A plate vice mod

For some time I've been wondering about a quick way to clamp thin material to mill the edges, or drill odd holes. Finally got round to making some simple mods to my standard machine vice.

I unbolted the standard ground steel jaws, milled a tiny amount off both the top surfaces at the same setting so they are co-planar. A 12 x 6 mm MS strip is bolted on the top of the fixed jaw, set back 3 mm to form a step. Two M6 tapped holes in the top of the moving jaw to take two of the moving bits of my Mite-E-Bite clamps that came with the small CNC mill. Simple matter to adjust the moving jaw so the MTB clamps are close to the edge of the plate then use the latter to do the clamping. This way only the strip at the back needs to be parallel to the X-feed.

Here's a bit of plate destined to be a panel for an electronics enclosure clamped ready for one side to be squared off.

Neat solution, John

MichaelG.

As the top of the moving jaw is machined flat, you could drill and tap some extra holes for the Mite-E-Bites further back to hold larger plates. You would have to remember to avoid drilling the vice by mistake.

That's the plan, when required.

Good idea - both in itself and in designing it to borrow existing clamps from another machine.

The basic principle is somewhat similar to the very simple plate-vice on a small engraving-machine I once had, but the Mite-E-Bites are new to me and I like their compact nature.

When I drilled and tapped some holes in the lathe cross slide to fix the rear toolpost, I made some screw in plugs to keep the dirt from getting inside when the toolpost wasn't fitted. You might need some if extra holes are drilled.

We have a pair of vices at the museum, if they were both modified like yours, we could hold long thin material up to 3 1/2" wide.

Edited By old mart on 27/06/2020 22:25:16

Sorry - this should have been on the post above but I accidentally closed the page.

Anyway....

".... the Mite-E-Bites are new to me ..."

Thank you for drawing our attention to them. I looked up their manufacturer's web-site, assuming we are looking at the same items by the same manufacturer, whose name is actually "Mitee-Bite".:

Mitee-Bite LLC - an American or Canadian company - calls them "Fixture Clamps" within a range of various patterns of work-holding clamps, and explains their principle, with an eccentric rather than standard screw, and an arrangement to prevent the hexagonal body revolving. They look expensive, but I would expect that as the entire range seems intended for jig-work for high-precision, high-volume production. So I would not be surprised they came with your CNC mill as O.E. attachments, but might not otherwise be readily available.

Or... "Mite-E-Bite"? Who has closely copied whom?

I have admired the MITEE-BITE concept for decades, but [at U.K. prices] have never been able to justify spending my own money.

A little window-shopping, prompted by John’s use on his vice, took me here:

**LINK**

https://www.fixtureworks.net/store/pc/Mitee-Bite-c1582.htm

... which I recommend as a source of good drawings of the components [design inspiration, if nothing else].

The prices are better than I recall seeing before, but import costs would probably defeat that.

MichaelG.

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 28/06/2020 07:06:15

Yes they're Mitee Bites. They were part of the educational package around the Novamill that Denford supplied to schools so came with the mill, had the ebay seller realised he could get a good price for them separately I'm sure he would. I wouldn't have bought them separately but they are very good. You could equally use for example Mike Cox's low profile clamp design. Some grub screws probably will go in the holes to keep the grot out.

I made several of these eccentric clamps, I think to a Harold Hall design in MEW.

Aha! Neat. Looks like the eccentric is a separate part from the SHCS - is that right, and is it fixed with loctite? Is the clamping bit hardened at all?

Nice ideas John(s)

I made these clamps recently that also work on the eccentric principle. Feels strange that they work so well, but they certainly do - the clamping force is huge and the friction in the eccentric stops them lifting when tightened.

Cheers Will

The screw is fixed in the eccentric, though I can't remember how - possibly a press fit utilising the knurl on the cap head. Obviously, two flats are optional. Very easy to make. Not hardened in my case, but not needed by me. A very powerful, low profile clamp.

Edited By john halfpenny on 28/06/2020 09:53:50

Will, I like the ramps on the fixed blocks - adds downwards force.

John, I notice from HH's website that he uses hex material for the clamp bit so it looks more like the Mitee-Bite.

Anyway, when I get a tuit I will try making some - probably the first thing to do would be some tee nuts to match the VMB table but with M6 thread so I can use the "proper" clamp its on it.

(not the HH design) Is it anymore than turning a say 10 thou eccentricity on a cap head bolt, perhaps with a conical form to hold down the hex washer ?

edit: now I look at MG's link I see no cone, the T-slot version drawing is more detailed than the plan one. They also have a wdge clamp that is a variation on a printer's quoin which could have a few uses. Few more ideas on that link too.

Edited By Bazyle on 28/06/2020 11:14:27

Hi Bazyle - for the eccentric screw I used M10 cap heads turned down to 13.5mm with a 1mm eccentricity (at Centre line). They are parallel.

cheers Will

Is the location of the maximum eccentricity relative to the thread important in getting the thing to lock?

Hi John - no, the head of the screw doesn’t actually clamp in the downwards direction, just uses friction.