Alignment Pin

Currently on my little stepper based table top mills I indicate roughly off= the end of the work piece and then cut it to size. Then I know the machin= e edge and the physical edge are the same. My table top machines really ar= e geared towards shooting from the hip like that though. I'm trying to get= a little more reasonable out of the big mill so I can more time making par= ts, and less time setting up the jobs.

-Currently on my little stepper based table top mills

-I indicate roughly off the end of the work piece and

-then cut it to size. Then I know the machine edge

-and the physical edge are the same. My table top

-machines really are geared towards shooting from

-the hip like that though. I'm trying to get a little

-more reasonable out of the big mill so I can more

-time making parts, and less time setting up the jobs.

Here is an example of how to set up a stop so you can remove and replace the work piece.

The home-made work stop at the left rear corner my 4" Wilton vise is a flat rectangular plate that pivots in or out of the way on a screw, something like this but minus the adjusting screw, and spaced out a little ways to make brushing off the chips easier:

I think you could align the vise by running the table to a known position with a ground rod in the collet and sliding the vise until the attached work stop contacts the rod. I'd use an edge finder or feeler gages rather than banging a heavy vise into the rod.

Just checked; I can position my 42 Lb vise to within about a quarter of a thousandth by tapping it with a soft plastic hammer.

jsw