"Jim Wilkins" wrote in message news
"Bob La Londe" wrote in message
news
Upon Some reflection, how about a thick bar suspended between two or more
jacks?

Hmmmm... I think I am getting into the area where I am just going to have
to try it and see.

First I guess I need to make some jacks with different heads. Flat head,
flat flanged stud head, etc.

Ultimately I am thinking I'll have to go back to the idea of shoehorning
two vises on the machines. Maybe a pair of 4 inch screwless machined out
to hold six inch stock to keep the weight down, and have the compact
length.

4 inch mill vise or lockdown vise will not fit inside enclosure without
hitting the doors. Just a hair too long. However my 6 inch screwless
machined out fit just fine. I actually bought a couple 4 inch lockdowns
for those machines. Oops. On the other hand they make great drill press
vises. LOL.

Maybe it would be better to just sacrifice some of my tooling and make
some fixtures with edge clamps.

I definitely do not need another cup of coffee this morning. LOL.

If you don't mind modifying vises you could cut shallow work locating
and clamping steps at the tops of the jaws and make support blocks the
same height.

************

I definitely do not mind modifying vises. I have a bunch of screwless and
except for my 1 inch insert vises which already have a stepped jaw I think I
have machined at a minimum a stepped jaw in all of them. I've also machined
stepped jaw or soft step jaws for most of my mill and lockdown vises. I
think only the 2 4 inch lockdown vises and a 4 inch Enco swivel base mill
vise I bought with some other stuff from a shop going out of business have
original jaws in them. I lost count of how many vises I have a long time
ago. Well over 20. Maybe over 30. I guess vises are one of my vices.

Anyway, mounting support blocks on the table and milling them to match the
height of the jaw steps is a good idea. I can use 1" by X" aluminum flat
bar to try it out, and then if it works upgrade to some more permanent
pieces from 4140 or whatever I have on the bits and pieces shelf.