Construction Pictures of 4" Mill Vise

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Hawk99
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Location: EDDY, TX

Construction Pictures of 4" Mill Vise

Post by Hawk99 »

I posted the finished product on the Milling Board so you can see what the end product looks like. Some might call this a labor of love. I would probably use a much stronger 4 letter word.

I have been using a $9.00 drill press vise on my mill/drill trying to make reasonably accurate parts and tooling. It has been a struggle. I could not afford what I wanted, so I decided to make one. Well that was in March. With the help I got from bluechipmachineshop.com by him restoring a Kurt brand vise and showing pictures of all the parts, I finally completed mine. It works quite well and beside what I was using, I think I have a Kurt. I knew I could not cast the base and ways so I decided to build the parts and bolt everything together. I used the steel I had on hand and bought the leadscrew, nut, thrust bearing, sleeves and button head cap screws. I have about $30.00 worth of parts in it and two million dollars in labor. I will post the construction of the base and see if there is any interest in seeing the whole process.

The base is 5/8" thick steel 6" x 11-5/8". That size was chosen because I have a piece of 5/8 plate that is 11-5/8 wide and 6' long. Now minus 6". I wanted it to look sorta like a cast base, so I machined some swarth channels in it. They probably are not necessary as is the milling of a boss for the bolt holes. Probably 1/2" plate would do as well.

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There is a .100 deep recess machined in the bottom 3/4" in from all sides and milled out completely. The base sits on a 3/4" border around the outside. The recess allows the button heads to clear and not interfere with it sitting level.

The next picture shows the ways ( 1-1/4 square 1018 ) and end bearing housing sitting on the base. I have considered surface grinding the base on both sides, but have not done that yet. I am thinking I will just surface grind the bottom and the ways parallel. It measures less than a thousand off on the surface plate. So, maybe not!!

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If interested, more later.

Frank
JackF
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Re: Construction Pictures of 4" Mill Vise

Post by JackF »

Frank,

Yes please, show us more.

Jack.
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Hawk99
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Re: Construction Pictures of 4" Mill Vise

Post by Hawk99 »

Ok Jack, I am going on a short vacation. Will return Thursday. Soon after I will post more.

Frank
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Hawk99
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Re: Construction Pictures of 4" Mill Vise

Post by Hawk99 »

Well finally I get back to doing what I want to do. After machining the base, I laid out the hole pattern for the 5/16 bolts to hold the bearing end and the ways and drilled the holes. Then I aligned the ways and bearing end, clamped them down and used a transfer punch to center punch the holes in the bottom of each way and bearing end. Set up and drilled and tapped the holes in each piece.

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The bearing end is standard machining, a swarf slot in the bottom, a movable jaw relief in the top, and two counter bored holes to attach to the ways. Then bolt the ways and bearing end to the base. Later we will drill the leadscrew hole in the bearing end. When alignment is verified, remove ways and machine a 1/4" wide and deep slot 1/4" below the top of each way. This is where the nut carrier rides and will press against when the vise is tightened.

Now reassemble base to ways and it is time for the fixed jaw. There are holes that pass completely through the base and ways to attached the fixed jaw. It needs to be drilled and tapped for these button head screws. Then using a set of Kurt jaws, align and drill and tap both sides of the fixed jaw to accommodate the Kurt jaws. I used standard jaws so a variety of specialty jaws could be purchased.

More later.

Frank
JackF
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Re: Construction Pictures of 4" Mill Vise

Post by JackF »

Thanks Frank,

Good work, looking forward to the next installment.

Jack.
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Hawk99
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Re: Construction Pictures of 4" Mill Vise

Post by Hawk99 »

Next I went to the leadscrew. I ordered a 3' piece of 5/8 acme left handed threaded rod. I then cut it down to 12" for the vise. I have enough to make two more of these should I ever forget how hard it is without proper tooling. I drilled the hole for the leadscrew in the bearing end piece. I first drilled it .625, the size of the leadscrew, but later had to enlarge the hole to 11/16 (.6875) to allow the screw some float room. Then came the hex on the end of the screw. I have no indexing device, so I siliconed a 3/4 nut to the screw and used that to index. A 5/8 screw will cut a hex for 9/16 wrench. That leaves some of the acme threads showing, but I decided that if that does not work, I can cut it to a 1/2 wrench and remove all the threads.

