• Welcome to Overclockers Forums! Join us to reply in threads, receive reduced ads, and to customize your site experience!

Lock the vise

Overclockers is supported by our readers. When you click a link to make a purchase, we may earn a commission. Learn More.

mateo

Member
Joined
Dec 7, 2002
I have a cross-slide vise and a drill press, I know its sort of a ghetto setup, but anyway the vibration from the milling bit is causing the threaded bars that move the vice (don't know the exact term) to move, which slightly moves the vise itself. I couldn't find a mechanism that would lock these bars in place. Does anyone know how I could solve this problem?
 
I have exactly the same type of setup, and exactly the same type of problem. On my cross vice though, there are screws on the x and y axis which press a steel plate against the vice rails to lock it in position - usefull obviously for holding it still in the left and right position for when you're cutting vertical channels. What you could try is looking at how the mounts are coupled to the axis rotation shaft. I don't know how old your vice is, but your problem may be due to worn threads. If this is the case, maybe you could buy some stock threaded steel rod / thread your own, and re-mount the axes. Also on my setup, the drill press itself is a source of judder, and I can't get the play out of the system there either. I'm going to purchase a milling machine when I get my own house though - I'm in a rented flat now, so there's no room :-(
But as for the current situation, maybe finding different ways to cut the channels might be as good? Dremmel wheels, hacksaws and butchering skived copper heatsinks all seem to be standard methods of making some decent channels at small widths.
 
Heh, I just got mine in the mail this weekend, its not old ;) I can find ghetto ways to secure the vise, which Ill do, and I think there are some plates like you said on mine but I think they're sort of different and don't do much if anything.
 
On a drillpress, holding the endmill in the stock and moving the cross-slide vise is a bad idea. Most chucks are not bolted in, they are just hammered lightly into a tapered arbor.

I milled my blocks by plunging the endmill into the stock (slowly of course) down to the depth I wanted, raising the endmill, moving the stock about a 1/16" and then plunging again. That stopped the excessive jitter that kept making the chuck pop off the arbor.
 
That's what I do, but a straight hole will cause jitter. It seems 1/4" expands to 5/16"
 
Alot of it is down to the play on my drill press - it's a cheap B&Q drillpress that I got for £40. ($60ish) I think if I bought a £100 drill then alot of it would be eliminated by virtue of improved bearings and quality. Another thing on my drill is I busted the chuck, knocking it back on the arbor when it worked loose, so I got a heavier duty one, and the taper is very slightlydifferent - although still labelled as a JT33 taper - and so the new chuck wobbles visibly. I need a mill!!!!!:mad:
 
frostmeister said:
I need a mill!!!!!:mad:

So do I :(. I think now its a combination of the play of the drill press itself and this whole vise thing. Ill have to redesign my waterblocks around it...:mad:
 
Is there not a way to undo the screws on each axis and add a locking nut(s) to stop it. I've seen people do that on other things that needed to be stopped from moving. I don't think it would be feasible to put split pin locks in it as you would have to drill holes through the axis bolts.

Maybe you should get a proper vice?

A.S
 
Well, from all descriptions, this was to be a proper vise. I can't go much more proper than get a milling machine, and would guess that even if I did just replace the vise, my dad would be quite ****ed. Not fun stuff.

The locking nut is a good idea, but now that I think of it more, there would still be play in the drill press itself. Ill just work around it.
 
You need an attachment for your drillpress,
like this:
MorseTaperShankColletChuck.jpg
 
What's hit quote, gone fishin? Isn't the attatchment you're referring to an arbor? That is basically what the drill chuck fits on to. It's what I've got a problem with at the moment because the chuck I bought to replace the bust one has a steeper taper, and so wobbles on the drill press. Even though the old one didn't wobble at all, it still worked loose, because moving the work sideways cause the chuck to gradually come off the arbor.
To counteract this, you'd normally use a screw thread fitting, or on mills, as far as I'm aware, you use a collet chuck, which grips the mill bit along the length of the shank - the same way as the dremmel.
What's happening in both loner's and my own setups, is that the play inherent in the drill and the vice we're using is causing the juddering, and the mill bit is grabbing the work and biting into it causing the vice / drill chuck to move. You aren't going to completely eliminate this unless you lock down the vice to stop it moving AND tighten the bearings on the drill. Or get a milling machine. A square column milling machine is made to cut out these inconsistencies, rather than the drill press, which in essence is made only to apply pressure vertically. Sorry if that's overstating the matter, but I've looked into this and tried to find a way around it now for the last 6 - 8 months or so.
 
Press the quote button and the name is on the jpg is what I meant. You probably got the wrong taper. That is a morse taper collet chuck, and be aware there are different size tapers which are numbered so you have to match the one you got. That type of taper requires a key to be inserted in the slot and given a blow with a hammer to remove it. The normal drill press arbor has another taper on the bottom which the drill chuck head slides over (that is the one a mill bit will pull the chuck loose from). This one has a collet chuck permanantly attached to it. Any bad wobbling with this would be due to poor bearings or overloading the cutter or both.:D

Your xy table may be of dubious quality, got a link to the exact same one so we can look at it?
 
Back