On Nov 25, 9:26*pm, "Phil Kangas" wrote:
"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


My indicator is mounted on a small magnetic base which I stick onto
the vertical dovetail that carries the knee. This dovetail runs from
the base of the machine to the very top of the mill... It is
basically a horizontal mill with a vertical head.

Michael, it is just possible that the spindle rotates a little when
you adjust the vise, as you suspect

I use a .001" / div Federal indicator and have no difficulty in
adjusting the vise so that there is no indicator needle movement.

Does your vise have any locating keys engaging a Tee slot? Just
asking:-)). One thing I do is snug one bolt holding the vise, and
leave the other a little looser; it makes the adjustment movement a
little more predictable.

Wolfgang