My old vise was a complete basket case from day one, 15 thou out in one direction 5 thou in the other. Well I finally got tired of it and started looking fot a new one.
Kurt's, still laughing at the prices, Glacern, well I was going to go that route but I was at Cabin Fever on the weekend and the first stop I made was at the Little Machine Shop display. They had a 5" model of a Kurt style vise that looked pretty good, a little oversized compared to most of the gear that they sell but I inquired about it anyway. The rep said it will be parallel to the table within .0006" across the width of the vise, well it is a "no name" so you pays your money and takes your chances. $200.00
http://littlemachineshop.com/products/product_view.php?ProductID=3951&category=
Well I picked it up, just barely, heavy, a 6" would have been nice but way to big for the my mill (there was a 6" Kurt at the show, used but in very good condition but I got a hernia just looking at it, $180.00) and to heavy to lift. The 4" ones don't open far enough for my needs. So this looked like a good bet. See the part about paying money/taking chances.
When I got home, it was off to the shop to check it out. Now I don't really know if there is a set procedure for checking a vise for accuracy so I checked it out looking for the obvious points of error. First I put a parallel in the jaws and ran finger type indicator across it (Brown and Sharp "best test" .0005" divisions)
.0006 over 5" just like they said.
Then I ran it from end to end on the ground top (jaws can be removed and placed on the out board end of the body parts so a larger piece can be mounted, Kurt style), no noticeable movement at all on the dial.
Next I put the indicator on the top of the movable jaw and looked for upward movement when tightening the jaws on the parallel, no movement whats so ever.
The last check I did was to put the finger against the back of the fixed jaw and see if there was movement when I tightened the jaws, OK this time not as good, it moved about.0025", but I might have been over tightening it a bit, it doesn't seem to take much to get a good grip.
Now for the big question. Was my procedure right or should I have been doing something differently to get a better look at how accurate or not, that the vise is.
I would have been happy to have everything within .001"
(this was also posted at the HSM site)
Kurt's, still laughing at the prices, Glacern, well I was going to go that route but I was at Cabin Fever on the weekend and the first stop I made was at the Little Machine Shop display. They had a 5" model of a Kurt style vise that looked pretty good, a little oversized compared to most of the gear that they sell but I inquired about it anyway. The rep said it will be parallel to the table within .0006" across the width of the vise, well it is a "no name" so you pays your money and takes your chances. $200.00
http://littlemachineshop.com/products/product_view.php?ProductID=3951&category=
Well I picked it up, just barely, heavy, a 6" would have been nice but way to big for the my mill (there was a 6" Kurt at the show, used but in very good condition but I got a hernia just looking at it, $180.00) and to heavy to lift. The 4" ones don't open far enough for my needs. So this looked like a good bet. See the part about paying money/taking chances.
When I got home, it was off to the shop to check it out. Now I don't really know if there is a set procedure for checking a vise for accuracy so I checked it out looking for the obvious points of error. First I put a parallel in the jaws and ran finger type indicator across it (Brown and Sharp "best test" .0005" divisions)
.0006 over 5" just like they said.
Then I ran it from end to end on the ground top (jaws can be removed and placed on the out board end of the body parts so a larger piece can be mounted, Kurt style), no noticeable movement at all on the dial.
Next I put the indicator on the top of the movable jaw and looked for upward movement when tightening the jaws on the parallel, no movement whats so ever.
The last check I did was to put the finger against the back of the fixed jaw and see if there was movement when I tightened the jaws, OK this time not as good, it moved about.0025", but I might have been over tightening it a bit, it doesn't seem to take much to get a good grip.
Now for the big question. Was my procedure right or should I have been doing something differently to get a better look at how accurate or not, that the vise is.
I would have been happy to have everything within .001"
(this was also posted at the HSM site)
