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| Stew's two little vices |
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| sbwhart:
Booze and Women :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: Now to get serious I've noticed talking to John and watching him work, that in some ways my work is a bit slap dash and that I could do things better if a pay a bit more attention to detail and fix myselve up with some simple yet efective bits of kit, hence the tapping stand and the tram. I have a couple of small vices that I just don't use and with a little bit of care and attention I could put them to better use, to improve my work. The larger of the two I made when in the first year apprentice shop, I used it when I was grinding then for many years it just sat in my tool box getting wet from a leaking garage roof and going rusty, the smaller one I inherited from my Dad I don't know where he got it from but the jaws were missing. Here they are after a bit of TLC To get the rust of the larger of the two I stripped it down and resorted to Darrens tip and imersed the bits in vinagar for a couple of days, washed the vinagar off in water rubbed the gunge off with scotch bright a final rub with wet and dry and a sqert with WD40 and we have a big improvement, I checked it over for squareness and it was spot on :thumbup: (by gum I was good in them days) For the small one the check on squareness showed it to be out, it needed the base skimming off to bring it square, so I set the body up in the mill sitting flat on parallels and skimed the base off with a tipped facing mill, I tried to do it with a fly cutter but it was made out of something tough and it just dulled the cutter. For the jaws I had a piece of suitable gauge plate, which I trued and squared up in the mill and cut the jaws out. I cut a 90deg slot hoizontaly down one jaw and in the other I cut a 90 deg slot verticaly. I did this with an end mill with the head of my mill tilted over 45 deg These slot I would use to hold small round parts to work on :- cut off, cross drill, mill slot, mill flat etc. Head of mill set square again with the tram five minute job. The jaws were drilled and tapped M3. To tap the M3 hole square the jaw was placed on a flat serface the vice was placed over the top of it and the jaws tightend up flip the vice over and it being held nice a flat for tapping on the milling stand, See how things are starting to pay off. :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: Screw the jaws in and this is what you've got Now all I've got is a few lead hammers to make, level up my lathe etc etc :proj: And I'll start back on my Loco Stew |
| Brass_Machine:
--- Quote from: sbwhart on May 01, 2009, 10:18:17 AM ---.. I've noticed talking to John and watching him work, that in some ways my work is a bit slap dash and that I could do things better if a pay a bit more attention to detail and fix myselve up with some simple yet efective bits of kit, hence the tapping stand and the tram. ... --- End quote --- I have found that is some of the best advice I have heard yet. It is amazing what one can do with the correct well balanced (measured and squared) tools. Way to go Stew... thems looking nice. Eric |
| Darren:
I'm starting to think I need some small holding fixtures.... Nicely shown Stew, what did you think of the vinegar? |
| bogstandard:
WHY DO I GET THE BLAME FOR EVERYTHING? Nice ones Stew. Bogs |
| raynerd:
Nice job stew. I am needing to get some small vices myself. Good pics as well, being new to this, they helped me understand the process a lot more. I notice your mill has an adjustable head and that you can angle it rather than it being stuck vertical - does this often come in handy and is it a necessity when choosing a mill? Keep us posted on the lead hammer John - --- Quote ---WHY DO I GET THE BLAME FOR EVERYTHING? --- End quote --- - It is a good thing - I think it is called inspiration. Chris |
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