- Joined
- Oct 31, 2014
- Messages
- 444
I rarely remove the vise from the milling machine - just too much fussing around to get it back parallel to the table axis.
A recent project required several change-outs of vise and hold downs - so I came up with something that gets my vise alignment down to a few seconds, rather than the 3-5 minutes of twiddling and swearing.
Before removing the vise I put a laser pointer (I use a rectangular level with a laser included, but any laser of suitable size will probably work) into the vise and shoot a dot of light at the wall about 20 feet from the milling machine.
I mark the spot on the wall with a post-it note (and also make note of the Y-Position of the mill) and then remove the vise and do whatever other operation I have to do.
When it comes time to re-mount the vise I put it onto the mill table, put the laser back into the vise and reset the Y-Axis to the previous setting.
Now it's a simple task to jockey the vise around until the laser dot is spotted onto the same location on the wall - and the vise is right back in the same alignment!
Easy Peasy! Probably infinitely repeatable as long as the mill stays in the same spot and no earthquakes intervene and accurate enough for most jobs.
A recent project required several change-outs of vise and hold downs - so I came up with something that gets my vise alignment down to a few seconds, rather than the 3-5 minutes of twiddling and swearing.
Before removing the vise I put a laser pointer (I use a rectangular level with a laser included, but any laser of suitable size will probably work) into the vise and shoot a dot of light at the wall about 20 feet from the milling machine.
I mark the spot on the wall with a post-it note (and also make note of the Y-Position of the mill) and then remove the vise and do whatever other operation I have to do.
When it comes time to re-mount the vise I put it onto the mill table, put the laser back into the vise and reset the Y-Axis to the previous setting.
Now it's a simple task to jockey the vise around until the laser dot is spotted onto the same location on the wall - and the vise is right back in the same alignment!
Easy Peasy! Probably infinitely repeatable as long as the mill stays in the same spot and no earthquakes intervene and accurate enough for most jobs.