Bearing Ball with Flat for Vise work...?

That collar/cap that holds the ball on the pipe, do they come with openings like that? I've never seen this type of cap.
 
A handy device I use to hold small parts in the mill vice (that requires parallel clamping contact) is inserting a round punch
drop behind the part as the moving jaw is closed in.
I have a Heinrich 4T punch mounted on the end of the mill table, so various aluminum 1/8" thickness discs are handy as needed.
They crush down to give a excellent hold. Reusable too.
RichD, Canton, Ga
 
I made mine from 20 mm ball bearing balls. It was a fairly quick job. If You have fat fingers, make them a little larger.
Clamped them in a vise and ground them flat with an angle grinder, then finished them on the belt sander and finally lapped
the flats to mirror finish. Grind carefully to keep the balls hardened. My flats are about 12 mm.
I mostly use the flat against the work piece when I need them and protect the moving jaw with a piece of brass.
That way nothing gets dented. Was considering making something to hold the ball to the moving jaw, such as a small magnetic ring mount.
But I have found it easy enough to position the ball where it needs to be for the amount of use I have for it.
Also if using more than one ball, it is important to put some soft deform able aluminum or similar between the moving jaw and the balls.
My vote is on the Al rod method as being most generally useful. I mostly use some soft 4 mm Al gas welding rod that works really well.

Erik
 
How did you do the final lapping? I was also thinking of making bronze or brass cylinders in the same way.
The cylinders would not mar anything and can be supported on parallels. (The cylinders would be used in the vertical position).
I think even the aluminum rod works just fine in most cases.
 
@Emilio The idea behind lapping them was to eliminate marks on soft materials. Works well.
I first flattened them on the belt sander, then finer wet abrasive cloth on a glass plate and finished on a lapping plate with abrasive. If You don´t have a lapping plate some chrome polish on a piece of paper on a flat plate does the job well enough for something like this.
I actually use the soft sacrificial Al rods for most of my work. That method works really well for me. Mainly used the balls for odd shapes etc. Have tried dowel pins as well, but noticed that the work can still be misaligned depending on which way the pin is oriented. It´s a 1 dimensional solution vs. 2 dimensional one for the ball. Pins or cylinders probably need to be soft enough to work well.

Erik
 
The hardened steel bearing balls will leave a small dent in the work piece no matter how well polished, yes?
I've been using soft aluminum wire and brass cylinders, and it works quite well. Not sure I need the ground flat bearing balls,
but will probably make a few just to see the difference. The ultimate test would be to use an indicator on each type of anti roll method.
Thanks Erik.
 
Try using the flat side of the ball against the work piece and protect the vice jaw against dents with some soft material. My experience is that You can use them that way even on Al without denting, using reasonable clamping force. Turning the ball around spherical end towards work piece will dent most stuff You would care to mill...
 
Yes, I understand. I'll try it. Thanks
 
Ball bearings are too hard and will likely leave a dent.

Instead, hand grind a semi-spherical or dome shaped end (this can be done quickly and precisely on a lathe) on a largish (~1" dia) brass or aluminum bar and then cutoff to appropriate length. The largish diameter allows room for fingers when placing it in the vise.
 
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