Repairing destroyed vise

I took a swipe off the top of the movable jaw last week but only did one cut. I was going to do the whole surface to make it look good but I've cleaned it all up now and I didn't want to get iron swarf all over the place again.
 
Kurt vices are accurate enough for Industry but not enough for Hobbyists.
Last Sunday, 5 vices on the table to hold 1 part 170" long milled on all sides with dovetail O-Ring grooves on 2 sides, they had to have it by Jan. 1 (-:

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I'm sure there are better products than JB but it's cheap and readily available and sometimes that's the deciding factor
M
 
I grabbed a chunk of 4140 for the jaws. Maybe tomorrow after work I’ll get a chance to dress it all and drilled and installed. Then this vise will be done. I have the Chinese vise mounted to the left, but I feel this vise will be my main one.
 
That thing looks good. the jaws will make it look even better. Are you going to make some soft jaws for it as well.
 
Probably not right now. But I have some extruded aluminum that's the perfect size that will take minimum machining if I need them.
 
Hukshawn said:
And the jaw lift is .001".
Click to expand...
You can do better than .001" if you want to. Where the gib plates bolt to the bottom of the sides of the movable jaw is the adjustment. First. make sure everything is clean and deburred, then check the vertical lift at each corner of the movable jaw in the closed position with an indicator and write it on the top of the jaw. Slide the jaw to the other end of its travel and repeat. The smallest number at each corner can be subtracted from the total lift by dressing down the movable jaw surfaces that the gib plates bolt to, to reach the lift difference previously measured at the corners. Some judicious filing or scraping of high spots on the bed to get the bed flat and parallel with the gib sliding surfaces, prior to doing the above, by using high spot blue to mark the jaw to bed fit, can make it even better. I was able to get my "free" BP vise within .0005" lift over the entire travel, at all corners, and while holding a hardened round rod tight crossways in the jaws and also several lengths of 1/4" flat plates tight between the jaws, by using this method. The jaw still moves without any friction. A Kurt angle lock vise will lift at least that much under the same conditions. You CAN make a silk purse out of a sow's ear...
 
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