A Better Vice (vise?)

Hi All,

1992, Issue 12, Harold Hall modified a cheap tilting vice supplied with Chinese mill drill.because it wasn't made very accurately

Fast forward 30 years, still 'same' vice supplied with mill drill, except, it's now even worse quality. It holds material but not much else.

I haven't needed to make any precision parts since I've had mill drill so only recently decided to check vice.

'Daylight' under one of the 'contact pads' (about 0.050"  (no idea why 'emoticon appeared when I tried to close brackets?) maybe because Britain is now all metric?

Pivot pin hole is drilled at two different angles so obviously done from either side and not direct long drill bi so found reason pivot pin is 0.035" undersize

I actually found it quite funny that nothing had improved and had actually got worse. over the time period.

As a proper milling vice costs close to the price of entire machine (in USA KURT is the one to get) that route is OOTQ

At least I have 'beginner' article on how to fix it, should be fun?

Edited By Peter Jones 20 on 28/12/2020 07:28:12

Edited By Peter Jones 20 on 28/12/2020 07:29:06

Edited By Peter Jones 20 on 28/12/2020 07:32:48

Peter, I have some pics of what I did with mine. Quality was not bad. (Also about 30 yrs. ago). Will post pics if you're interested.

Edited By RobHK on 28/12/2020 08:27:28

I believe the emoticon is caused by a combination of " followed by ) without a space between them. It's a quirk of the editor the forum uses. (check no space " (check with space " )

Martin C

Rob ..... well, I for one would be interested !!!

Guessing here, but fix might be 1) bore oversize, 2) fix in bushes, 3) machine holes in correct relation to each other, 4) ream and 5) replace pivot pin.

Chinese will continue to supply tat if people keep buying it!

I know you said that a new vice was not an option and I assume you are located in the USA from your comments, The Little Machine Shop have a precision vice ( vise ) on offer at $74.95, presumably plus postage and that would be a far better vice for milling. I have one for use on my smaller machines and find it admirably suitable and accurate. I personally wouldn't consider the type of supplied vice for anything other than basic drilling and even then if it wasn't critical.

John

Edited By John Hinkley on 28/12/2020 09:55:25

Same in the UK:

Apart from cost the main issue with Kurt vices is that they are too big for most hobby mills.

Andrew

Here we go Fatgadgi........

Edited By RobHK on 28/12/2020 13:24:34

Edited By RobHK on 28/12/2020 13:30:24

Many thanks for showing your pictures of improvements. I have a similar vice and needing two spanners has really bugged me, will do that improvement tomorrow. Many thanks John

Thanks for the replies.

RobHK, interesting additions, particularly like the main screw thrust washer and Allen bolts plus machining surfaces for angle plates.

I was considering thicker side plates from a better material, definitely doing it now.

I haven't been on Little Machine Shop site for quite a while.

They were relatively helpful when all the parts of mini mill went missing several years ago (anyone in USA remember 'Uncle Rabid?)

I sent all the parts for repair, they were 'fixed' then the poor bugger had a heart attack. (the e-mail he sent me was probably one of the last messages sent)

I don't know if LMS bought everything, (they were 'in negotiations?) but without stuff being fully labeled everything was 'lost'.

I didn't (don't) do much milling so gave up on it for several years until mill/drill was 'on offer'

For various reasons, I've been watching a lot of You-Tube video's (and making a lot of comments)

Decided I really want a rotary broach, tool grinder and tool post mounted high speed spindle

I've been using a cheap trim router for <3mm TiN coated carbide @28,000rpm, much easier than 'normal' trepanning but not as accurate as I would like

Intending to make some 'high precision' stuff for the first time in 30+ years?

I trained in mid 1970's but ended up running motorcycle dealer workshops, (factory life didn't suit me or flat rate on 0.005mm tolerances. 23 months and I was done)

Even the 'capstan guys' had some issues, single pointing wasn't possible in 1.25minutes on a lathe when it took longer than that to cool down for checking

Posted by not done it yet on 28/12/2020 09:11:52:

Guessing here, but fix might be 1) bore oversize, 2) fix in bushes, 3) machine holes in correct relation to each other, 4) ream and 5) replace pivot pin.

That's the general plan.

Found I don't have T-nuts to fit cross slide on lathe, (the set that came with it don't fit,

Got them several years and this is the first time I've tried them

got to make some and some accurate height packing so I can bore hole as shown in article (I don't trust mill to get it accurate yet, lets fix one thing at a time)

Luckily I bought a cross slide table about 17~18 years ago intending to make the milling vice for lathe and still had it sitting on shelf. (life does tend to get in the way of things but I haven't needed to sell stuff off yet)

It's actually a lot more accurate than the tilting vice.(less than 0.001" over 5" - with a 0.002" shim under one end of parallel)

Got some A36 steel fly-cut last night to correct thickness, (0.570", 14.5mm)

it was a piece of scrap so wrong orientation to make a 'row' of T-nuts. Seems about normal, no matter how much 'stuff' you have there is always something different you need

If I had the cash and motivation I would get rid of the stuff I have and get everything standardised for tooling instead of 5 different T-nuts, Imperial and metric threads plus different tooling (3/16" to 5/8" sq)

At least R8 taper is standard on mini mill so mill drill can use it but still need Morse for lathe and rotary table, you can never have 'too much stuff' for a milling machine

Adds up and gets expensive even for cheap imports , but, I'm told it's still cheaper than golf?

Edited By Peter Jones 20 on 28/12/2020 23:34:33