One of my many vises (rebuild of a cheap drill press vise) [2048x1629 - 353KB]

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One of my many vises (rebuild of a cheap drill press vise) [2048x1629 - 353KB] (poal.co)

It's been a while since I've done a machining project (been working on something else for just over a year that I should post where it belongs soon).

I recently picked up a beat up old drill press vise at a sale for $5. It was a little worse for wear, but overall not in much worse condition than it was the day it was made, so it needed fixing if it's going to be any fun to use. image name goes here

A cursory look at it showed that the base was not level. It was out on one corner by a little over 0.5mm, which is quite a lot. First step was to fix it to the mill using the main rails as an initial reference surface and fly cut the base until it was level. This took a few passes. image name goes here

With the base flat, it could now be securely bolted to the mill table and the fixed jaw, top and insides of the main rail machined flat and relatively perpendicular. image name goes here

Flipped back over, the underside of the rails was trued up so they are a consistent thickness the whole length (they were out by about 0.3mm to start with, since the final moving jaw will have ~0.01mm of play, that wouldn't do). image name goes here

The moving jaw was cleaned up on most sides. The initial face was "as cast", so this needed to be cleaned up too. image name goes here

The old plate that held the moving jaw down was junk, it was just a thin piece of crap steel that had no way of being properly tightened down with a close fit. It was either loose or jammed. A new plate was made from some 25x10mm steel bar. This had 1.96mm shoulders on either side to give the desired clearance and the shoulders were milled to create a step that was just narrower than the milled gap. image name goes here

Positioning the holes in the bottom plate was crucial. To do this, I temporarily bolted the moving jaw to the fixed jaw. The assembly was then mounted on the mill upside down so I could use a 5mm drill to locate the two M6 tapped holes and record them in the DRO. image name goes here

After this, the bottom plate could be clamped in place while the first hole was drilled, then bolted down and the clamp removed to drill the second hole. A slight lack of foresight (should have put an additional T-nut in the middle slot before I bolted the vise down) led to an unusual clamping arrangement. image name goes here

I must have got distracted a bit and didn't take any photos of the creation of the soft jaws (which are made from 1/4" aluminum plate) and the trimming of the sides of the jaws. All I got was tramming the fixed jaw of the vise in so that the sides could be milled square. image name goes here

Later on, I'm going to make a sliding lock for this vise on the drill press. To attach to that I made a lug with an M8 threaded hole that I will be able to screw into, rather than trying to tap the thin and sloping cast iron edge of the vise. This lug was made from some heavy 1" x 1" angle iron, milled down and squared up as required. image name goes here

Two M6 holes were tapped for fixing to the vise. image name goes here

The underside of the vise was milled flat for a good fit and the finished part could be screwed down with some M6 socket head bolts. image name goes here

The last feature to add to the vise were 4 holes to attach an adjustable depth stop to. Drilling the holes was simple, the setup was a little tricky and not the most rigid. First I bolted down and trammed a home made angle plate to the mill. image name goes here

The vise could then be bolted to this and the front of the fixed jaw (which was the only machined surface in that plane that I could get an indicator on) trammed vertical. This is likely not very precise, but both axes were trammed in to within +/-0.02mm over their lengths, which is plenty good enough for a couple of tapped holes. image name goes here

The depth stop is a fairly simple affair, It's just a block of steel with two 6mm holes drilled in it. One has a set screw embedded at an angle to clamp the depth stop bar and the other is clearance for an M6 bolt. image name goes here

Overall it turned a pretty crappy vise into something that will be enjoyable to use. I still need to cut an access hole in the front to mount the bar for the sliding drill table clamp, that's another project though. The only other thing I should do is tweak the end of the lead screw a bit. The alignment of the main nut and the moving jaw hole is terrible, it's probably around 1mm out of alignment. This isn't an issue for most of the travel, but if you open the vise all the way it binds at one spot a little. I think I can fix this without doing anything too drastic (like plugging the moving jaw hole and re-drilling it).

