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Small Vice
- Thread starter GRP
- Start date
My son made a small vise similar to that in trade school. It comes in handy for holding small or awkward shaped parts, and then clamping that vise into the larger mill vise. This also allows changing x and y orientation easily.
You can buy or make your own hold downs. I recently got one of these (has slots, I made hold downs)
Works fine for small stuff. Getting the movable jaw in the correct click before tightening can be a little fussy, but I think that is largely my lack of experience. Certainly no worse than having to wind a big vice by hand for a minute or more! (yeah some guys use a cordless drill).
And of course I nicked it on the very first use (surprise!) now it's christened.
Works fine for small stuff. Getting the movable jaw in the correct click before tightening can be a little fussy, but I think that is largely my lack of experience. Certainly no worse than having to wind a big vice by hand for a minute or more! (yeah some guys use a cordless drill).
And of course I nicked it on the very first use (surprise!) now it's christened.
You need a decent vise that you can mount to the table, dial it in and forget get about it. The small tool maker vise would require you to dial it in every time you use it. What a PITA. I bough one of Shars 4" vices. It fits on the table. Not too big. Not to small. My mill is a RF30 clone. The vise was on sale for under $100. It came with a swivel base which I promptly removed. I made a backing plate for the the swivel base that fits the chucks from the lathe. Dialed it in and wrote down the coordinates so it is easy to move the table so that it is centered under the quill. Both the vise and the swivel base live on the table.
One thing I found about my vise was the fixed jaw was off by .001 on the outside edges. It was spot on between the jaw mounting screws. Drove me nuts trying to dial it in until I figured it out.
One thing I found about my vise was the fixed jaw was off by .001 on the outside edges. It was spot on between the jaw mounting screws. Drove me nuts trying to dial it in until I figured it out.
My sherline vise was this style but rather than having a dowel that could be quickly repositioned, it had a larger pin that went all the way through the vise in those holes in the sides. It needed to be pushed out from the side to change sizes but it was very secure. Looks like you could probably make one of those for this vise. 0.002" smaller diameter than the holes with a tapped cross hole right in the middle.
Another tip is to get a replacement hex bolt and washer of the highest grade steel you can find on McMaster Carr. The bolt will get really chewed up from repeated use and the washers take a beating too.
Another tip is to get a replacement hex bolt and washer of the highest grade steel you can find on McMaster Carr. The bolt will get really chewed up from repeated use and the washers take a beating too.
5" x 6" Precision Toolmakers Vise
He has a $100 budget. This is what he needs. On sale for $88.
4'' x 3.93'' Lock Down Precision Milling Machine Vise with Swivel Base - Vise - Workholding - Products (shars.com)
4'' x 3.93'' Lock Down Precision Milling Machine Vise with Swivel Base - Vise - Workholding - Products (shars.com)
If he has a small machine like mine, there will be more vise hanging off the front, than on the table.
I have no idea as to the precision or accuracy of this vise, but If I was looking for one this size it would interest me. The best part is that he doesn't live in California. The vise is safe to use in Canada since the nickel in it is only known to cause cancer in California.
@GRP I recently explored the whole subject, sought many opinions, in --> THIS THREAD from post #37 on.
I ended up with exactly the type of vise in your picture, as being the most accurate, and having the valuable property of it being possible to mount on it's side as shown by @macardoso in his picture on post #40. I say "ended up". It has not arrived yet from Germany (I am in UK)!
The vise is bigger than many standard images show, because they are made from 2" to 6" (maybe more). For me, that means 50mm to 150mm. My 100mm (4") size opens to 125mm. One feature that attracted me was the jaw depth of 45mm (1.77"), which is more room for parallels under the work. Always check the dimensions specification for maximum opening, and jaw height. This screwless design type is the winner when it comes to repeatable high accuracy.
When it comes to holding the vise to the table, the "ledge" kind mentioned is like this..
The vise is so critical to all the machining that it is at least as important as the parts of the machine itself. The exercise of using a DTI to get it aligned is something so exacting that once in place, many folk are reluctant to move it without quite strong motivation.
Here I am going to quote @Jim F with his ultra loudest edict..
Edit: For us owners of smaller mills, and setting up the vise for the first time, it is well worth the awesome tips from Quinn Dunki "Blondihacks", especially the alignment tip she sourced from Mr Pete that can turn a 45 minute struggle with a DTI into a 2 minute dead accurate breeze.
The tip is from about 9:30, although the whole video is great!
I ended up with exactly the type of vise in your picture, as being the most accurate, and having the valuable property of it being possible to mount on it's side as shown by @macardoso in his picture on post #40. I say "ended up". It has not arrived yet from Germany (I am in UK)!
The vise is bigger than many standard images show, because they are made from 2" to 6" (maybe more). For me, that means 50mm to 150mm. My 100mm (4") size opens to 125mm. One feature that attracted me was the jaw depth of 45mm (1.77"), which is more room for parallels under the work. Always check the dimensions specification for maximum opening, and jaw height. This screwless design type is the winner when it comes to repeatable high accuracy.
When it comes to holding the vise to the table, the "ledge" kind mentioned is like this..
The vise is so critical to all the machining that it is at least as important as the parts of the machine itself. The exercise of using a DTI to get it aligned is something so exacting that once in place, many folk are reluctant to move it without quite strong motivation.
Here I am going to quote @Jim F with his ultra loudest edict..
Edit: For us owners of smaller mills, and setting up the vise for the first time, it is well worth the awesome tips from Quinn Dunki "Blondihacks", especially the alignment tip she sourced from Mr Pete that can turn a 45 minute struggle with a DTI into a 2 minute dead accurate breeze.
The tip is from about 9:30, although the whole video is great!
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