Which parallels?

[boatmadman]

I need to buy a set of parallels, but cant make up my mind whether to go for straight or wavy.

Any comments/advice gratefully received.

Ian

[websterz]

I need to buy a set of parallels, but cant make up my mind whether to go for straight or wavy.

Any comments/advice gratefully received.

Ian

What size vise? What kind of work will you be doing with them? That's a bit like asking what screwdriver is best and leaving it at that. 

[John Rudd]

OK, I'll share my ignorance too

What are the uses of straight and wavy paralllels?

I'd guess the wavy ones have a degree of compressibilty?

[boatmadman]

The vice is 3" wide, jaws 1.5" high, mill is a sieg x2, I need them 'cos some items I want to machine flat and square are smaller than the height of the vise jaws.

Ian

[websterz]

The vice is 3" wide, jaws 1.5" high, mill is a sieg x2, I need them 'cos some items I want to machine flat and square are smaller than the height of the vise jaws.

Ian

Alrighty...now we are getting somewhere. You have the same mill and size of vise that I use. I have never used wavy parallels...not really sure why I would want them. I use your basic 1/8" thick 6" long parallels. I have 2 sets of them and plan to cut one set down to 3" length so they don't hang out the end of the vise. One set was given to me by my dad, the other I bought on Ebay several years ago. There's no need to buy a super-duper high priced set, the relatively cheap ones will work just fine for the average HSM'ist. I keep a supply of metal pallet banding strap on hand, any lumber yard should have all you want for free. They cut it off and toss it. It's handy stuff for holding parallels apart. Just cut a length, fold it in half, or shape it like this   )   and stick it between the parallels.

Todd

[jgroom]

Wavy parallels don't fall over as easy. 

Jeff

[ksouers]

You could also make your own. They are dead easy.

I just stack up a couple pieces of thin aluminum side-by-side on top of 1/4 inch HSS blank. They come out dead parallel end to end and since they are milled in pairs always the same size. And it's not a big deal if I run a drill or reamer into one. If that's too tall I just use 1/2 inch HSS or stack 1/4 on top of 1/2.

Hope this helps.

[ieezitin]

I think parallels are a rip off too. I use old bearing, tapered roller bearings are the best the ground finishing on them go down to the microns, another great parallel is old pipe threading dies, I pick up all these from auctions, garage sales ( boot fairs ). don’t hit your end mill in them though it gets messy. Another great source of precision stock is in old  computer printers, all the drill rods are highly ground steel no end to the uses there another plus is you yank out all the bearings and oilte bushings for your bits and bobs bin.

Its like Kouers said HHS blocks work great too.  If you need to purchase parallels go for the adjustable type  I own a set of Brown & Sharpe and they have got me out of trouble numerous times that’s where I would put my investment.

Anthony.

[boatmadman]

Thanks guys.

A word of warning, I googled Brown and Sharpe out of interest and picked up a trojan off a web page. Tried to tell me my pc is infected and to buy anti virus! It also opened a page identical to windows explorer and showed several drives had infections!

It was this page: http://www.nolansupply.com/superprecision.asp?supercategory=Parallels

Ian

[tumutbound]

A word of warning, I googled Brown and Sharpe out of interest and picked up a trojan off a web page. Tried to tell me my pc is infected and to buy anti virus! It also opened a page identical to windows explorer and showed several drives had infections!

It was this page: http://www.nolansupply.com/superprecision.asp?supercategory=Parallels

When I access this page and select to look at any item, I get a warning from Google about a redirect to a malware page (best-santa2010.com I think). I'm running firefox 3.5. If I ignore the warning and go to the page, I get what Ian reported and an apparent scan on my Windows system - shame I'm running Linux  

It didn't seem to try and install any software but did bring up a popup advising where I could get the software to clean up my system. It does set a cookie for the website.

[trevoratxtal]

I have just had a look at the malware site (I run Linux so it is safer)
It attempts to download the santa 2010 virus.
If you got as far as the windows message sadly you have it, try to anti-virus immediately.
Under no circumstance go to that site if you use Windows.
I will try to make the site owners aware of the problem.
Trevor

[Stilldrillin]

I spent a lifetime production machining, and never even saw manufactured parallels! 

But, I had a box of parallel pieces, several in pairs, all differing sizes/ thicknesses.
The most useful material was pallet banding! It could be bent as necessary, & machined if necessary..... 

