Soft jaws strike again!

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SteveM
Posts: 7763
Joined: Mon Jun 27, 2005 6:18 pm
Location: Wisconsin

Soft jaws strike again!

Post by SteveM »

I had to take a slice off a 3-1/4" aluminum rod and have both faces parallel.

Most of the time, we think of soft jaws as a means of centering, but as I drilled and tapped the center hole while the original bar stock was in the lathe for OD turning and facing, it was not important that the part ran true, but that it be seated with the faced surface perpendicular to the spindle.

I got out the shoes I made a number of years ago, put them on the jaws, clamped the jaws down on the spider and machined the ID and the seating face.

Result? The front and back surface are parallel to better than a half-thou without even breaking a sweat.

Steve
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earlgo
Posts: 1795
Joined: Sat Jan 29, 2011 11:38 am
Location: NE Ohio

Re: Soft jaws strike again!

Post by earlgo »

Nicely done, SteveM
--earlgo
Before you do anything, you must do something else first. - Washington's principle.
Conrad_R_Hoffman
Posts: 440
Joined: Wed May 24, 2006 8:40 am
Location: Canandaigua, NY
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Re: Soft jaws strike again!

Post by Conrad_R_Hoffman »

Like 'dem soft jaws!
Conrad

1947 Logan 211 Lathe, Grizzly G1006 mill/drill, Clausing DP,
Boyar-Schultz 612H surface grinder, Sunnen hone, import
bandsaw, lots of measurement stuff, cutters, clutter & stuff.


"May the root sum of the squares of the Forces be with you."
RSG
Posts: 1541
Joined: Fri Feb 04, 2011 9:59 am
Location: Ontario, Canada

Re: Soft jaws strike again!

Post by RSG »

Awesome Steve! I'm up to three dedicated chucks with softjaws. Who ever it was that developed them way back when deserves a holiday named after them :lol:
Vision is not seeing things as they are, but as they will be.
dlane
Posts: 1
Joined: Mon Aug 15, 2016 9:07 pm

Re: Soft jaws strike again!

Post by dlane »

Those are nice soft chuck jaws I have a couple chucks that need some jaws like those they look adjustable are they ?.

Speaking of soft jaws
A friend has been bringing me aluminum material to make things out of ,he didn’t know what they were and neither did I . The last 5 gal bucket he brought me had a paper in it that said lock jaws. Sure enough they fit my Kurt 688 vise they consist of two master jaws and two jaw inserts per vise. The inserts slide into the master jaw dovetails and get clamped in by a retaining bar with four #8 screws. Guess I won’t cut them up anymore to make things :roll: a couple pics
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