Phil Kangas used his keyboard to write :
"Michael Koblic" wrote in message
The new vise arrived today. Eagerly I clamped it to the table and had at it
with my indicator (NB - *not* a test indicator). After much effort I got it
down to 2/1000" in 2" which is not great but I could not seem to do better.
Anyway, for the job in mind I was not too concerned.

The work went swimmingly: It involved drilling three holes down the center
of a 2.5" piece of a 7/16" key stock. I laid out the centres just to be sure
and used a centre finder on the first one - center drilled, drilled, repeat
three times by moving the Y-axis with the X-axis locked.

To my surprise the holes came out on a diagonal. Very slight but noticeable
to a naked eye and confirmed by measurement - and not a subtle 0.002"
either!

The only reason I can think of is that I screwed up the vise alignment
(duh!) but why? Is it because the indicator is attached to the spindle in a
drill chuck and the spindle has a freedom to move with every adjustment to
the vise I make? I have seen this procedure on two videos and unless I am
missing something everyone does it this way, i.e. indicator in a chuck.

Maybe I should repeat with the indicator on a mag base somewhere independent
of the spindle? What do you guys do?

--
Michael Koblic,
Campbell River, BC



On my old Millport (Bridgeport clone from Taiwan) there is a
boss with a set
screw near the quill lock through which I can insert a rod
with a D.I.. That
way the movement of the quill is not even considered. Much
more stable
and quick to use. You want the face of the chuck in line
with the table
movement., right?
phil

Phil,
Aha! That's what that rod was for. When I got my mill I didn't
know what the rod in that position was used for. Forgot about it
and never asked on the NG about it.

Michael,
Are the gibs adjusted properly?

Wayne D.