Vice improvement

[sbwhart]

The milling vice I use was made by a friend who ground tools for a living, its very well made dead square and parallel and hardened, as it was intended for use on a magnetic grinding table it has no holes for bolting it to the milling table. Some time ago I fixed a couple of pieces of 1" square mild steel to the side for clamping.

Like this



Over the last few months I started to realise that it was not too convenient for setting the vice square when putting it on and off the mill, so I decided to move the clamping holes so that I could fix some location buttons on the base of the vice.

These are the buttons turned to be a nice snug fit it the T slots and tapped M6, I put some centre pop marks on their base so that they would bite and allow them to be tightened up.




This is where they go



Just nip the buttons up assemble the vice to the table, square it up with a DTI, tighten the buttons up good and tight.

]

Now when I put the vice on it will be dead square.

Thats another one off the list.

Stew

[chuck foster]

good one stew, i have thought about doing that to my vise but you know.................it's on the looooonggggg list of things to do 

chuck 

[Gerhard Olivier]

Nice mod  Stew

I have wished that I have done that so many times already.  I think every time you have to reset it you will be glad of the time you spent on that.  As Chuck sead it is on a long list.

Gerhard

[sbwhart]

Thanks Chaps

I had a bit of a play and a try out, I thinks the fix is a bit iffy, I think I'll replace the buttons with a bar.

Stew

[Gerhard Olivier]

Good that works for me.  You sort all the problems and I'll copy the end result???
Getting the bar drilled and tapped would be easier if the mod was already done wont it????


Gerhard

[sbwhart]

Mark II

Milled a bar up that again was a nice fit in the T slots, I used the Mark I fix on the vice for this.

Her it is on the vice



Again to set it up clock the jaw up square and tighten the bar. I'm more happy this this fix,    the longer wheel base and greater contact area of the bar make for a far more positive location.

Here's my vice all set up a ready to go.



Its all about doing little fixes to your kit that takes you in the right direction.

Have fun

Stew

[Powder Keg]

Looks great!!! I like the vise stop you have.

[sbwhart]

Hi

The vice stop is based on this thread by Bogs

http://madmodder.net/index.php?topic=1007.0

Have fun

Stew

[raynerd]

Hi Stew - I`ve been seaching for this improvement for a while now as I spending so much time truing my vice then taking it off the bed to make way for the rotary table and vice versa. As is usually the casel I`m not 100% clear on how this is working - is it basically a bar that fits perfectly into the T slots and is clamped/bolted to the vice, the vice is mounted onto the table and trued and then the bar tightened up. When the vice is now removed and replaced, you simply drop the bar into the T-slot and the vice is now true and just a case of tighteneing the vice to the bed?

I`m not clear at all how the little studs worked in your first fix.

Any more details, pictures of instructions would be greatly appreciated. This is definately something I want to do but not convinced I understand enough to actually attempt it yet.

All the best
Chris

[sbwhart]

Chris you got it correct  the little studs are just there in case I have to remove the bar so that when i put it back it lines up and I don't have to square things up again on the table.

Hope this helps

Stew

[raynerd]

Stew, thanks for that. I,ll give this a go this evening. You know how you have your extention blocks on the side
of the vice, would it be ok for me to put my bolts countersunk on the main sliding jaw runners. Basically my vice is the free vice given by Chester with the mill. The jaws slide against the main base so my idea was to bolt the bar to the main base. The jaw shoUld just slide right over it. I guess for this to work accurately the bar must be an excellent fit in the t slot?

[sbwhart]

That should be OK Chris, the only reason I had to put the extension blocks on was because, the vice was made for use on a surface grinder with a magnetic table, so it had no need for clamping points, it is also made from very good quality die steel that was hardened, and there is no way I can drill and tap into it. Make the bar as parallel as you can and the best fit you can in the T slots, keeping it on the long side will also help reduce any shake you get with the fit.

Stew

[raynerd]

Stew, rather than messing this up on my vice, what is your opinion of doing an identical fixing on  a piece of 1/4 steel plate, lock the vice clocked in position and then butt the steel plate up alongside the vice. Then basically when I want to locate the vice position, I bolt the steel to position and butt the vice up against it?
I`m just thinking this gives me some lea-way in terms of not directly drilling and effecting my vice!

Cheers
Chris

[sbwhart]

Chris yes that would be another way or you could just make some blocks that a tight fit in your T slots and but your vice up against them, thats assuming you've got a vice thats got square edges with the jaw.

Stew

[BobWarfield]

Or another approach is to make an alignment plate that you simply load into the vise.  This was an idea I got from John Stevenson that I sketched:



Cheers,

BW

[michael3fingers]

thats a bloody good idea that.

[BobWarfield]

LOL, John is usually pretty sharp.  When he has an idea I like, I make a note!

BW