Low profile vise?

T

ttabbal

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I tried aluminum on my CNC router. It worked well, other than the bit getting gummed up and breaking once. A different one worked well until the part moved on me. So I would like to make a low profile vise. I'm leaning towards a two piece type. I have seen a few designs out there, but I thought I'd ask here in case someone has tried one they like or don't like. Total Z travel is about 5", so normal mill vises are a bit large. The table has t-slots for mounting, so I should be able to adapt most mounting styles.
 
I like that one a LOT. Thanks for posting that C.B.

The only thing I'd change is the adjustable jaw should be way thicker IMHO. at least as thick as the stationary jaw. I'm a big fan of mounting right to table. It improved the accuracy of my old shaper tremendously. I made a couple of different backstops AND used toe clamps which I found used lot of 6 different sizes on eBay for less than I could have gotten one for. They are super low clearance and because of the design totally counteract the lift that usually happens when clamping a vise. That is effectively stopped I would think by the guide pins in the vise C.B. posted. The other cool thing about toe clamps is you can place them all around the work.
 
A tricky thing about two-piece vises bolted to a table is that under heavy clamping pressure they can distort the table. If your router has an aluminum T-slot table that may be a problem. If you're clamping small stuff lightly, no problem.

Also consider machining some steps directly in to the vise jaws. Saves sticking parallels in for thin work.

Have a look at the Saunders Machine Works ModVise. Uses Pitbull & Talon Grips clamps for hold-downs - no need to turn a traditional lead screw. Also has built-in (sort-of) parallels, and you can tighten the Pitbulls individually and not worry about the adjustable jaw in the attached DWG flexing.

You'll probably need to modify the basic design to match your T-slot dimensions but I bet it would be pretty handy.
 
Very cool. I've not used Pitbulls or Talons but knowing John he wouldn't use something that's not effective.

That looks like a very worthwhile setup, thanks for posting.
 
I'll check out that one as well, thanks!
 
I agree with you on the movable jaw thickness C-Bag, and when I make one for myself I will change
it to my liking, mass = rigidity as we all should know...........................;)
 
I remember during my appretice days I was encouraged to try a low profile vise. Because I was depending on friction between the vise jaws and the table, I couldn't get it to hold tight enough to keep the work from moving. I was assured that low profile vises have that problem.
 
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