Precision vee block

Today I unexpectedly acquired one of these.

formatting link
I understand that the narrow clamp fits between vise jaws but not its other differences from standard vee blocks, such as the double knurled screw. Could someone please enlighten me?

Reply to
Jim Wilkins
Loading thread data ...

Maybe this video can help?

formatting link
He has a crap load of v-blocks... I set the start time to the one you're interested in. Seems that double knurl is used to adjust the block when laid on its side...

Reply to
Leon Fisk

Maybe this video can help?

formatting link
He has a crap load of v-blocks... I set the start time to the one you're interested in. Seems that double knurl is used to adjust the block when laid on its side...

---------------

Thanks, though it burned through a day's ration of Internet.

Reply to
Jim Wilkins
<snip>

Was afraid of that...

I checked Starrett's web site, they make one too but don't explain its use. Also looked at several of my old books but didn't find a V-block like that one...

I would never have guessed the knurled bolts use...

Reply to
Leon Fisk
<snip>

Was afraid of that...

I checked Starrett's web site, they make one too but don't explain its use. Also looked at several of my old books but didn't find a V-block like that one...

I would never have guessed the knurled bolts use...

Leon Fisk Grand Rapids MI

------------------

Perhaps I should just wait until I have a setup problem it might solve. Milling the sides and ends of shafts and tubes became much easier when I bought a set of square and hex 5C collet blocks and a 6-jaw chuck on a 5C mount.

Reply to
Jim Wilkins

DING! DING! DING!

I have a Starret one of these. I used it once to hold a small cylindrical item suspended off the side of the vise. It worked a real treat.

Reply to
Bob La Londe

DING! DING! DING!

I have a Starret one of these. I used it once to hold a small cylindrical item suspended off the side of the vise. It worked a real treat.

---------------------

Some tooling such as the 5C collet blocks and small 6-jaw enable a new range of work-holding, but this thing probably doesn't.

One that has for me is a shop-made collet sleeve that holds bolts centered on either the shank or threads in a 5C collet larger than the bolt's hex head. For the gantry track I needed Grade 8 bolts whose threads began 0.180" (the channel web thickness) past the last shear plane. The head, shank and rolled threads aren't concentric or aligned axially.

The 3/4" diameter collet sleeve blank was bored 0.370" to match the bolt shanks, then tapped 3/8-16 which gave shallow grooves that the threads readily engage. Grooves in the OD near the ends hold O rings that keep it together after slitting it lengthwise into three pieces.

My previous screw holder design is a cup with the bottom tapped for smaller screws that are threaded up to the head. I use it to add a tapered end and root-diameter pilot to make them self aligning, which is very handy on awkward connections like the antenna mast joints up on my roof.

This began when I tried to turn Segway battery mounting studs from 1/2" stainless bolts for a robot, rather than sawing up a scarce reject chassis casting. Chucking the bolts by the hex head gave wobbling threads. The cup shaped holder provided a long straight engagement in a 1" collet and let me cut the stud taper close enough to the head as well as drill and tap the end for the battery retaining screw. The ID of the cup has to be larger than the socket that tightens the bolt head.

After I get current projects done I'll slit the cups so they clamp onto the threads instead of requiring either the screw head or a nut to be tightened. They aren't always square to the threads and throw off alignment.

That's the nature of my industrial machine shop experience, experiments and prototypes that I usually designed as I made and tested them, sometimes in my basement. Generally the company machinists demanded a finished blueprint and refused to do any old-time hand work like filing to fit. I've collected the fine tooth, safe edge Swiss-type files that change filing from crude to precise.

Reply to
Jim Wilkins
<snip>

If you haven't already seen this... a little ditty on how John Moses Browning worked:

formatting link

Reply to
Leon Fisk
<snip>

If you haven't already seen this... a little ditty on how John Moses Browning worked:

formatting link
Leon Fisk Grand Rapids MI

----------------------

I read it, and also his biography which goes into further detail such as brazing on extensions that were difficult to machine without special fixturing, resulting in a prototype that cycled properly but might not be safe to fire. It's amazing how many of Browning's designs survived for a century in the original form, despite attempts to 'improve' them for cheaper production. I don't think as many of Edison's are still in use.

This is the pistol that preceded the Luger.

formatting link
In his bio Col. David Hackworth wrote that Browning's 45ACP was replaced mainly due to its high accident rate in inadequately trained hands, not lack of effectiveness. I was issued one with -zero- training and had to find someone to teach me, and I carried it in Condition 3. We had drums of sand outside the barracks to aim them into when unloading from Condition 1, cocked and locked.

Politically the USA needed to symbolically adopt something, preferably minor, from NATO to partly make up for everything we had forced on them.

Reply to
Jim Wilkins
<snip>

Browning... the right man in the right place at the right time...

Can't tell you how many ideas I've come up with only to find more refined versions already for sale and/or in old patents ;-)

Reply to
Leon Fisk

-------------------

Such as?

Reply to
Jim Wilkins

Lockpicking and collecting is another interest of mine...

I've had the idea to use a split core to make picking more difficult. Patent is from 1930. Don't know if it was ever produced...

formatting link
There are a lot of lock related patents using similar ideas I've mulled around in my head through the years. A lot of smart people around doing the same thing. Some of them even document their thoughts or better yet sell the items :)

Saw something like this years ago but have yet to locate the source...

It ever you feel like you've come up with a novel design or idea, it simply means you haven't yet done enough research...

Reply to
Leon Fisk

V-Blocks have the added benefit of being able to hold any size cylindrical object within their range. Unlike a collet block that requires the right size collet.

Reply to
Bob La Londe

V-Blocks have the added benefit of being able to hold any size cylindrical object within their range. Unlike a collet block that requires the right size collet.

---------------------

Very true. I have to remember to leave metric-sized turnings attached to the fractional drill rod for milling, or leave a temporary inch diameter somewhere. The 6-jaw clamps any metric size but has a few thousandths of runout, which usually matters only if I have to turn after milling. Keyways, wrench flats and safety wire holes don't need exact locating.

Now that I'm making parts only for myself it doesn't matter that I cut inch threads to mount stub axles with metric bearings. When I was building prototypes I bought a 120/127 metric change gear set for my lathe, instead of the standard 100/127, because a spreadsheet showed it would cut more fine optical threads.

Reply to
Jim Wilkins

Sometimes I just want to find the center and mill a feature on it. I don't even care what size it is. Well not exactly.

formatting link
That v-block was in that condition when it was given to me. I know you don't have much band width, but the hold is right at the beginning.

Reply to
Bob La Londe

Sometimes I just want to find the center and mill a feature on it. I don't even care what size it is. Well not exactly.

formatting link
That v-block was in that condition when it was given to me. I know you don't have much band width, but the hold is right at the beginning.

---------------------

The video consumed 10MB before starting to play so I stopped it, as I ran way over yesterday. I need to average about 50MB a day browsing to have enough left for updates. I can average 40MB or less when not looking things up for others. If I really need more I can visit a neighbor or the library for WiFi or pay $10/GB, limiting myself to 2GB/month is self-discipline.

I center a vee block groove under the spindle with an edge finder, unless the central slot is deep enough for a center finder.

A center drill (etc) resting on a strip of scrap aluminum holds it level when at the high point of a shaft. That usually gets me within 0.005" of the true center. If I need better accuracy I use the edge finder on the sides of the shaft. Those methods also work for shafts in collet blocks or indexers.

Reply to
Jim Wilkins
<snip>

You can get an embed link to work much of the time like this:

formatting link
I made a search to use it at times with something like this:

formatting link
Then I just highlight the video id portion and request the search with the special embed set up. Works here with Vivaldi browser...

It will fail if the video doesn't allow embedding, Bob's worked okay ;-)

Reply to
Leon Fisk

I began posting here for practice to improve my technical writing, a weakness that was holding me back at work. I also study how others present ideas in print. It can be difficult to organize ideas into one dimension if you don't think that way.

I was once a film makers technical assistant and am aware of production techniques. I've been very disappointed in how low the information content often is in video, compared to well-written text. I record PBS shows and play them back with VLC with subtitles enabled, as the script is usually more informative than the images, although they are more entertaining.

Reply to
Jim Wilkins

PolyTech Forum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.