Squaring a milling vise

table and had at it

much effort I got it

seem to do better.

down the center

centres just to be sure

drilled, drilled, repeat

slight but noticeable

subtle 0.002"

vise alignment

the spindle in a

every adjustment to

and unless I am

indicator in a chuck.

somewhere independent

On my old Millport (Bridgeport clone from Taiwan) there is a boss with a set screw near the quill lock through which I can insert a rod with a D.I.. That way the movement of the quill is not even considered. Much more stable and quick to use. You want the face of the chuck in line with the table movement., right? phil

Phil Kangas used his keyboard to write :

Phil, Aha! That's what that rod was for. When I got my mill I didn't know what the rod in that position was used for. Forgot about it and never asked on the NG about it.

Michael, Are the gibs adjusted properly?

Wayne D.

My indicator is mounted on a small magnetic base which I stick onto the vertical dovetail that carries the knee. This dovetail runs from the base of the machine to the very top of the mill... It is basically a horizontal mill with a vertical head.

Michael, it is just possible that the spindle rotates a little when you adjust the vise, as you suspect

I use a .001" / div Federal indicator and have no difficulty in adjusting the vise so that there is no indicator needle movement.

Does your vise have any locating keys engaging a Tee slot? Just asking:-)). One thing I do is snug one bolt holding the vise, and leave the other a little looser; it makes the adjustment movement a little more predictable.

Wolfgang

I am not entirely sure. All I can see is a need for a point which is a) rigid and b) independent of the table movement to which I attach the indicator so I can run the face of the vise jaw past it and see if it moves. The chuck is the logical choice. In my case there is the added complication of having to arrange the indicator on its supporting rods so it can a) present the point as near as possible to right angle at the vise jaw face and b) can be read - it required some thought!

I can see a test indicator in my Christmas stocking, but same problem will ensue if I attach it to a chuck that can move. Using the bar to stop the spindle movement (as when changing MT3 attachments) still allows some movement.

I need to tram the head. They vice and ways are trammed already.

I take out a chuck and put in a quality collet. I clamp the gauge into the R8 or (you whatever) as they are much, much better than a chuck.

My vice has screw in self aligning inserts that slide into the T slots. It is a large Kurt. Wish I had a 4" Kurt.

Mart> Phil Kangas used his keyboard to write :

Clamp around the quill, not the spindle. if you have to, use a hose clamp and a bit of strap to make something to hang your indicator from.

that is what I do. On the other hand..you can indeed chuck your indicator in a drill chuck..but put the spindle into lock mode...with the motor off, put it i n the lowerst gear you have. less likely for the spindle to turn. Its pretty sure that your spindle turned while you were indicating.

Or your mill is way way way out of alighment

Gunner

"They couldn't hit an elephant at this dist..." Maj. Gen. John Sedgewick, killed by a sniper in 1864 at the battle of Spotsylvania

giant snip

actually, for your purposes, I think all need to do is square the mill to the table. Here is a technique shown to me that is fast and very accurate

clamp a stiff straightedge in the vise - at least 12 inches long.

Take your suface gauge and set it so it just touches one end of the straightedge with the pins in a table groove. Then take it to the other side of the vise, and with pins in same groove, check distance - adjust to remove 1/2 the error and repeat - if this takes 30 sec to square vise to table, you are just pausing to drink coffee or something.

if the table is canted with respect to the head, it won't matter (at least for drilling and end milling), so long as the head is vertical to the table.

** Posted from **

Thanks.

I should fill in some details:

1) I trammed the table and it is level to within 1/1000" - I checked it again just to make sure. 2) The vise is on a base with two slots and rotates. Mindful of the advice in the MIT clips I did just that - gradually tightened the screws that control the rotation and gently tapped the vise with a dead blow hammer to make the corrections. 3) I cannot stop the spindle rotating, even in the lowest gear. 4) I adjusted the gibs on day 1 to the best of my ability. I cannot demonstrate play in any of the axes. But...will check again!

The common theme appears to be that the source of the error is likely the movement of the indicator as used currently. I shall fix it and repeat.