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Installing the screw was the easy part. Just attach a locking sleeve next to the hex, slide it into the hole and place the thrust bearing on the inside with a locking sleeve behind the bearing.

The next two pieces are the most demanding. The movable jaw and the nut carrier. I should be able to post those tomorrow.

Frank
JackF
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Re: Construction Pictures of 4" Mill Vise

Post by JackF »

Great work Frank,

Am wondering however, had you considered welding a flanged nut to the end of the lead screw?

Jack.
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Hawk99
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Re: Construction Pictures of 4" Mill Vise

Post by Hawk99 »

Jack,

Yes, I considered welding, but decided to build this way and if it slips or causes any trouble, then welding could be considered. I also considered a groove with snap ring. Both are good ways to be sure that all stays in place when tightening. If I was going to 1/2" hex for the wrench, that would create a shoulder for the inside thrust bearing to ride against. The 1/2" diameter would also support a 1/2" thread on the leadscrew just behind the hex. A shoulder and threads would allow the securing of the bearing and shaft with a nut. Also a good solution and the way Kurt handles this issue. Many ways to skin this cat and all still an option on my vise. I stopped short of those options to see if the locking sleeves would stand up to heavy use. I guess you could call this vise a prototype for experimenting. So far the vise is holding up fine. I have used it on several occasions and it has performed well.

Frank
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ken572
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Re: Construction Pictures of 4" Mill Vise

Post by ken572 »

Hi! Frank,

Thanks for the great pic's and howto's on the birth of your vice. 8)

Ken.
One must remember.
The best learning experiences come
from working with the older Masters.
Ken.
JackF
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Re: Construction Pictures of 4" Mill Vise

Post by JackF »

Frank,

Could I get a set of those plans too, pretty please. 8) :D :D

Thanks, Jack.
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Hawk99
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Re: Construction Pictures of 4" Mill Vise

Post by Hawk99 »

Ken,

Thanks for the comments. It has been an interesting and long process which I did not post early because I was not sure if it had a chance of being completed or if it would work when finished. It is going to be a project that I can improve on as I go along. I am still working on the angle lock refinement. If some of these guys that get plans decide to take on such a project, maybe they will improve on the design. That way, in the end, we could have a neat home project. It sure helps one learn what are their machine and personal limits. It then stretches those limits.

Jack,

PM me with an email and they are on the way.

Frank
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Hawk99
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Location: EDDY, TX

Re: Construction Pictures of 4" Mill Vise

Post by Hawk99 »

Lets see if I can describe the movable jaw. I had on hand a 10 x 10 x 1-1/8 piece of 1018 so I cut the 4 x 4 jaw out of that. I tried to machine the edges several ways so some of them are still not that pretty. When drilling the tap drill hole, I broke a center drill off in the hole. I dulled a HSS drill bit and a Cobalt one trying to drill the Chinese center drill out. I finally decided to try and anneal the spot, so with an acet/oxy torch, I annealed it then drilled it with a HSS bit. Then I tapped the 4 holes

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I then machined the surfaces that contact the ways, a 1/2 slot, a dovetail, and using a boring head, I machined the relief needed to clear the nut and give me a surface to drill and tap for a setscrew to hold the jaw to the nut carrier. I would never had believed my set-up was rigid enough to use the boring head to cut the relief with carbide cutters. An interrupted cut like this will never work. But it did, no broken tools. Reasonable surface finish.

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The setscrew is 10-32. It is tightened just enough to keep the two dovetails together. I am still tweaking the dovetails to try and reduce to nothing the rise of the jaw when closed.

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Ok, tomorrow the nut carrier. One weird piece.

Frank
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