Soba Vice Problem

Good Evening All

After following advice from an earlier thread I decided to by a Soba 3inch vice. I’ve taken the swivel base away and tried to align and clamp it with my milling table using the two holes to the left and right of the vice. Try as I might I’ve not succeeded and this seems to be because the line defined by the centre of the two mounting holes (green) is out of alignment with the vice clamp (red) and it's far enough out to not be enough play in the table t-slots.

My question is am I just doing it wrong, or has the vice been made out of alignment ?

Thanks

David

Probably does not matter where the holes are when its on its swivel base so maybe not much comeback.

What size bolts hold it to the swivel base, what size fixings are you using and what size are the holes?

J

Hi David,

You are right from what I can see, send it back to your supplier as not fit for purpose. As I have said before "how difficult is it to get things right?"

There is total comeback on this, ask for a refund!

Tony

David,

Welcome to the world of that much-abused word "Precision"

Strictly speaking, Precision is about repeatability, rather than accuracy [but I won't labour that any further; it's been done-to-death in other threads].

Assuming that this mis-alignment is the only defect; I would be inclined to just re-bore the existing holes with their centres correctly aligned [and, if necessary, sleeve them back to the right size]. ... Do it with the vice clamped upside-down onto the table, and aligned by means of a parrallel clamped in the jaws.

If it's wrong in other respects, the do as Tony suggests.

MichaelG.

Thanks Chaps

I think if I was more experienced re-drilling the holes would be the correct answer. But, as all this is entirely new to me I’m reluctant to make my first project adjusting a tool that I’ve just paid a big chunk of money for so it will be a phone call to the supplier tomorrow. It’s all very frustrating though as this weekend I was looking forward to trying my first cut into aluminium and now I will have to wait - oh well.

(I was using the same bolts that mount the vice to the swivel table, and they are the same size as the rest of the bolts in the clamp kit I bought and about 1mm smaller than the diameter of the holes).

David

.

Right answer, David

I hope it goes well for you ... Do pease keep us informed.

MichaelG.

Hi David

If you do as Michael suggests while it is upside down and set parallel to the X axis you can mill a shallow groove for fitting a tenon into that will align the vice jaws with the X axis. The tenon of course is a sliding fit in the table Tee slot so will save setting time for almost all work. (If you have a universal mill the above will not be true unless the table is checked for truth. ie: not set at an angle)

Rgds, Emgee

What is also useful is to make one hole a good fit for a bolt with a short unthreaded portion under the head (a "fitted" bolt). Elongate the other hole in a north-south direction (i.e. elongate towards the front of the mill or drill bed and towards the back. The fitted bolt makes it easy to swivel the vice a little, and the elongated hole ensures you can bring the jaws parallel to the direction of travel of the mill table.

A better way is to make a vice plate (see MEW 206, page 18; MEW 207 pages 16 to 19; and MEW 208 pages 18 to 20 - and note that the plate can easily be made by non-cnc methods). It won't matter whether your vice holes are aligned or not. Simply set up the plate with a reference edge across the table, set the vice on the plate and clock it true, then mark the positions you need for the vice bolts.

Marcus

Wouldn't the answer to any complaint merely be that this is sold as a swivel vice, and can be aligned by using the swivel facility. If you choose to use it without the swivel base then its up to you to sort it out.

Having said that, any good engineer would align the fixing holes with the vice jaws at the design stage.

If you want to use it as it is before doing any of the above mentioned, then a couple of clamps on the table should hold it OK, or use one bolt hole for it to swivel around for alignment and a clamp on the other side.

Phil

Edited By Robbo on 24/07/2014 23:13:04

Robbo and Jason's comments are the same as mine, you have already effectively moddified the vice by not using it with the base so maybe no comeback and I suspect any replacement may be the same.

One other opption is to make a custom pair of mounting studs, just turn the thread away on the area that passes through the hole so you still have a bit on the end to fit teh tee nut and some on the other for the hex nut. The smaller section will allow a bit more movement of the base around the stud.

J

Just use smaller bolts with washers until you feel confident to file the original to give extra clearance. These holes are just for mounting so never meant to be in any way precision or accurate.

Or if you don't want to use smaller bolts you could just turn a neck on the existing fixings where they go through the vice.

Martin

#1 on **LINK** perhaps

(well it is Friday )

Now that is perfect. Just what I was looking for

What perfectly good reason can you conjure up to explain obvious bad workmanship? i would say the holes are off by perhaps 2 or 3 degrees not 10 degrees. Just far enough out to prevent using the vice body on it's own, something I always do with my swivel base vice but then again it's a made in England Abwood variety.

Tony

Yes but if Abwood made it today it would be unaffordable unlike the £9.89 Soba one.

Either use a size down bolts or file one hole a bit - not really rocket science is it.

Do not mix up "Fit for purpose" with "Fit for purse"

.

John,

Is £9.89 the Trade Price ?

MichaelG.