Vice Upgrade

[old martParticipant @oldmart]

I have one of ARC'S 125mm, 5" vises which is right at the limit of size for the large drill mill, and too big for the Tom Senior. I have only had it on the TS in line with the X axis for a particular job. The ARC site is good because the dimentions are listed, and you can cut a cardboard template to put on the mill bed which makes choosing easier. I thought about the limitless type of vise, but they have to be used in line with the Xaxis and an old hand told me they can warp the bed and make it hard to move.

Edited By old mart on 10/11/2020 15:01:10

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

With the fixed jaw removed and an angle plate or suitable large lump of something at the opposite end of the mill table the Versatile can be use much like a two piece if needed.

[John HinkleyParticipant @johnhinkley26699]

Lee,

I made up a couple of these clamps, one left-handed and the other – you've guessed it – right-handed, like this. As you can see, the vice overhangs the table by quite a bit but is nevertheless sufficiently stable in use.

Not pretty, but then again, neither am I, though we both do the job, reasonably efficiently!

John

[old martParticipant @oldmart]

Ilike the clamp design, just right for that type of vise, and you can move the vise a little if needed.

[Lee Jones 6Participant @leejones6]

Posted by old mart on 10/11/2020 14:58:18:

The ARC site is good because the dimentions are listed, and you can cut a cardboard template to put on the mill bed which makes choosing easier.

Yes, I did that already. Although I'm not as posh as you – I used paper.

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

Posted by larry phelan 1 on 10/11/2020 12:25:31:

Jason,

Would be interested to know how you clamp your chuck to your rotary table.

Seems to fit very snug..

Not sure how this got into a vice thread but here goes.

When I bought the Soba Chonos also did a 3" chuck and backplate to go with it, bit limiting on size but can be handy when the table is vertical and you are working on small items as the quill/collet nut does not hit the chuck. The rear mount chuck screws on from the bottom of the backplate and is held on by tee nuts and bolts with curved "washers". There is a hole in the backplate which I use to ctr it with the aid of a turned down MT2 blank end arbor and a sleeve, downside is you can't then hold long stock as the hole in the R/T is plugged but if need be it can be centred up by other means.

The Rotary table from ARC comes complete with a backplate as standard, similar method of attaching chuck to backplate but it is drilled and counterbored for the suppled cap head screws and tee nuts. The underside of the backplate has a short spigot on it that locates in a recess in the R/T's face so easy to centre and you can still put long work through the table.

[Clive FosterParticipant @clivefoster55965]

When it comes to vice alignment on the table I find that simply lightly snugging the two fixing bolts up and pulling the vice back so they are hard against one side of the Tee slot and one side of the vice slots before final tightening is good enough for general work.

Typical tram error being better than 1 thou per inch of jaw width.

Vice in the common jaws parallel to slots arrangements.

Only works with a standard vice if you have a rotary base to set the initial tramming with tho'. Or if you are really, really, lottery win lucky. Mine is perhaps 1 to 1.5 ° out on the base scale which is decent for a production line vice.

I imagine that inverting the vice and clamping it to a bar fixed to the table, accurately aligned with the Tee slots, would enable the vice mounting slot sides to be recut parallel to the jaws and in mutual alignment. With suitably stepped top hat shaped fixing washer-spacers to engage in both the mill bed Tee slots and the recut vice slots similar repeatable tram accuracy to what I get ought to be possible.

Better I think to allow tiny clearances, easy slide in, and pull back rather than try for tight fits. Theoretically flat sides to the spacers, to engage more positively with the slots, might be better than round but rather harder to do with concentric accuracy. Round should be fine and makes adjustment easy should you need it dead nuts on Just replace one stepped spacer with a simple top hat style washer slipping between one of your re-cut vice jaws with suitable clearance for adjustment. The vice will pivot around the one in the other slot if that is left lightly snugged.

Clive

Edited By Clive Foster on 10/11/2020 16:34:05

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

That's how I do it with the ARC one, just push it back so lugs are against the tee slot, can't be bothered to recut the slots as supplied as 0.01mm over 80mm is good enough for most things and having that slight looseness in the slot allows you to clock it better if needed.

[Clive FosterParticipant @clivefoster55965]

Jason

That is very impressive for a vice as supplied.

I can do bit better when I'm in a careful mood but I've used the rotary base to take out the error.

But, as you say thats more than good enough for most work.

Goes to show you don't need to mess around with gauges and things if the basic set up is good. Something to check after unboxing a new toy methinks.

I'd say the general run of vices I've used were sort of "under 3° (ish)" error. Generally very much not factory fresh and maybe a little foxed around the slots tho'.

Hate mucking about tramming things in.

Clive

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