Hold-Down Solution for Taig

[Burn]

Okay, to provide some context:

Going to be milling copper, would like around a 4" opening. Primarily working with a piece around 2.5" wide, to about 4" long.

Gonna be milling around the outside of the copper, as well as working within the piece.

Could anyone please suggest a somewhat feasible vise?

Thanks guys, appreciate it a lot
(Saw that in the smileys list, decided why not?!?)
Burn

[Burn]

Was conversing with Chris at Littlemachineshop.com, and he pointed me to this vise. He indicated that it was the most accurate one they carry, accurate down to 0.0002", and cheap at $50. Looks like I'll go with that one, if nobody objects.

[parttime]

Looks like a good vice for what you described. You can also drill a center hole and bolt the work piece to the table. You'd have to stop and reclamp when working the center portion though. The up side is this method is free. I usually place the material on a riser pad of some sort if I need to mill the entire thickness. I use a set of aluminum finger clamps to hold most of my work.

[widgitmaster]

That is a grinding vise, and was designed to hold precision parts square and accurate for grinding on two sides, by laying the vise on one side allows you to grind the top and one side perpendicular to the stationary jaw!

These vises do not supply sufficient clamping pressure for milling with endmills greater than 1/4-3/8" diameter! If you plan on using it for milling, I would suggest you go to ACE Hardware and buy or order extra screws for closing the vise jaw, as you will be putting excessive torque pressure on the one screw! It will wear out fast, as will your hex wrench!

A professional Kurt 6" Mill vise will clamp with a pressure of one ton! The upward spiral of the endmill will pull itself out of a collet, or pull a part out of a vise when cutting! This can scrap parts and cutters!

Eric

[Burn]

Originally Posted by widgitmaster That is a grinding vise, and was designed to hold precision parts square and accurate for grinding on two sides, by laying the vise on one side allows you to grind the top and one side perpendicular to the stationary jaw! These vises do not supply sufficient clamping pressure for milling with endmills greater than 1/4-3/8" diameter! If you plan on using it for milling, I would suggest you go to ACE Hardware and buy or order extra screws for closing the vise jaw, as you will be putting excessive torque pressure on the one screw! It will wear out fast, as will your hex wrench! A professional Kurt 6" Mill vise will clamp with a pressure of one ton! The upward spiral of the endmill will pull itself out of a collet, or pull a part out of a vise when cutting! This can scrap parts and cutters! Eric

Thanks guys for the advice. Eric, I will be using a 3/8" endmill at the absolute maximum, more like a 1/4" or a 3/16". Do you think that the vise would still be able to hold up under those conditions? I can't order a huge 6" Kurt vise because the Taig wouldn't have much movement in the Y if I did that.

[widgitmaster]

I would suggest you go to eBay and search for "Palmgren", as they make a variety of heavy duty cast iron & steel vises with smaller footprints for your machine!

The grinding vise is a good vise, just don't push the feedrate and depth to the limit! In time you will learn it's limitations!

Eric

[Burn]

Okay, massive thread resurrection

Eric, I am looking to spend at max around $100 on a vise. To repeat my requirements/requests/specs:

-3/8" endmill maximum diameter
- 4" opening
- Milling copper

Any links or suggestions would be really appreciated. I wouldn't like to buy a crappy vise and have to spend more money to get the proper one down the road.

[widgitmaster]

Go to either Google oe eBay and search for: 4" mill vise, you will have a lot of choices!

[Burn]

http://cgi.ebay.com/4-X-4-1-8-ANGLE-...hippingPayment
With shipping, this would come out to be around $100.

Any good?

[Burn]

http://cgi.ebay.com/4X-4-1-8-MILLING...QQcmdZViewItem

While looking through their other items, I noticed this warning:

"THIS IS NOT A KURT BRAND, BUT THE GRADUATION AND SIZE ARE THE SAME AS KURT AND ONLY 1/3 THE PRICE!!"

? Is this to be trusted?

[Burn]

I think I found my vise- http://www.use-enco.com/CGI/INSRIT?P...PARTPG=INLMK32

Although it's 120 plus shipping, it's a Palmgren 4" vise, model #MVS40. Normally, it retails for 166 but Enco has it for ~120 before shipping. If I can get some confirmation from someone who is knowledgeable about these products, I will press the order button now.

Edit- Here is the link to Palmgren's site. Note the manufacturer numbers are the same on both the Enco and Palmgren pages.
http://www.palmgren.com/p-mt-standardmillingvises.html

[widgitmaster]

I would thing the Kurt Clone to be a better type vise as it uses angle -lock technology!

Surf eBay for a used one, without the swivel base, much cheaper!

Eric