Mounting Precision Vise

I have several and use them a lot. A hold down is just a flat plate to engage the slots on the side of the vise and a spacer block for the other end with a clamp bolt in the middle.

You can also use hold them in a bigger vise for odd setups.

I use a test indicator to align all my vises reguardless of size.

Don, Your vise does indeed have provisions for clamping. It's those slots cut at each end. Use a strap clamp to slip into the slot. Some people call them toe clamps, but they're not. Toe clamps are similar and would work too. The series of holes are for repositioning the dowell pin so the jaws can be set to the proper spot. You will see that there is a socket head screw in the movable jaw. This is used to draw the jaw against the work. But this clamping arrangement has less travel than the length of the vise. So the pin you can see in one of the holes needs to be pushed out and put in another hole. Turn the vise upside down and look at the way the clamping works. At the end of the eye that the pin passes through you might find a set screw. This retains the pin in the eye. I almost never tighten this screw. And when I do it's just enough to keep the pin from falling out when the vise is on it's side. Now, after I just wrote a bunch of stuff to help you out it occurs to me that you may be a troll. If this is the case, I hope your pecker dries up and falls off. ERS

Thanks for the reply. "Troll", not sure what you mean by that, anyway thanks for pointing out how to use a vise. Gees - would have never known. Allow me to be a little clearer. My question was, "What is everybody doing to clamp and align these little vices?" Thus far I have found no good answer. Strap clamps (toe clamp if you prefer) would work yes but there sloppy and don't lend them themselves to aligning, "squaring" the head very easily. I did find some drawings to make your own clamps at, "

" but they seem, just by looking at them, not rigged enough, and wouldn't make alignment much easier then the strap clamps. I'm figuring now I will have to make my own clamps for each end. I'm thinking with some kind of eccentrics and set bolt for easy alignment, and perhaps a stop block for one side. I'm still hoping that someone out there has some really slick better idea on what they did and would be willing to share it.

Actually, you got very good answers to your question. When mounting a vice to a machine, it is almost always necessary to indicate the vice in straight if you want accuracy.

The way I do it, if I don't clamp the small vise in a bigger one, is to clamp the vise to the table loosely. I'll list the procedures below: Since I think you are using this on a small machine clamp the vise parallel with the X (long) axis. Mount an indicator such that you can indicate the front side (the side closest to you) of the vise. Note which end has the highest reading. Loosen the clamp for this end. Not all the way, it still needs to be a bit snug. Tighten the clamp on the low end on the vise more than the high end. Now use a soft hammer to tap against the high end of the vise. This will make the vise move away from you and make the indicator reading lower. The vise will tend to rotate around the low end because you have made that clamp tighter. The reason to tap on the high side is that it moves the vise away from the indicator and put way less shock into it. Check again the alignment with the indicator. Keep tapping the high side until the vise is in line with the X axis travel. If you have the indicator, and if the machine is that good, you should shoot for less than .0001" in 6 inches. It takes practice but not too much and you will be able to get the vise really close really fast. ERS

I always figured that they were for use on a mag chuck on a grinder. On the occasion that I'm using it more as a squaring fixture I clamp the vise in the vise on the mill table.

The alternative to the "precision" vise you refer to is to spend the bucks for a standard mill vise, which come with slots in the bottom in which you can place keys to match the slots in your milling machine table, and also have the standard slotted bolt flanges to clamp to the table.

Good luck!

According to :

Well ... I made clamping plates for mine to match the Emco C5 mill and the toolmaker's vise which I got to use as a milling vise.

Here is the URL to a page which I put up to document that when I made it. The dates seem to be in September of 2000, FWIW.

Note that mine does not have the series of holes, which might work with the round-nose clamping straps supplied with mill hold-down kits.

Or the holes may be part of the draw-in mechanism for the so-called "screwless" toolmaker's vises, in which case you would want to confine your clamping to the grooves similar to what I used.

Enjoy, DoN.

How accurate is this method? I would be concerned how accurate the T slots are with respect to the direction of travel.

All I can tell you is from my experience 'many' years ago when I was constantly changing between vise jobs, rotary tables, etc.

I machined a couple of keys to match the table slots, indicated the vise, and thereafter it always was within .001 inch over the six inch length of the vise jaws. The machine was in excellent condition as was the vise. Keep in mind that care was taken each setup to keep the keys against the same edge of the slot and to tighten holddown bolts slowly and evenly.

Good luck!