Tightening up a screwless vise

higgite said:
FWIW, I’m going to veer back to screwless vises (see thread topic) ;) and touch on why I have one on an LMS 5500 that I mentioned earlier. I struggled with the vise overhang issue before I settled on a Tormach 90mm screwless vise and so far I have no regrets. One advantage of a screwless vise or a “CNC” vise is they aren’t restrained to certain locations on the table by having to line up hold down bolt slots with slots in the table. Mine is mounted flush with the back of the mill table with hold down clamps, so it eats up no Y travel. But, I can see where that might not be a concern if one had an X-axis DRO mounted to the back of the table. A little overhang wouldn’t matter. It also may or may not be a concern on the new LMS 5550 since its larger table reduces Y travel by over an inch compared to my 5500 anyway.
Click to expand...

I've enjoyed my 3" screwless vise for years, but to go back to the original theme of this thread, I can't get mine to tighten correctly on workpieces these days, despite cleaning it out, backing it off etc. Maybe it's just getting tired.
 
mikey said:
Frank, have you tried a new screw for that screwless vise?
Click to expand...

Wait, is a screw for a screwless vise really a thing?

Just kidding, I know what you mean. I guess I could ask LMS if parts are available, since I bought it from them. Might not be the end of the world to fabricate myself, but one off-the-shelf would probably be better.
 
You should be able to just buy a hardened cap screw from McMaster or some other industrial supplier. Might give it a try. My Sherline screwless vise is now 30 years old. At about year 25, parts began to slip. By that point, I sort of knew how to use that vise so I bought a new screw and no further issues. I figured the screw material was stretching, even though I don't really gronk down on it. In any case, that worked for me.
 
Frank O said:
Wait, is a screw for a screwless vise really a thing?

Just kidding, I know what you mean. I guess I could ask LMS if parts are available, since I bought it from them. Might not be the end of the world to fabricate myself, but one off-the-shelf would probably be better.
Click to expand...

Like Mike said, just get it anywhere, I wouldn't bother trying to get one from LMS. It's just a plain SHCS on the import vises, not a speciality. At least they are on my 2 vises. I replaced them right away on mine cause I didn't like the quality of the ones that came with my vises.
 
mikey said:
You should be able to just buy a hardened cap screw from McMaster or some other industrial supplier. Might give it a try. My Sherline screwless vise is now 30 years old. At about year 25, parts began to slip. By that point, I sort of knew how to use that vise so I bought a new screw and no further issues. I figured the screw material was stretching, even though I don't really gronk down on it. In any case, that worked for me.
Click to expand...

Happy to give that a shot, but is the cap screw pretty definitely the part that fails? On mine I can see that the cap screw has some mashed threads, but the part it threads into also has some scoring:

screwless-vise-parts.jpg

I'm also thinking about what to do with the Kurt DX4. All Industrial says I can return it for the price of the vise itself, so I'd basically be just be out the shipping charge (or the gas and time to drive it down to Huntington Beach). Then again, there are times I wish I had a larger vise for some workpieces, so holding on to it doesn't seem completely crazy. Though it's kind of pricey as a once-in-a-while special-purpose vise.
 
The area on the SHCS that is chowdered looks like it's from the spherical washer. The other end could very well be worn too especially if it had a loose fit to begin with. Doesn't look hard to make & definitely worth making to save the vise. Might as well & I would make a few of them while you are at it.
 
I agree with Will. It looks like that screw under the head is deformed. At the very least, I would buy a new screw and put a washer under it before sticking it into the hemispherical pivot thingy again. The receiver is not difficult to make but I would try the screw first to see if that resolves the issue.

As for the vise, I would return it. Your table is only a little over 6" deep, which is not a lot of room. I think a 3-4" screwless vise would be better, or maybe a 3" Kurt vise. A Kurt vise is pretty well made so even an older used 3" will probably be better than a 3" import, provided you can get the Kurt for a decent price.
 
mikey said:
As for the vise, I would return it. Your table is only a little over 6" deep, which is not a lot of room. I think a 3-4" screwless vise would be better, or maybe a 3" Kurt vise. A Kurt vise is pretty well made so even an older used 3" will probably be better than a 3" import, provided you can get the Kurt for a decent price.
Click to expand...

Thanks. So, if I return the DX4, suppose that every once in a while I need to mill something like a 6" x 6" square plate. If I go with a vise or vises with maximum openings narrower than that, any thoughts on the best way to hold it? I could probably use my clamping kit to gin something up, but it seems like that could be more time-consuming.
 
If you went with a Kurt 3" vise, there are threaded holes on the outside of the static and dynamic jaws. You can take the "jaws" and move them from the inside to the outside. That gives you more than enough capacity to hold a 6" plate, I think.

Otherwise, you would need to clamp the work piece to the table and use hold down clamps.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top