A Useful Milling Square

[mikey]

Thanks for posting. Definitely going on the list. Mike

Yeah, I got a list, too! This is such a simple idea ... makes you wonder how come we never thought it up ourselves, right?

 

[Andre]

Often overlooked on the mill is the ability to square a part using the side of the quill. A great trick to know. When you see no light, your golden.

 

[j ferguson]

Mikey,
That's a slick idea and a tool I can really use. Could you share a photo of how you affix the Wilton to the Sherline?

Thanks, john

 

[mikey]

The two photos at the lead of this thread show how it works, John. The body of the tool sits on top of the fixed vise jaw and the work piece is squared up by the blade and then the vise is locked down. Works pretty good and is very quick to use. Give it a try.

 

[j ferguson]

it's the vise. How do you secure the wilton to the Sherline table?

 

[mikey]

Color me stupid, John. I use an aluminum tooling plate on my vise bed. You know, the kind that is supposed to be floated on liquid and then milled very flat. It is full of tapped 10-32 holes and is shimmed to be very level on the bed. I cannot recall who made the plate but it wasn't Sherline or A2Z.

The vise has two bolt cutouts in the base through which 10-32 SHCS are passed to lock the vise to the bed. The lockdown screws have thick machined washers to spread the load but otherwise, nothing else special about them.

This vise is actually quite a good one. It is not a lockdown-type vise; it has gib screws to limit movement of the movable jaw but it functions quite well.

 

[j ferguson]

Hi Mikey,
I asked because the Wilton looked like something i could use and I was worried about the load that would be put on the Sherline bed by the two bolts on the vise base. Attaching it to a plate which can be secured to the Sherline with many bolts seems the way to go.
best,

john

 

[mikey]

The T-slots are strong enough as long as you aren't a Gorilla about things. They are surely stronger than a threaded hole in an aluminum tooling plate. The advantage of using the plate is that it is quite flat and can be shimmed to be pretty level across the entire bed. It also allows you to move the vise around in very small increments instead of being stuck with wherever a T-slot happens to be.

This Wilton mlling vise is good for quick work. It is a nice vise, is quite square and clamps very well but it does not have a lock-down design. It relies on gib screws that work well to limit lift but I also use a Wilton precision screwless vise when I need greater precision (all surfaces square to withing 0.0004"). As you know, screwless vises pull the workpiece down as a matter of design but it does so at a price - they are more cumbersome to use. Too bad Kurt doesn't make a really small vise - I would own it.

This is my screwless vise: http://www.wiltontools.com/us/en/p/...-screwless-vise-3-jaw-width-1-3-8-depth/11715

This is the milling vise I use: http://www.wiltontools.com/us/en/p/super-precision-milling-vise-2-jaw-width-1-depth/11708

Both are perfectly sized for a Sherline mill and I can recommend them. Both also have a lifetime warranty - I like that.

The company that made the tooling plate I have is no longer in business. Too bad - it has threaded holes with center-to-center distances of 1/2" covering the entire plate that allows placement of your vise or rotary table with greater precision and had remained flat for many years. It locks to the mill bed with 6 screws into T-nuts and is quite secure.

Sherline and A2Z produce plates. The latter looks more flexible to me - more holes.

Let me know if you have other questions.

Mikey

 

[mikey]

John, I forgot to add that if you go with a tooling plate, be sure you take a lot of time to shim the thing level. The plate is pretty flat but the Sherline bed may not be. In addition, the headstock might not be as square as we would like. I used aluminum foil to shim my plate and used an inch-pound torque wrench to make sure all 6 screws were torqued the same. It has remained dead level for many years as a result.