Pro shops get rid of the rotating table some vises are mounted on. Only if you need to spin something out of square does the swivel base go back on..or they use a rotory table.

what mill do you have? If its a bridgeport, you can intentionally jam the gears by putting it in low range with the overhead selector around the draw bar on the head and putting it in low range with the selector on the right side of the head. Or pull the brake and hold it with a bungee cord. shrug

But the strap and hoseclamp around the quill works quickly and easily and avoids the spindle entirely.

Gunner

"They couldn't hit an elephant at this dist..." Maj. Gen. John Sedgewick, killed by a sniper in 1864 at the battle of Spotsylvania

Unless you have a spindle lock, use the mag base and attach it to the head. If the spindle rotates at all, you've wasted your time.

>

While you are at it, ask Santa for an Indicol (on sale at Enco, by the way). This not only allows more flexibility in mounting an indicator, but allows you to leave tooling in the spindle it you have to indicate something. I use it for aligning my vise, but also for tramming the head. It can swing out far enough to get a very sensitive tramming measurement. I have the additional "Adjustol" rod, but never use it.

Doug White

I've been reading this eBook on French military victories by an author with the same misplaced contempt for Prussian field artillery;

thanks! Ill read that over the holidays.

"They couldn't hit an elephant at this dist..." Maj. Gen. John Sedgewick, killed by a sniper in 1864 at the battle of Spotsylvania

I searched Enco and as far as I gather Indicol is a maker of dial-related things. Many items came up. Do you have the specifics?

I was going to get the small magentic attachment Little Machine Shop sells for about $5. I am sick of struggling with the contraption I have.

M. Koblic, CR, BC

I pretty much gathered that. Today I got my mag base attached to the head and reorganized the bars so I could repeat the test.

I re-checked the gibs and lo and behold, there was some play in the X-axis. I tightened it but to get rid of the play the movement on X is now quite stiff.

I re-tightened the main screws on the vise and with some minor tapping I think I got the jaws squared down to 1/1000".

One of the issues I noticed was that the indicator does not always return to the same reading if the plunger is pulled back and returned to the same spot - there was a random error of about 4/1000"!

Anyway, I grabbed a small piece of 3/8 key stock out of the box (not milled to square), laid out a centre line and tried to repeat the process of yesterday. First of all, my centre finding sucks, but at least the holes were in line. There was a minor discrepancy on one end but close examination of the piece showed that the indexing side was not completely flat.

So, for the moment, the problem seems to be solved. Now to work on better machining skills...

Mike Koblic, CR, BC

-my normal news reader is on the blink!

Let us assume that you have no indicator at all. You do however have a edge finder.

If you were to take a reading at the edges of the back face of the mill vise and get the same reading you would be square.

They make a nifty indicator clamp that clamps on to the quill, very handy for squaring the vise.

Also once you get set up to indicate the vise, take a little time to adjust the keyway stops on the underside of the vise so you can get it really darn close on the first attempt.

On Wed, 26 Nov 2008 12:10:04 -0800, the infamous Gunner Asch scrawled the following:

That's gotta be a _short_ book, wot?

I just finished _Ricochet: Confessions of an NRA Lobbyist_ and _Bran Mak Morn_ this week. I don't know which was more gory. ;)

">

Harbor Freight frequently sells a magnetic base with a dial type plunge indicator for around $15 for the pair - these come in handy and are pretty cheap

** Posted from **

I bought one for a little more in Canadian $s. The problem are the clamps. They stick on one hand and on the other they are difficult to tighten properly. On occasion I found that one or the other have come loose while taking a measurment and one has to start all over again. Also, as I mentioned elsewhere, the indicator has a habit of a non-repeatable zero (the plunger can return to the same spot showing a variation of about 4/1000".)

I do not know if it is my set or if this is common to all cheap sets or indeed all sets. Seeing, however, that the prices of similar kits vary between about $30 and $300 I suspect that there is something one buys for the extra $$$s. Am I wrong?

In my simple way of thinking I considered that the smallest number of joints between the dial and the fixed point has to be a good thing. Hence my interest in that little mag holder.