David D

[trevoratxtal]

Follow on to my previous post
I have informed the site that has been attacked.
For Linux users Only .

those who need to use spamassassin should upgrade to version 3.2.5-7 0 to avoid the 2010 bug:
https://issues.apache.org/SpamAssassin/show_bug.cgi?id=6269

Lifted from my local LUG site "DCLUG".
Trevor

[raynerd]

I picked up a nice set of good quality parallels from a workshop clearence; I still reach for a matching pair of HSS blanks more often than the parrallels for the size of stuff I do.... I know, I know 

[Stilldrillin]

I picked up a nice set of good quality parallels from a workshop clearence; I still reach for a matching pair of HSS blanks more often than the parrallels for the size of stuff I do.... I know, I know 

Nowt wrong with using what you got, if it fits! 

David D

[AdeV]

I need to buy a set of parallels, but cant make up my mind whether to go for straight or wavy.

Any comments/advice gratefully received.

For what it's worth: I bought a set of 8x 1/2" wide pairs from RDG (about 35 quid's worth), and I use them nearly every time I use the mill; and a couple of times when I've used the lathe. IMHO they're indispensable when you're mounting stuff up in the vice to be milled; the set means I can get a good bite of material in the vice with as much sticking out the top as I need to work with.

The only time they're a problem is if you're working with something that's less than 1/2" thick... in which case the vice will tighten on the parallel before the work. Sometimes, this can be countered by using a round bar to clamp against the work, but I'm now on the lookout for a reasonably priced set of 1/8" or even 1/16" parallels, for when I'm doing really small stuff.

I'm sure it's possible to make do with stuff you find around the workshop, but for me a set of parallels is the one of the most useful sets of tooling I've got.

[Jonny]

Why not make your own different thicknesses and heights, directional for any runout.

[Harry Eales]

In small 2 or 3 inch vices as used on the X2 Milling Machine, I have found it very economical to buy a few lengths of precision ground tool steel stock. It usually comes in 18" or 36" lengths, and it is available in many widths and thicknesses. Just cut off what you need and use the rest for a project.

You could have them commercially hardened, they just need heating up to 700 degrees C and then quenched. (instructions are usually on the wrapper). Anyone who has a Nitre Blueing Bath with an accurate thermometer can do this at home. Such thermometers are available from Brownells, the gunsmith supplies Co. in the USA. Admittedly they are usually used for checking the temperature of molten lead but they work on most things in the 600- 800 C range.I've never bothered to harden mine as they are much harder then the mild steel I usually machine. I made five pairs of varying sizes when I first bought my Mill 2 years ago. I've never needed more.

Harry

[BobWarfield]

No matter how many parallels I have, I always want something different. 

Just last weekend I was using for the first time some 1" x 2" x 8" Brown & Sharpe ground parallels.  I got them on a lark from eBay for a song and they've sat for about 6 months.  I was working on a gang vise setup where I have 2 Kurt vises on my mill table.  Was whining to myself about having to tram in 2 vises for the setup when suddenly it hit me--I could tram one vise, stick the parallel in the jaws, grip it with the other vise, and that second vise will be at least very nearly in tram.   

Well the darned thing actually worked.  I love it when a plan comes together. 

My usual issue with parallels is one doesn't put the work at the right height.  And, when running 2 vises, I need twice as many parallels.  DOH!   

So I also have a fair collection of vise jaws that I've milled a step into.  Being able to use a stepped jaw without any parallels is probably my favorite.  Normally I make them out of aluminum.  The project this weekend was making a set of "Jaws of Doom" that will span the 2 vises as one pair of jaws.  Nearly finished, too many honey dos.

Cheers,

BW

[kellswaterri]

Hi all, with regard to ''parallels'' here is a site which I think may be very useful to many machinists out there...
www.finelinehair.com/home

[dsquire]

kellswaterri

Went to that site and had a bit of a look around. Wow is all I can say. 
I'm going back to look some more. If you don't see me back here in the next few days you better send search and rescue to get me out of there. 

Thanks for posting that link. 

Cheers 

Don

[ksouers]

I've spent a fair amount of time looking over that site and all the tools he has.
I wonder just how many of them he actually uses.



Kevin

[trevoratxtal]

Hi all, with regard to ''parallels'' here is a site which I think may be very useful to many machinists out there...
www.finelinehair.com/home

Many thanks for the above link, A Aladdin's cave to explore on a cold winters night.
 

Trevor