holding a large piece

[fatboy55]

Hello Everyone,

I have a piece of steel 5x15x.5 inches, it has a 1 inch wide slot cut down the middle of it most of its length. I need to fly cut the whole surface now but can't figure out how to hold it.

If my vise was wide enough to hold it I could just set it up on parallels and cut it. But its not. I know I need a bigger vise but that's what I'm stuck with right now.

Any ideas on how to deal with this?

FS

[Geof]

Toe clamps:

http://www.miteebite.com/

http://www.miteebite.com/products/t-...e_clamp_e.html

[fatboy55]

Originally Posted by Geof Toe clamps: http://www.miteebite.com/ http://www.miteebite.com/products/t-...e_clamp_e.html

Thanks Geof,

I'm looking for a way to do this now, with what I have. I'm going to get a new vise from Enco this week. A cheap import but it'll do. I don't want to order stuff just for this job.

Any other ideas?

FS

[Cruiser]

Double sided sticky tape ! make sure it is the thin stuff and clean the table and material real good of all oil then set it into place. For releasing you can use some hot solvent such as lacquer thinner or whatever hits it strong and fast. Test it to some extent to be sure it is holding before putting the tool to it. We've used this for thin stock in mills and grinders. The thin tape is pretty reliable for thickness.

[fatboy55]

Originally Posted by Cruiser Double sided sticky tape !

Wow, I never thought of that. If I had I wouldn't have thought it would work! Thanks Cruiser I'll give that a try.

FS

[fatboy55]

If the tape works I bet a line of hot glue around the edge will too. I even have that in the house already, easy!


FS

[rowbare]

I would think that the tape would have much more holding force than a bead of hot glue. That is a big chunk of steel to have flying around....

[Cruiser]

Hot glue might be a problem as the iron will draw the heat from the glue too fast so the first applied will be too cool when you set the piece down on it, it would be imperitive to put it between the piece and table. If applied around the edge it would not have much holding power at all compared to being squished out to a thin layer between ~ I would consider using a table plate of aluminum or whatever which you can bond piece too then clamp plate to table top using bolts and T nuts. Then you can use solvent submersion or heat or what ever to brake bond.

[fatboy55]

Hello Everyone,

I did the glue yesterday. It worked great. I only put it around the edges. The piece was warped a bit, not by the glue, and when the fly cutter reached the high spots it broke the tip off. Its an interupted cut. The piece still didn't move a bit.

I'm off now to get a 1" end mill to flatten it out a bit before I fly cut again. Thanks for the help everyone.

On a different subject but related, what size vise is best for the IH mill?

I was looking at a 6 inch jaw but its something like 16 or 17 inches long! Too much.

What do you all like using?

FS

[Cruiser]

As for a vise I feel that the 6" is ideal for a primary vise. I have drilled and tapped two holes on my table for mounting it lengthwise to table x axis on the left end. It is out of the way and easy to use. I also mount it crosswise or along y axis but it can interfer with homing or moving close to collumn as it will tag collumn, depending where and how you mount it. Smaller vises could be very usfull but I'd go precision for a smaller vise. I bought a kurt 6" for its precision. I don't know how good the imports are. the kurt is spendy but it is a very good vise and extremely precise as well has a strong hold with minimal force applied to the clamping pressure.

[fatboy55]

Hey Cruiser,

You don't find the 6 inch hangs too much over the tables edge?

I use my vise for almost everything so it would be in the middle of my table.

Right now I have a bunch of small 3 inch screwless vices. Nice for somethings but not for general use.

FS

[Cruiser]

There is no overhang if I use the drilled and tapped holes to mount along X axis. If mounted on the Y axis I generally use the T slot furthest away from collumn and it is good to go, plenty of clearance. The overhang is then towards my enclosure doors, with the vise screw pointing right at me. Most of the time tho it is mounted using the d&t holes.