What creative ways have you tried to keep Parallels in the vise firmly?

I've got one of those fancy smancy handy dandy spring loaded parallel separators that I got on sale. It works great but I barely use it. I only use it if I need to make a lot of the same part.

I don't use any springs, aids, etc. I just squirt some #4 way oil (or #2, whatevers close by) on one side of the parallels & "stick" em to the vise jaws. Works pretty damn good for me.
 
Urethane foam cut 1/4 inch wider that than the part you are holding in the vise.
The 1/4 wider urethane holds the parallels tight against the vise jaws and helps open the vise jaws when the handle is loosened.
The urethane can withstand the cutting fluids, coolant and the air nozzle when you blow the vise clean with an air hose.
I save the pieces and use them over and over! No cleanup when you are done.
This has worked for me for fifty years!
 
The machinist I bought my BP riser block from used pieces of the plastic foam used as packing material. Feels like a polyethylene material. It crushes pretty well, just like what Tinkertoy1941 described.

Bruce
 
I have a set of Kurt jaws I bought that have little nemite magnets in each jaw for the parallels to stick to. They do a decent job. The only dislike I have with them is, steel shavings stick to them when you don't want them to do so.
 
I too go for the metal shipping banding for a parallel spacer. Mic'd it,...amazingly parallel. Can even use it as a custom parallel.

Ken
 
Metal shipping band also makes fair constant force springs.

The most common commercial product appears to be a bar with two pins with compression springs over them and another bar with two holes. Minimum range of a setup like that can be reduced to zero by making either bar with an offset to accomodate the compressed length of the springs.
If using soft jaws it would be dead simple to back drill them and press in some neodymium magnets. (only about .0005 interferrence fit as neodymium mags are fragile) I say back drill because chips will stick and a smooth surface would be easier to wipe them off of. I usually maschine a ledge into my soft jaws so parallels are kind of moot with them.
 
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