It's been a while since I've done a machining project (been working on something else for just over a year that I should post where it belongs soon). I recently picked up a beat up old drill press vise at a sale for $5. It was a little worse for wear, but overall not in much worse condition than it was the day it was made, so it needed fixing if it's going to be any fun to use. [image name goes here](https://poal.co/static/images/38344e2d310fa78e.jpg) A cursory look at it showed that the base was not level. It was out on one corner by a little over 0.5mm, which is quite a lot. First step was to fix it to the mill using the main rails as an initial reference surface and fly cut the base until it was level. This took a few passes. [image name goes here](https://poal.co/static/images/c3868c868322768c.jpg) With the base flat, it could now be securely bolted to the mill table and the fixed jaw, top and insides of the main rail machined flat and relatively perpendicular. [image name goes here](https://poal.co/static/images/833151a9b4c3879c.jpg) Flipped back over, the underside of the rails was trued up so they are a consistent thickness the whole length (they were out by about 0.3mm to start with, since the final moving jaw will have ~0.01mm of play, that wouldn't do). [image name goes here](https://poal.co/static/images/3b736bf3a246c663.jpg) The moving jaw was cleaned up on most sides. The initial face was "as cast", so this needed to be cleaned up too. [image name goes here](https://poal.co/static/images/96569f3cdfe6f3f9.jpg) The old plate that held the moving jaw down was junk, it was just a thin piece of crap steel that had no way of being properly tightened down with a close fit. It was either loose or jammed. A new plate was made from some 25x10mm steel bar. This had 1.96mm shoulders on either side to give the desired clearance and the shoulders were milled to create a step that was just narrower than the milled gap. [image name goes here](https://poal.co/static/images/66e6e7c103161891.jpg) Positioning the holes in the bottom plate was crucial. To do this, I temporarily bolted the moving jaw to the fixed jaw. The assembly was then mounted on the mill upside down so I could use a 5mm drill to locate the two M6 tapped holes and record them in the DRO. [image name goes here](https://poal.co/static/images/919a34499b223033.jpg) After this, the bottom plate could be clamped in place while the first hole was drilled, then bolted down and the clamp removed to drill the second hole. A slight lack of foresight (should have put an additional T-nut in the middle slot before I bolted the vise down) led to an unusual clamping arrangement. [image name goes here](https://poal.co/static/images/4df8f0c69bb9767a.jpg) I must have got distracted a bit and didn't take any photos of the creation of the soft jaws (which are made from 1/4" aluminum plate) and the trimming of the sides of the jaws. All I got was tramming the fixed jaw of the vise in so that the sides could be milled square. [image name goes here](https://poal.co/static/images/4edafb6fbddb67a4.jpg) Later on, I'm going to make a sliding lock for this vise on the drill press. To attach to that I made a lug with an M8 threaded hole that I will be able to screw into, rather than trying to tap the thin and sloping cast iron edge of the vise. This lug was made from some heavy 1" x 1" angle iron, milled down and squared up as required. [image name goes here](https://poal.co/static/images/9c64ce9226343c18.jpg) Two M6 holes were tapped for fixing to the vise. [image name goes here](https://poal.co/static/images/8326e58860c9a626.jpg) The underside of the vise was milled flat for a good fit and the finished part could be screwed down with some M6 socket head bolts. [image name goes here](https://poal.co/static/images/d3b727564d279797.jpg) The last feature to add to the vise were 4 holes to attach an adjustable depth stop to. Drilling the holes was simple, the setup was a little tricky and not the most rigid. First I bolted down and trammed a home made angle plate to the mill. [image name goes here](https://poal.co/static/images/da87642430998448.jpg) The vise could then be bolted to this and the front of the fixed jaw (which was the only machined surface in that plane that I could get an indicator on) trammed vertical. This is likely not very precise, but both axes were trammed in to within +/-0.02mm over their lengths, which is plenty good enough for a couple of tapped holes. [image name goes here](https://poal.co/static/images/816572181e1e9b66.jpg) The depth stop is a fairly simple affair, It's just a block of steel with two 6mm holes drilled in it. One has a set screw embedded at an angle to clamp the depth stop bar and the other is clearance for an M6 bolt. [image name goes here](https://poal.co/static/images/f668646431150e99.jpg) Overall it turned a pretty crappy vise into something that will be enjoyable to use. I still need to cut an access hole in the front to mount the bar for the sliding drill table clamp, that's another project though. The only other thing I should do is tweak the end of the lead screw a bit. The alignment of the main nut and the moving jaw hole is terrible, it's probably around 1mm out of alignment. This isn't an issue for most of the travel, but if you open the vise all the way it binds at one spot a little. I think I can fix this without doing anything too drastic (like plugging the moving jaw hole and re-drilling it).