T nut location

G

Geerbangr

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Jun 21, 2017
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Hey fellas, I got my enco mill/drill setup yesterday. I'm like a kid in a sea of candy with this machine.

Question I have is about the t nuts and my Kurt vise. Should the t nuts protrude up in the register in the Kurt vise but not to far so they won't tighten? Here's a pic to help understand.

I have to true the vise up on the mill but wanted to ask about these t nuts so I'm doing the setup right the first time.

i7FjtSy.jpg
 
No, the tnut should be short of the table top.
On my vise, I have blocks that fit into the vise, and register the slots.
So my T nuts are shorter so they don't touch.
edit: welcome aboard, enjoy your new toy ...er machine.
 
T-nuts should be cut shorter than what you have in the photo anyway. First, if the shoulders are low enough, the t-nut will clamp to the vise or other work before it clamps to the t-slot. The same can happen because of chips on top of the t-nut. If you cut about 1/8" off of that nut there will be room for the vise key to fit above the t-nut, if that is an issue. Usually the vise bolts are far enough to the sides of the vise that the keys do not interfere with the hold down t-nuts. Keep it in mind when dimensioning for making the keys. I prefer to make the keys fit quite snug to the vise slots and fairly snug to the table slots, which makes tramming the vise dead easy and quick. Also round and smooth all the corners and edges of the keys that face the table so they do not scratch the table when installing the vise.
 
Our OP may not realize what those slots are for and that he needs to make some keys, hopefully Bob's post makes that clear
Mark
 
It doesn't appear to me that the nuts the OP has are proud of the table surface, so no need to cut them down. I for one don't use the keys on my vises. As mentioned, they can scratch the table, but also their absence makes it easy to swing the vise to virtually any angle I want to mill the end of a workpiece. I have no problems sweeping in a vise true without the keys. Takes about a minute. Being careful with the weight of the vise to keep it off the table with keys isn't worth it to me. Plus you have to have a safer place to store the vise to prevent damage to the keys unless you remove them each time.
 
Thanks for the post.
Never heard of them before.
Learned another thing today.
 
I'm also not a fan of using keys on my vise for the same reason Tony mentioned. I don't use them on my rotab either. However I do use keys on my super spacer & tailstock but I don't rely on them to index sqaure. I machined my keys to be slightly undersize so I still indicate those accessories in.
 
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