- Joined
- Mar 23, 2014
- Messages
- 33
My apologies for the title, but as soon as I saw matthemuppet's original post I can't get it out of my head. Matthemuppet did a great job of improving a HF cross vise. Although I didn't need a cross vise, I did need a simple vise for my new HF mini mill and what the heck...I had a "new" HF cross vise that was a total turd. Although I purchased it a while back (on sale and with a 25% off coupon) it was not even usable as a cross vise...really bad. So it was sitting on the scrap heap. I retrieved the vise and disassemble it. Out of the pile of parts I got three some what usable fixed vises. Selecting the one that looked closest to what I might use on the mill I cleaned everything up, used my stationary belt sander to remove all the paint and rust from the machined surfaces. I then squared the vise to the mill table as best I could, clamped the vise body in the mill and milled the vise bed and fixed jaw square and flat. After re-assembly the vise was put to work to hold parts in the mill. I've since added "iron wood" jaw protectors with V groves to hold round parts. I know, I know, the picture of the aluminum round bar in the vise is not good technique....It did work....see "my ball turner" thread...
I also inadvertently found that the mill hold down kit from HF does not fit my HF mini mill...the T nuts had to be ground down considerably. Polishing another turd...so that makes too...uh...two
Then I bought a horizontal/vertical band saw from HF...great price...on sale and a 20% coupon they applied twice... Got it home, cleaned and set up to discover the assembly that aligns and tightens the top wheel was completely mis-machined. Cool...I disassembled and re-machined the body in my HF mini mill using the re-polished vise, using my ground down T nuts. Ha...polishing a turd three! Now just to make guides that hold the blade straight so there is some chance of cutting straight.
Happy machining!
I also inadvertently found that the mill hold down kit from HF does not fit my HF mini mill...the T nuts had to be ground down considerably. Polishing another turd...so that makes too...uh...two
Then I bought a horizontal/vertical band saw from HF...great price...on sale and a 20% coupon they applied twice... Got it home, cleaned and set up to discover the assembly that aligns and tightens the top wheel was completely mis-machined. Cool...I disassembled and re-machined the body in my HF mini mill using the re-polished vise, using my ground down T nuts. Ha...polishing a turd three! Now just to make guides that hold the blade straight so there is some chance of cutting straight.
Happy machining!