# My best mill tram yet. John Deere bearing race.



## Janderso (Feb 20, 2022)

The beauty of being an untrained, want to be machinist, is you come up with creative ways to get the job done.
You see, I’m not weighted down with knowledge or training  (that didn’t come out right, I love you guys!)

I have this 8” diameter bearing race I got from the tractor place, scrap pile.
I lightly locked it in my Kurt vise. I swung the indicator as shown.
The finish is beautiful. There is no step that I can see or feel in this three path face mill finish.
I wanted to share my discovery.
I’ve always found that tramming my mill was kind of a PITA.
Not anymore!


----------



## projectnut (Feb 20, 2022)

Actually what you've done is an accepted practice and done in many shops.  The shop I worked in had several 12" bearing races just for that purpose.  They sat on a shelf in the tool room until such time they were needed.  When the shop closed the last guy out the door was given a couple of the races for his shop.


----------



## Winegrower (Feb 20, 2022)

That’s a known good way to tram that I would like, except I’ve never had a bearing like that.
In one of the shots it looks like you have the bearing resting on the vise top surface.   I don’t know what that would teach, other than you have a well made vise.  Most useful is referencing the bed of the vise, right?  That is what matters.


----------



## finsruskw (Feb 21, 2022)

Probably locked inside the expanded outside corners of the vise jaws is what it looks like from here.


----------



## Janderso (Feb 21, 2022)

Winegrower said:


> That’s a known good way to tram that I would like, except I’ve never had a bearing like that.
> In one of the shots it looks like you have the bearing resting on the vise top surface.   I don’t know what that would teach, other than you have a well made vise.  Most useful is referencing the bed of the vise, right?  That is what matters.


I trust my Kurt vise. I tried this method then proved it worked.I wasn’t so sure it was going to.


----------

