Vise alignment bar ???

  • Thread starter Thread starter umahunter
  • Start date Start date
I, too, have keys on my vice, install it, snug down the nuts, and then indicate the fixed jaw. It's usually within .005, only needs tweaking.
 
For "OK" alignment I just use a machinist's square against the front edge of the table. The square is slid up to the side of the vise, the vise is tapped to minimize the gap between the square and vise, then tightened down. Checking the fixed jaw with a DTI has shown this gets me down to a few thou in very short order. All the usual caveats apply -- no debris between square and table and vise, front of table is parallel to the X axis.

Mark
 
TonyRV2 said:
On first look, I thought this looked like a good idea too, but I think I have to agree with Dave here. As I thought about it, I asked myself how wise is it to indicate via this jig, a machined surface on the column which may or may not be square to the table, when in fact all you really want to do is to square up to the table to begin with. I use the more traditional method of simple location keys on the bottom of the vice. However, if for some reason I were compelled to make an alignment jig of this nature, I'd do my locating on the table, not the column. In either case I think you can only hope to get it close and I would still run an indicator across the fixed jaw of the vice as I do now with the keys.
Click to expand...
I was also concerned with this issue. My solution is shown in post #3 of https://www.hobby-machinist.com/thr...25-rf-30-rf-31-mill-drills.38796/#post-332478

And no, it's not dead-nuts perfect (as more than one poster has pointed out). But it's perfectly fine for everyday work, and very quick to use.

PS to umahunter - I've heard this gadget referred to as a "quick tram." You might want to try this for a search term.
 
umahunter said:
Found it in the rong fu thread http://www.hobby-machinist.com/threads/tool-for-quickly-setting-up-your-vice-on-the-mill.28527/
Click to expand...


There was another posting somewhere about truing up the column the rear bar goes against to fix the problem he had here. It was to put an angle grinder in the true vise and work it back and forth on the column behind the vise. This will put in a curved surface but straight with the true vise. The back "Bar" can be a round piece of stock to fit the (True straight) slot produced by the angle grinder. This way you know the jaw is true with the column it is being checked against without needing to shim.
 
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