No vices with my mill, just vices that bolt to the table.
This isn't a showing off exercise, just my efforts to speed up production when it is needed.
Now the silly season is starting, I need to get more organised, to prevent me having to do continual vice and RT swaps.
Before I can do that, I need to get the correct clamp down bolts for each bit.
The two for the main vice are what I have been using for both the vice and the RT. The split vice in the middle requires four hold down bolts because of the way it sits in line with the T-slots, and I have just 'made' a pair for the RT, this pair will also fit my dividing head (no not Ralph), and I don't envisage having both on the table at the same time.
So now to my pet hate, badly fitting hold down bolts.
I have been in industry and seen the results of using chocolate bolts and chewing gum nuts, not a pretty sight, smashed tooling, destroyed workpieces and even the mill table wrecked. To me, the time taken and materials used, cause me to prefer to go the 'buy it' route, but if you can make a good job of it, then it is easy to make decent hold down bits yourself. You can see on these, nice close fitting t-nuts with good strong shoulders and a built in washer under the nut head. I shorten the studs to suit the job it will be doing, so once made, it fits the tooling being held without the use of washers or packing pieces.
One major bit that has to be shown, is the bottom of the t-nut. It MUST have a deformation of some sort at the bottom of the threaded hole to stop the stud going all the way thru. This will stop you from inadvertently screwing away and jacking into the botton of the table slot. If you allow that to happen, because of the forces involved, you can easily smash out the table t-slots.
The first ones to try to mount up are the split vices. I was lucky in that the commercial bolts I had ordered were the correct length, but two required on each one, as the forces will be trying to push them along the t-slots, rather than against the edges.
As you can see, a vice with the capability to have jaws open very wide. These do have the advantage over clamps for holding down, in that they allow the part to easily be gripped and released, or repositioned without too much trouble. So now I know everything is ready to use, they were removed and put away for the time to use them again comes along.
My main problem is having to continually swap over the RT and vice on the table.
So what I have done is measure and position them up so during normal use, both can be left in position and set up, and only need to be moved for out of the ordinary work.
I have already spied two problems. The first is the RT, I will have to make a protective, waterproof cover for it, and the second is that I won't be able to fit my normal vice backstop. So I will have to design a multi function one that bolts to the side of the vice, that can easily be removed and stored away.
So I am now ready to start on my two latest jobs, one requires the vice and RT, the other, just the RT.
A couple of hours well spent, and a lot of hours saved.
Bogs
