Self-Centering Vise Stop

Bob,

Slick idea.

You know I would happily pay for a drawing of your triceratop lathe soft jaw measuring tool, if you were so inclined to sketch one up. I cannot believe how time consuming it is to re-set lathe soft jaws, and have never come up with a trick way to measure them.

Even better, I would model up a set of detailed fab drawings if you were properly motivated to make me a real one.

ca

BottleBob wrote:

Looks like a good idea, it could centralize the work quite well.

What would happen if you got rid of the gears and placed a centrally pivoted vertical member in the centre with a tie rod from either end to the ends of your L shaped members. If this was practical to use it would perhaps save on a couple of gears etc.

mmm, must be me I thought mammaries rather than triceratops :)

"I cannot believe how time consuming it is to re-set lathe soft jaws, and have never come up with a trick way to measure them."

Never used it. No doubt your lover Cliff Huprich is an expert with it.

Recall the old (and maybe not so old) three-hole punches for paper going into 3-ring binders. These do the exact same thing. I got one right here. If there were a god, you might even be able to cannibalize one of these punches to kluge sumpn up--hollow out the back jaw and stick this in there. Such a thing doesn't have to be very strong.

Your drawing was a Mastercam drawing??

Just because you can't sleep, Jonnie, doesn't mean you should be making stupid (as usual) statements on Usenet.

gk

BottleBob,

Have you thought along the lines of a double rack and pinion?

I did a quick search but couldn't find an example. However this one might give you an idea of the mechanism I am thinking of, look at figure items 5 & 9.

That would describe how the guide in the 3-hole puncher works--one gear, two rods. Could use it in the horizontal or vertical plane.

snipped-for-privacy@aol.com wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

Look at a Schunk PSH-22 gripper for that mechanism. You can buy just the rods and brass gears from them as "repair parts"...they are proud of them though.

PV:

You just reminded me of tooling we occasionally make for a window frame manufacturer. It uses a double rack and pinion to locate the hardware for various sizes of window frames.

No. It was just a quick sketch in Gibbscam.

Tom:

Yeah, right after PV mentioned 3 ring binder hole punches. I think it would be a much better idea than large gears since the stop rods could move parallel to the vise jaw, wouldn't need roller tips, and could be more adjustable over a wider range.

How often do you think you would use a tool like this?

Clay:

Thanks. With a modification to using a double rack & pinion the basic self-centering idea would probably work better and be easier to make.

I drew it up in AutoCad about a decade ago, as an exercise when I was learning AutoCad solids. But it wasn't dimensioned, so would probably be useless for any manufacturing purpose.

I don't think the Triceratops would help you much in that situation. If you put the first jaw in wrong, all the Triceratops would probably do is help align the other jaws to to the first one. But when you turned on the lathe it would still wobble like a dog's wagging tail.

The laser pointer looked like a much easier to use idea. You could probably get a cheap Radio Shack laser pointer and make your own block to hold it in a mag base.

Properly motivated? LOL THAT's not likely to happen. Making ONE would probably take 30-40 hours, what with scouring surplus stores for gears, bearings, etc. and milling the parts. Even making them in quantity would be a nightmare, too many areas where close tolerances are necessary (to have any degree of accuracy) to be able to sell them at a reasonable price.

And even then it's a "feel" kind of thing (like using telescoping gages rather than a dialbore gage). You're certainly not going to measure your bores to tenths.

Tom:

We could use one next week when someone will probably setup for a run of soft jaws. I would suppose our shop could use something like this about once every two or three months. Certainly not often enough for ME to go in on one of my days off to make one. LOL

I've got a notebook with little tooling projects I though of that could be useful. Maybe I'll make some of them on my Sherline when I retire in 10 or 15 years.

BottleBob wrote in news:ioGdnSjG1Mx2O4bVnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@earthlink.com:

Gack! Will you be using a Mini Cooper to haul it home?

Dan: Actually I bought a CNC Sherline about 8 or 9 years ago. It's been in my closet ever since. I just haven't had time to play with it yet. Give me time though. LOL

HeHe... when I was how much effort you must have put into it, and I surmise while on the clock to boot,I thought, no way I will ever make one for myself, and if someone else were to to do it for profit, I would never be able to justify the cost...

The laser pointer only helps with getting all three jaws right, which is pretty simple, usually. What I am always after is, is the the ID bore close enough to what I need, or do I need to go one set of jaw-teeth more... I've thought about making a set of stepped plugs. simple enough since the ranges I am usually working with are fairly small anyway... but motivating you into another one was worth the try....oh well.

Read this..... not a mini- way better...

bob, you will really appreciate this one

do I need to go one set of jaw-teeth >more.

Not how I see it. Suggest you and your lover Cliff Huprich take a break from blowing each other and actually view the video of that laser pointer. Looks to me like you missed the obvious once again...sort of like upgrading Mastercam V9 to X2MR2 is a no brainer but is beyond your grasp.

Jon Banquer San Diego, CA

Clay:

I don't completely understand your wording, but I made my Triceratops (the only one in existence, as far as I know), on my own time.

I made some boring rings in three sizes, like the following: