Shoulda looked closer ...

A woodworker?

I've noticed that the jobs where I use a screwless insert vise, typically on an angle block in the main milling vise, are on small and maybe flexible parts where I can't risk a heavy cut and don't need to clamp too tight. it's more important that they be surface-ground square and parallel than that they be strong.

On 2/9/2021 9:58 PM, Snag wrote: > After having gone to great lengths to forge to rough shape , bandsaw to closer shape , and do 75% of the machining on a piece of 4140 steel for the body of a small screwless vice ... I noticed in the notes that it calls for aluminum . Who in their right mind makes a vise for use on a machine tool out of aluminum ? I don't so I continued machining . All I have left to do to the body now is drill the holes to secure the fixed jaw to the body then I can move on to the jaws . I'll be using

4140 for those too .

I made my "Infinity Vise" out of aluminum. I used it for two years nearly everyday until I modified a screwless grinder vise to use the envelope of the machine.

The infinity vises uses steel edge clamps to clamp the stock.

I current have 7 or 8 aluminum fixture plates using edge clamps that I use everyday on one of my machines. I rarely put a vise back on that machine. I just swap fixture plates.

4140 does make a decent vise. If you started with HT, QT, PH it should hold up very well without heat treat. If you started with annealed it may eventually have issues. You did say forge though. That tells me any mill heat treat is gone.

If you have a surface grinder you can of course heat treat yourself.

4140 isn't to hard (pun was accidental) to heat treat. Then grind to final dimension.

OF course if you treat it gingerly it may last forever regardless.