Holding round objects in vise

The most useful fixture I have is one of these:

jsw

Vee blocks will easily crush tubing etc. if used in a vise.

For low /medium production work usually I use aluminum soft jaws in the vise and after placing a spacer between them I will bore at two places a few thou oversize so as to accept 2 workpieces per station

--If I do this with 3 double lock vises on the table this nets me 12 parts per cycle.

One possible solution flat round is what is called a finger plate or finger vise. Nowadays these are generally shop made.

picture see

If for end working, your best solution may not be a vise [in the usual sense] at all, but rather a substantial slotted right angle iron, with "pinch" clamps or cotters you can make yourself. Drawback is that you will need a different clamp or cotter for each diameter, but you can accommodate tapered or threaded stock and machine the pinch clamp* to a larger size to reuse. It is also easy to set up accurate and repeatable angles. Magnetic sine bars are best [most accurate and easiest to use] , but a good protractor is generally adequate for home shop projects.

* avoid the temptation to use a set screw. These will generally mar the work and don't hold as well as a good close fitting pinch clamp or cotter. Most of the mail order mill supplies should have angle irons in stock. Get one that is about max for your machine. For some examples see

-- Unka George (George McDuffee) .............................. The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there. L. P. Hartley (1895-1972), British author. The Go-Between, Prologue (1953).

I'd put small cylinders in a pin vise, large disks in a four-jaw chuck (I have one suitable for positioning under a drill press).

I guess V blocks would let me put the pin vise (or a spare Jacobs chuck, for that matter) in a vise that clamps down to the drill table or mill table.

I have mounted a 4" 3-jaw chuck on a plate which clamps to my mill table.

Michael Koblic, Campbell River, BC

I'm not a machinist, but the first obvious answer is the v-blocks; but if you're holding something delicate, you could conceivably make a pair of jaw inserts with semicylindrical notches that match the OD of the part.

Good Luck! Rich

Iggy, do you mean a bench vise, or a milling machine vise? If it's a bench vise, these things are pretty handy.

Mind the wrap

Pete

I mean a milling vise, sorry.

i

I have a bunch of Beech blocks bored with different size holes that are a hair undersized then band sawed in half. They've lasted for decades and were free.

Why not get a vise with built-in vees?

-- Most people assume the fights are going to be the right versus the left, but it always is the reasonable versus the jerks. -- Jimmy Wales

That's a nice vise! I just might bid on it, thanks. The hardwood blocks won't mar a part and have a lot more gripping area. You should see my pliers made from 4' long two-by-fours!

To pluck your eyebrows? ;-)

They are nice. If I ever use mine daily, I'll add a quick crank to the front of the knob.

I believe you. I wouldn't believe anyone else, but I do you. ;)

-- The general effect was exactly like a microscopic view of a small detachment of black beetles, in search of a dead rat. -- John Ruskin

Aren't you already cranky enough? ;-)

My Albrecht keyless chuck grabs bits with such tenacity I built the "pliers", works great and won't damage the chuck. Works great for tightening bits that you can't afford to have slip.

Have I ever lied to you? ...that you know of...

How many bit can you afford to let slip? They all cause damage when they slip. :(

My 2 larger screw less vises both have V cuts in one jaw that work fine for most round objects. Actually two V cuts. One horizontal and one vertical. This allows my to mill on the end of a small round object or square off the end of a long piece of tube or rod.

Sometimes the workpiece is more valuable than other times.