear, so thought I would "unbox my vise" 

Took 16 days to arrive from East Coast USA to Melbourne Australia - quite a tour of the world:


Box seemed to have survived the journey OK, but was a little mashed up.

Inside, the expected accessories were there:


A booklet that identified it as a "QM16 ACCU_LOCK PRECISION MACHINE VISE".
A handle, and several sets of bolts, nuts, and keys.

Only a minimum amount of foam was used:


There was no way this foam was going to survive intact.
Fortunately there seems to be no damage to the contents.

A better look at the vise:


The vise appears reasonably well made.
It was rather grimy, and the bottom needed a little cleaning up.
The handle fits on a hex shaft - unfortunately it is NOT a standard size at about 11.5mm.

Other parts:


It comes with a swivel base. This seems to be a lower quality casting, but OK. I'm not likely to use it too much. Vise is held onto base with 2 bots as seen already attached to the base.
A pair of ground back bolts are supplied to use as Tee nuts.
Also supplied are a pair of keys and screws.
My mill has 12mm slots, and the supplied accessories fit perfectly.

A little weakness:


As identified by "Eddie the Grouch", a problem with these vises is that the shoulder on the screw isn't large enough to support the whole back of the bearing. This puts quite a strain on the bearing shell and it will eventually break.
At some point I'll fit an extra washer or two to provide some extra support.

I have NOT checked the bearing type and size, nor have I looked for the hemi-sphere needed to operate properly. These are a job for another time - rainy day maybe.

After a little cleaning up thought I would do some basic measurements:
 - As best as I could measure the base was flat to less than 0.025mm (0.001").
 - With the keys fitted and the vise dropped into a slot, the vise was square to within 0.05mm (0.002"). This made it very easy to tram.
 - The fixed jaw does not seem to be very square with the base. This may be due to home I was trying to measure it, or maybe it isn't very square.
 - In going from no load to tightly clamping something, the fixed jaw moves by less than 0.01mm (0.0004"). My old vise had 0.2mm movement so it is quite an improvement.

Overall I'm very happy with it, and it looks great on my mill:


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## JamesSX2_7 (Sep 4, 2016)

Update: An issue has been found - not with the vise but with the setup.
The vise overhangs the front of the table (as can be seen in the final photo of my write up).
This prevents the X-axis lock lever from turning!

I don't use this too much, as I usually mill in the X-axis direction (have power feed), but occasionally I want to lock the X-axis and mill in the Y direction, or just drill.

Current fix is an M6 cap head screw and Allen (Hex) key.
Might get some wing bolts which have a shorter throw - don't want to cut down the existing lever.

Haven't seen anyone else note this!


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## Tony Wells (Sep 4, 2016)

Might be because a lot of people leave the swivel base on it. Gains a little room vertically, if that's where the problem is. I never use the swivel base I have....one or two of.


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## higgite (Sep 5, 2016)

Hi James,

I ran into the same problem when I mounted a vise on my SX2.7 (LMS 5500). You probably know this, but in case you don’t, you can reposition the handle on the lock by pulling and turning the handle while holding the screw stationary. What I did to adjust mine was I locked the X-axis by pulling the handle out to disengage it from the screw and then turning the screw in with a screwdriver. I then re-oriented the handle as far clockwise as it would go without interfering with Y-axis travel and still re-engage the end of the screw. It doesn’t take much rotation of the handle to go from locked to unlocked. When mine is locked, the handle almost touches the Y-axis way and when I unlock it, it hits the bottom of my vise but flops back down and rests at mid travel, offering no resistance to X-axis travel. The plastic handle isn’t heavy enough to lock the axis from gravity pulling on it. That’s probably clear as mud, but hopefully it will help.

Tom


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## Charles Spencer (Sep 5, 2016)

JamesSX2_7 said:


> Update: An issue has been found - not with the vise but with the setup.
> The vise overhangs the front of the table (as can be seen in the final photo of my write up).
> This prevents the X-axis lock lever from turning!
> 
> ...



Hey, that sounds better than what I did.  I removed the handles and use a wrench to tighten the nuts that were underneath.  I'll probably copy your idea.

Or, now that I'm thinking of it, maybe use one of those flat ratcheting wrenches on the nut.


Oh, I finally used the swivel base for the first time after about two years of owning it.  I generally cut angles using either an angle block or an angle vise.  For the job I was doing the swivel vise was actually a better choice.  I'm glad I spent the extra $5.00 to get the base.


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## JamesSX2_7 (Sep 5, 2016)

Hmm, never thought the swivel base will give clearance, but it does take away from height, and probably adds error or movement.

Tom, I did know about the ability to reposition the handle on the screw - it doesn't come off any other way 
But, my machine has a locked position that works badly as you describe, as when I adjust it it doesn't effectively lock, or release.
If I place the lock down low, it hits the base before it gets very tight. At 1/6th of a turn earlier it feels that it doesn't fully release.
Maybe I'm being too picky/paranoid! I'll have a play with it next chance I get, though the "wing bolt" (what at these called) seems a good choice.

Charles, I don't know which nuts you mean. Do you mean the Gib adjustments?
I didn't get a choice with the base, it came with the package. Quality isn't great, but as a "freeby" I'm sure I'll get my monies worth some day.


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## Charles Spencer (Sep 5, 2016)

I mean the nuts that the locking handles go over.  I removed the screws holding the handles on and there were small nuts underneath them.


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## JamesSX2_7 (Sep 6, 2016)

Charles, I haven't given much thought to how the locking handles were put together, but holding the handle on with a screw (as opposed to putting the nut on from the back) makes a lot of sense.
For me (at the moment) the M6 Cup head bolt uses the same Allen key as my power feed end stops.
This means only one key needed - I wish I could do everything with one tool, as opposed to the pile I need ;-/

Tom, one thing that used to annoy me with the handle: in the fully released position when winding the Y-axis out towards the operator, the handle would snag the hand wheel hub and bend slightly.
I did want to put a little ramp or something so it wouldn't snag.
I guess I "accidentally" fixed this issue - one way or the other!


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## higgite (Sep 6, 2016)

JamesSX2_7 said:


> Tom, one thing that used to annoy me with the handle: in the fully released position when winding the Y-axis out towards the operator, the handle would snag the hand wheel hub and bend slightly.
> I did want to put a little ramp or something so it wouldn't snag.
> I guess I "accidentally" fixed this issue - one way or the other!



Yep, James, I ran into the same thing and even thought about cutting or filing the end of the handle at a slant so it would ramp itself over the lip of the hub. But, when I added the vise and it blocked the handle from turning over that far, it became a non-issue. I guess I "accidentally" fixed it, too.

Tom


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## JamesSX2_7 (Oct 11, 2016)

Hello,
It has been a while (life gets in the way sometimes).
I had bought an M6x30mm "star" screw (thought they were called thumb screws, but not quite).

Had to grind the end round(ish) as it was concave.



 In place and seems to fit OK.



Haven't used it for real machining yet, but seems to tighten well enough to lock the X-axis.
Note that I have a limit switch box mounted in the centre of the saddle, so a shorter screw seemed too short (tried 25mm).


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## higgite (Oct 11, 2016)

James,

FWIW, I replaced the socket head cap screw that locks the quill on my SX2.7 (LMS 5500) with a 4-pronged "star" knob and screw similar to the one in your pic. A lot more convenient than fiddling with the hex key.

Tom


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