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- Aug 3, 2017
- Messages
- 2,437
So, I picked up a shaper about 2 weeks ago, and it didn't come with a vise. Apparently the factory ones are extremely expensive if they ever become available, and they also manage to take up a bunch of vertical space, which is at a premium with a 7" shaper (Atlas 7B).
SO, I decided to just make a 2 piece vise! i don't see myself needing the rotating base much (the one on my mill stays under a layer of chips behind the mill!), and I thought I'd like to have the room back.
First, I had to make some T-nuts, all 5/16-18. This went alright, except I cut out 4 and broke a tap off in 1. I ended up having to re-mill a whole new one, which was a pain.
Then I made the Fixed-end-bars. They are 6" long, about .600 thick. The mounting holes are drilled just over 5/16, and counterbored for the bolts for the T nuts. I think they were 4.5" apart. The center hole on the near side is threaded 1/2-13, and has two holes for guides at 3" apart. This was my first time making chips (just after this!) since I finally had a vise! I ended up facing the soft-jaws with this tool as well, but I used a block of wood as a sacrificial part.
And I finally finished it today, more than a week later. The guides took forever to get here thanks to UPS. The 'movable' jaw is another piece of unknownium steel, with a dimple made at the midpoint (for the tension bolt), and also has 1/2" holes reemed through.
The guides themselves are 1/2 303 stainless bearing shaft, that claims to be undersized .0005 to .0015. I bought 2 feet of it, but ended up only using 1, both are 6" (to support my laziness in deciding to not move the fixed jaw
). This make for a nice slide fit in my holes. The ends of the shafts are drilled/tapped for 5/16-18 and are soft-jaw bolt mounts They are currently held in place with bearing-retaining loctite, which seemed to hold well enough.
The soft jaws are aluminum and were done on the shaper (with some help from the bandsaw). They ended up being perhaps a little thick, but the only way to fix that is likely to switch to lower profile socket-head-cap-screws. They are a little rough, since I used that 'pointed' shaped tool that came with the machine to cut them out, so they have little bit of a 'ridged' texture.
AND, if you care to watch, a little of it working with my new tool grind. I got some 1/4" HSS in the other day, so ground a bit to see how it works. The finish is a little 'streaky', but feels baby-butt smooth!
View attachment VID_20200602_155048.mp4
View attachment VID_20200602_155224.mp4
View attachment VID_20200602_155602.mp4
SO, I decided to just make a 2 piece vise! i don't see myself needing the rotating base much (the one on my mill stays under a layer of chips behind the mill!), and I thought I'd like to have the room back.
First, I had to make some T-nuts, all 5/16-18. This went alright, except I cut out 4 and broke a tap off in 1. I ended up having to re-mill a whole new one, which was a pain.
Then I made the Fixed-end-bars. They are 6" long, about .600 thick. The mounting holes are drilled just over 5/16, and counterbored for the bolts for the T nuts. I think they were 4.5" apart. The center hole on the near side is threaded 1/2-13, and has two holes for guides at 3" apart. This was my first time making chips (just after this!) since I finally had a vise! I ended up facing the soft-jaws with this tool as well, but I used a block of wood as a sacrificial part.
And I finally finished it today, more than a week later. The guides took forever to get here thanks to UPS. The 'movable' jaw is another piece of unknownium steel, with a dimple made at the midpoint (for the tension bolt), and also has 1/2" holes reemed through.
The guides themselves are 1/2 303 stainless bearing shaft, that claims to be undersized .0005 to .0015. I bought 2 feet of it, but ended up only using 1, both are 6" (to support my laziness in deciding to not move the fixed jaw
). This make for a nice slide fit in my holes. The ends of the shafts are drilled/tapped for 5/16-18 and are soft-jaw bolt mounts They are currently held in place with bearing-retaining loctite, which seemed to hold well enough.The soft jaws are aluminum and were done on the shaper (with some help from the bandsaw). They ended up being perhaps a little thick, but the only way to fix that is likely to switch to lower profile socket-head-cap-screws. They are a little rough, since I used that 'pointed' shaped tool that came with the machine to cut them out, so they have little bit of a 'ridged' texture.
AND, if you care to watch, a little of it working with my new tool grind. I got some 1/4" HSS in the other day, so ground a bit to see how it works. The finish is a little 'streaky', but feels baby-butt smooth!
View attachment VID_20200602_155048.mp4
View attachment VID_20200602_155224.mp4
View attachment VID_20200602_155602.mp4
