Chasing a .002 inch offset on a worn out vise - two days or two hours?

I spent like 6 hours last Wednesday trying to get a part to hold tolerance on my old Bridgeport clone. Turns out the vise jaws had a .003 gap at the back that was pulling everything out of square. I was about to swear off machining forever until a buddy said just tap the part with a deadblow before tightening. Worked first try after that but man I wasted a whole afternoon. So are we better off replacing worn hardware immediately or learning the little tricks to work around it? Curious how long you guys let a problem eat up before you stop and check the basics.

2 comments

2 Comments

parker5431d ago

Honestly that "tap it with a deadblow" trick reminded me of something my buddy Dave ran into on his old Rockwell. He spent a whole weekend chasing a .005 offset on a fixture plate only to realize the table locks were putting a bind on the ways. He finally just loosened everything up, tapped the table straight with a brass hammer, and it held within a thou the rest of the day. Those little workarounds save your wallet but man they cost you time.

david_fisher371d ago

That .005 offset sounds familiar. Did your buddy ever figure out if the bind was from overtightening or just worn out ways on that Rockwell? I had a similar headache on a Bridgeport years ago where the table locks were worn unevenly, and no matter what I did it would pull the table out of square by a few thou once I snugged them down. Ended up having to stone the lock surfaces flat and shim one side with feeler stock to get it even. Was it something like that or was it just a lazy Saturday and he didn't notice the bind until after hours of setup?