Well ... you are unlikely to be needing an $800.00 milling vise. Those are the ones for larger mills than the Bridgeports -- and you are likely to need a crane to put it on and take it off the mill's table. :-) And you can sometimes get good clones of the Kurts in the smaller sizes (and more affordable than the genuine Kurts by a large margin). The 3" Kurt clone I got from someone who is a member of the local metalworking club, and who sometimes buys lots of tools or tooling to resell locally. They found someone who takes the Chinese import castings, and does the proper machining of them here, after seasoning them so the accuracy is typically better than the ones imported complete from China. And -- sometimes the import vises are of a metal which is not as good, so they distort when you crank down on them to hold something serious.
Post a "ping Gunner" here. He has several e-mail addresses, and some of them have excessively aggressive spam trapping. He may even send you a phone number for more direct communications.
I bought an excellent 6 inch kurt from Skulsky machine for $200, and another $50 for a base - so that tells you what a machinery dealer gets for nice vises - a non-dealer should get proportionatly less. Note that since these things are heavy, you want to find it locally and not pay for shipping. my mill is slightly larger than bridgeport, but not spectacularly so
Ping gunner? I'm not sure I understand... if you mean ask him to contact me, well...
Gunner, if you're reading this, please email me at snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com || snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com. Either one works, and I would be very very grateful. You can also try to call me at 864-908-5442, but it's off most of the time.
And to everybody else reading this- no spam! spam bad! make doj very angry!
As for the vise, yeah, I kinda figured that I'd go for something a bit smaller- doubly convenient when you realize I couldn't pay for anything so large! Quite a convenient coincidence, I think. I am curious though- what do you mean by "wring"? do you mean the amount that the steel flexes, or is it just that the ridges on the surface of the calipers aren't as smooth as they should be and are therefore more susceptible to compression? Not terribly vital to me (yet?), I'm just curious. GCC
Hmm well, I've sent them an email, now its just time to find out if they were serious lol.
On another note, I found a person about 200 miles from here, in upstate SC, who has a (very used) bridgeport for sale- the problem is that I don't have the space for it, and my apartment floor would likely burst if I could even get it through the door. However, he's offering it at what sounds to me like a great price- just over $500- and I was wondering if any of you guys would be interested? If so, shoot me an email (its posted earlier on this forum) and I'll give you contact information.
Ok, thank you very much, and although I don't generally like asking for favors I haven't earned, I really could use the help here. I'll figure out a way to pay you guys back for the favors at some point lol. Thank you again, GCC
Ok, thank you very much, and although I don't generally like asking for favors I haven't earned, I really could use the help here. I'll figure out a way to pay you guys back for the favors at some point lol. Thank you again, GCC
Apparently better at scrounging than shipping. It's been another six months since you promised to settle our debt with that box of optical fibers. You've owed me for over six years now.
Indeed. I have nearly all of it dug out now. Care for me to post a picture of the stash in the drop box this weekend, then ship this coming week? You never did tell me if you wanted the illuminator boxes. I dont have a clue if they are functional or not. I assume the lamps are dead. Please email me your shipping address.
Gunner
Rule #35 "That which does not kill you, has made a huge tactical error"
The usual way is to put "PING Gunner" in the subject line, so he is more likely to see it and read it.
And you can disguise your e-mail, as long as you make it clear how to undo the disguise. The harvesting of e-mail addresses is done by programs which are not very smart. :-) And your email address is plain in the headers, anyway.
:-)
The size of the vise should be matched to the size of the machine. Too small or too large a vise are bad on a given machine. It is just that the cheapest ones in a given line seem to be the 6" ones sized to fit a Bridgeport -- because of quantities.
The surfaces of gauges blocks are highly polished. When two are cleaned and then placed in contact with the faces forming a right angle (like a '+'), pressed together, and then rotated so they are parallel, a good set will bond together -- enough to lift a fairly tall stack of them. This is done to eliminate the last trace of oils, dirt, and anything else (tobacco smoke I guess would be part of it), so the two metal surfaces are very close together. The last I heard, they were still debating exactly what forces were responsible for this, though cohesion is one candidate (attraction of like materials to like).
A wrung set of blocks is measurably shorter than a set just stacked without wringing (though you probably won't be able to tell the difference with a normal micrometer, which only measures (with the vernier) to 0.000,100" (called "a tenth" in the trade), and the digital ones have a resolution of 0.000,050" -- though whether they are that accurate requires testing at the time of use -- thus one reason for the gauge blocks. They are also used to build a stack of precise height to set a sine bar for a precise angle, or to mount between two longer bars of similar finish to use for an accurate gauge (usually with a fixture to hold them staked while they are being handled at various angles.
The surface finish of the Chinese ones is enough poorer so they do not form that strong a bond when wrung. (At least this is so when comparing my Chinese set with my B&S "Jo" (Johanssen) blocks. Of course, the Chinese set is only promised to be accurate to +/-
0.000,050", while good block are 0.000,010", 0.000,005", or even
0.000,001" -- so they are noticeably more accurate -- and the surfaces need to be that much flatter.
Not arrived in my InBox yet as of 9am. While Im packing up a box..do you need anything else? Air cylinders? Tooling, endmills, lathe bits, etc etc?
Ill be leaving within the hour for So. Cal, will be back Wed night. I believe the post office is open Friday, so make up your wish list and get it to me
A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical liberal minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd by the clean end.
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