Author Topic: Using a homemade mill vise stop  (Read 12825 times)

Offline DICKEYBIRD

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Using a homemade mill vise stop
« on: September 20, 2009, 01:04:35 PM »
I made a stop for the vise on my X3 mill a while back but haven't used it much.  It's made from aluminum blocks and some 1/2" and 3/8" rods I pinched from old inkjet printers I picked up here & there.



A paying job came along last week that it came in handy on.  The job is making a few prototype venturis for a friend for a model airplane engine.  I needed a way to positively locate the part to accurately drill the hole for the spraybar, mill a flat on one side, then rotate the 5C square collet block to mill a flat on the opposite side.  The stop worked great and allowed the block to be remove & replaced as many times as necessary with proper alignment assured.



A side benefit was mounting a D.I. on one of the rods to accurately measure Z axis depth.  I don't have a DRO.  The clamps are made from 1/2" square CR steel cut-offs, some more printer rod and a few bolts & wingnuts I had lying around.



Not much MadModding going on this weekend but thought I'd share this little project anyway.
Milton in Tennesee

"Accuracy is the sum total of your compensating mistakes."

Offline websterz

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Re: Using a homemade mill vise stop
« Reply #1 on: September 20, 2009, 02:11:07 PM »
I had never thought about attaching an indicator to a vise stop like that. Great idea! :thumbup:
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Offline Gerhard Olivier

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Re: Using a homemade mill vise stop
« Reply #2 on: September 20, 2009, 02:27:56 PM »
That is a really clever idea.

Good thinking.

Gerhard
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Channel Islands

Offline DeereGuy

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Re: Using a homemade mill vise stop
« Reply #3 on: September 20, 2009, 02:31:22 PM »
Nice job I haven't been able to find rods that large in diameter from any of the ones I have taken apart.

Offline DICKEYBIRD

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Re: Using a homemade mill vise stop
« Reply #4 on: September 20, 2009, 02:52:48 PM »
Mr. Deere, I don't remember what kind of printer had the 1/2" rod; I only found one of those.  It also had some nifty flanged oilite bushings.  The 3/8" rod was in all of the HP inkjet printers I've found.  The 3/4" rod attached to the vise is a piece of .100" wall seamless tubing I begged off the bulk oil installation equipment crew at the shop where I work.

It's funny how fiddling around with various "store-bought" D.I. mounts & clamps got me nowhere fast on this job.  Fortunately, I had on hand a handful of clamp blocks I made a while back and cobbled up the rig shown in the pic.

They're just a bit of square stock with a 3/8" reamed hole on one end with a slit, and a 1/4" hole across the other end.  I milled a flat on the bolt end to capture a flat on the 1/4" bolt to keep it from turning.  I made 8 and find all kinds of uses for them.  Here's a DTI holder for the lathe made from a HD magnet, a bit of printer rod and a couple of the blocks.

Milton in Tennesee

"Accuracy is the sum total of your compensating mistakes."

Offline Darren

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Re: Using a homemade mill vise stop
« Reply #5 on: September 20, 2009, 02:58:36 PM »
That's great, those magnets sure are strong aren't they....... :thumbup:

They seem to be popping up a bit today too......
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Offline dsquire

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Re: Using a homemade mill vise stop
« Reply #6 on: September 20, 2009, 03:19:04 PM »
Nice job I haven't been able to find rods that large in diameter from any of the ones I have taken apart.

I have had a few printers that had rods that size. They came out of early wide carriage dot matrix printers. More the type of printer that would have been used by business's in the '80's and early '90's. Not many of the printers today have steel rods in them anymore. It seems as though you can't even get quality junk anymore.  :lol: :lol:

Cheers  :beer:

Don

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Offline DICKEYBIRD

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Re: Using a homemade mill vise stop
« Reply #7 on: September 20, 2009, 09:29:24 PM »
To put a lid on this project, here's a pic of the finished venturis.  They don't look like much work but they took most all my spare time this weekend.  Had to grind a form tool for the inlet flare too.  They have 3 different I.D.'s: .328", .344" and .356".  Hopefully, 1 of them will be close to the "sweet spot" the customer is looking for.

Milton in Tennesee

"Accuracy is the sum total of your compensating mistakes."

Offline sbwhart

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Re: Using a homemade mill vise stop
« Reply #8 on: September 21, 2009, 02:09:29 AM »
Nice tidy looking job
 :clap: :clap: :clap:

Cheers

Stew
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Offline chuck foster

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Re: Using a homemade mill vise stop
« Reply #9 on: September 21, 2009, 08:57:55 PM »
great looking work  :thumbup:

the vise stop and dti stand are on my list of things to make  :dremel:

i just have to finish a bunch of paying (i hope) jobs first.

chuck  :wave:
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