2-lugged vice in X-slotted drill press table?

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2-lugged vice in X-slotted drill press table?

This topic has 7 replies, 4 voices, and was last updated 20 April 2010 at 14:24 by marcusj.

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19 April 2010 at 16:10 #50901
marcusj
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@marcusj
Sorry to ask a stupid question, but…

…I have a nice Chronos Neal vice that I’d like to use in my drill press. However, the table on my drill press has an X-pattern of slots. The vice just has two lugs with cutouts for 2 fixed bolt-down locations.

I’m either missing something, or I’m going to have to make sub table that has parallel slots for setting the vice Y position in relation to the drill axis? Or I could use clamps onto the web of the vice from the X-pattern slots but that seems a bit naff… (a fiddle)?

Edited By marcusj on 19/04/2010 16:12:55
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19 April 2010 at 16:10 #5039
marcusj
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@marcusj
19 April 2010 at 18:46 #50914
Owen
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@owen
On my drill press the table is free to rotate by releasing a tightening bolt underneath. I then turned the square table so that the slots run in left right front back pattern instead of an X and then fitted a cross slide table, a little fiddling to get it truly lined up.
20 April 2010 at 02:06 #50936
Ian S C
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@iansc
On a drill press it wouldn’t matter if the vice is clamped on at the diagonal. Ian S C
20 April 2010 at 04:25 #50937
Owen
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@owen
Thats how mine was before I got the cross slide(on a diagonal) however it was always in the wrong place so I got the cross slide, now I can put the vice wherever on it or just clamp the work to the table and adjust the cross slide as desired. I haven’t had it off in years. the cross slide wouldn’t work on the diagonal as the long side fouled the drill press post.
20 April 2010 at 08:33 #50939
marcusj
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@marcusj
Thanks for all the tips. I tried turning the table on its axis already. Sure, this then provides a pair of lateral (X) and a pair of (in-line, in Y) slots. So that’s some progress.

I could then mount the vice ‘sideways’ so that the jaws are in line in Y and rotate the whole table around the pillar to get the drill axis above the right spot in the work. Not ideal but at least not impossible. It’s not ideal because the drill axis would describe an arc over the work clamped in the vice as I’m trying to line it up by rotating the table around the pillar, which is awkward. Also not ideal because on my ‘cheap’ drill press there’s a certain amount of play in the table’s collar around the pillar and tightening it up to start drilling causes a certain amount of movement of the table relative to the drill axis.

I could also add packing work in the vice to get the desired drilling centre under the drill axis, but that is probably the most inconvenient option of all.

Using milling-style clamps to clamp onto the web of the vice would allow a certain amount of wiggle room for aligning the work under the drill axis, and perhaps if I make some dedicated clamps this would be the best option.
20 April 2010 at 09:16 #50940
Steve Garnett
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@stevegarnett62550
Posted by marcusj on 20/04/2010 08:33:58:

Using milling-style clamps to clamp onto the web of the vice would allow a certain amount of wiggle room for aligning the work under the drill axis, and perhaps if I make some dedicated clamps this would be the best option.

If you have access to a mill, then an even better option would be to remove the webs completely and mill a slot down each side of the vice, and use clamps into the slots. The one I did this (not a Chronos Neal, admittedly) to has been way easier to position on a drill press since then.

Edited By Steve Garnett on 20/04/2010 09:20:51
20 April 2010 at 14:24 #50944
marcusj
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@marcusj
Posted by Steve Garnett on 20/04/2010 09:16:41:

If you have access to a mill, then an even better option would be to remove the webs completely and mill a slot down each side of the vice, and use clamps into the slots. The one I did this (not a Chronos Neal, admittedly) to has been way easier to position on a drill press since then.

Nice idea. An Amadeal AMA25LV mill is ‘in the post’ from UK to Spain but the vice has tapered webs so there wouldn’t be a whole load of material from which to machine slots into the vice. But re-reading your suggestion, I think I now understand – completely remove the webs and then add a ‘lip’ / horizontal slot into / onto which a non-captive (i.e. completely separate) clamp holds onto.

Edited By marcusj on 20/04/2010 14:28:33
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