How would you go about making a matched set of 6" mill vises?

[Sticks]

If you had two 6" mill vises, how would you go about making them a matched pair - insofar as the height above the table, and the two fixed jaws being square to the table?

Flip the vises over, making the fixed jaw the perpendicular square reference to the table and machine the bases parallel with the table, then flip back over, square up again, and dust off the vise body parallel with the table?

 

[Jim F]

Buy a matched pair of Kurts......

 

[mmcmdl]

Buy a matched pair of Kurts......

I have a matched pair here . But to make things easy for the OP .........................a matched pair is nice but very rarely needed . Actually , I can't ever needing or using my 2 as a pair . It's simple to use soft jaws in the Kurts . Mount 2 vises together and machine the soft jaws to suit the job . The jaws will be level and parallel with one operation .

For longer pieces , just tram the fixed jaw of both vises . I use large ground set up blocks outside of the vises for making the height perfect . The part will not be touching the vise on the bottom .

 

[Jake M]

how "good" are the vices to begin with? That sets a boundry as to how far you want to go with this.

I think, off the top of my head, if I trusted both fixed jaws to be "true enough", I'd probably not mill anything, but rather measure the height descrepancy, and buy a sheet of shim stock to raise the shorter one. It could stay loose, or could be affixed to the vice so it'd always be there, and on the correct one.

 

[Jim F]

I have a matched pair here . But to make things easy for the OP .........................a matched pair is nice but very rarely needed . Actually , I can't ever needing or using my 2 as a pair . It's simple to use soft jaws in the Kurts . Mount 2 vises together and machine the soft jaws to suit the job . The jaws will be level and parallel with one operation .

For longer pieces , just tram the fixed jaw of both vises . I use large ground set up blocks outside of the vises for making the height perfect . The part will not be touching the vise on the bottom .

At work we have a matched pair in the older VF-2.
They are within .0001 whether mounted flat or on their sides.

 

[DeanB]

I have a pair of Glacern, One on the pivoting base one not. Made a plate with a key on the bottom, non pivoting vice on that then shimmed until both are at the same height. Then use a ground bar to get them close to parallel at the fixed jaws. By mounting the vice with the key first then clamping both vices to the bar and then bolting down the pivoting vice, they end up within 0.001 or 0.002.

 

[akjeff]

I have a pair of Kurt 3600V's. While I didn't buy them as a matched pair, the Kurt quality control took care of that for me. One, I bought off their "scratch & dent" sale, and the other was an Ebay purchase. Checking them on the surface plate, they sure look like a matched pair.

 

[Sticks]

Never thought of shims to bring the base height level. Seems like that would be a point of inconsistency when removing and reinstalling.

 

[682bear]

I have a matched pair here . But to make things easy for the OP .........................a matched pair is nice but very rarely needed . Actually , I can't ever needing or using my 2 as a pair . It's simple to use soft jaws in the Kurts . Mount 2 vises together and machine the soft jaws to suit the job . The jaws will be level and parallel with one operation .

For longer pieces , just tram the fixed jaw of both vises . I use large ground set up blocks outside of the vises for making the height perfect . The part will not be touching the vise on the bottom .

C'mon, man... that's too easy... almost like cheating...

I've used an Enco mill vise together with a Bridgeport vise for long parts on my horizontal mill...



Setup time isn't much longer than with one vise. I really don't need a matched pair enough to worry about it.

I know that doesn't answer the original question... if I needed a matched pair, I would buy a second Kurt like the one on my vertical mill... if they weren't close enough, I'd set them on the surface grinder and make them close enough.

-Bear

 

[Jake M]

Never thought of shims to bring the base height level. Seems like that would be a point of inconsistency when removing and reinstalling.

It comes in sheets that could be attached of one chose to do so.

McMaster-Carr

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Like I said, it depends on what you're working with, and what the end goal is. I don't think it's "ideal", but outside of commercial production, it might or might not be practical.