not knowing what you are trying to make, i can offer this.
use the minimum stickout possible to do the intended work.
if that means resetting the height between passes, so be it.
the use of parallels or shims can greatly aid the process
It's really a matter of the cross sectional area of the workpiece. Let's say a 1x1'' square piece. For a drilling operation anything that will fit is OK because most of the pressure is down. But you wouldn't want to do any heavy milling with more than about 200% stick out. At that point securing the part to an angle plate would be my choice.
I have been known to make oversize soft jaws to support a part that can not be held another way. With long parts, sometimes you have to get creative with the workholding. Where possible I'll bolt directly to the table with a piece of MDF under to do full profiling.
Here is an example of really soft jaws to hold a UHMW cylinder for doing some work on the end
In a lathe, I normally limit stick out to 4 diameters if I can't support the end with a center or steady rest.
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