The quickest way I know how to clock up a machine vice

[thehomeengineer]

Hi All
I thought I would share this video with you on the way I clock up a vice. I hope once you have watched it anybody having any issues with this fundamental part of milling will be able to try this simple, quick, and accurate method to help speed up set up times. This method works on all types of set ups.
One quick note before clamping any tool or component to a machine table ensure all mating faces are clean and the tee slots are clear of any swarf. This will increase the accuracy of setting the machine up and prevent any damage. Hope you enjoy the video and I am not showing you how to suck eggs.

Thank you again for your interest in my post
The Home Engineer

[Ralphxyz]

Thanks, I need to do this for a new vice I got.

Ralph

[DIYer]

Thanks thehomeengineer! We've added your Vise Clocking Method to our Measuring and Marking category,
as well as to your builder page: thehomeengineer's Homemade Tools. Your receipt:

Vise Clocking Method by thehomeengineer

tags: vise, alignment, dial indicator

[Toolmaker51]

Yup, same way this side of the pond!
thehomeengineer shows a bar in the vise and only travels to approximate center of vise [over the center post]. That's all the travel needed for the first few checks. Going all the way across doubles the TIR without any benefit; if the right side is off, so is the left! Always amused watching guys traverse full right and left, especially if there doesn't happen to be power feed, lol.

A few I'll tease with some racing parlance wisecrack about "you collecting lap money?", that an indicator or tachometer, ZIP Codes, if you travel any farther pick up lunch, etc.
It's fun being the old guy!

[thehomeengineer]

Hi Toolmaker51
Really like the jibes very funny, typical engineer humour and banter.
Thank you for the good explanation which will help improve the thread. I am a server dyslexic so do struggle with expressing myself in words both written and verbal. It’s not an issue to me and I would rather people know so if I do a really mess-up people understand why.
Doing the videos, I have just started or posting on here just takes a bit of time. Thank heavens for Microsoft word. (mind you I can even confuse the spell checker lol) So thank you for the great reply to this post.
The Home Engineer

[Frank S]

I can definitely relate to causing spell checker going into meltdown, particularly when it applies to mechanical terms.
Toolmaker 51's comment about lap money lunch and zip codes, brings to mind a time I hired a young man whose union was out on strike. He worked in a machine shop that did aerospace work. He had never worked around older worn machines and my old Bridgeport fit that category x 10. It should have been relegated to the museum of abused antiquities 30 years before I acquired it. However I knew where the sweet spots were to achieve the results I needed for the things we made. Those being at either end of the table travel . Bob however didn't know this so one day he was doing a set up in the vice and was trying to get it trammed in right in the center of the table. I seen him spinning the wheels back and forth again and again., which had gone on for quite some time. Finally I asked him if he was going to run the job or wear the handles off the hand wheels. I CAN"T GET IT TO REPEAT 2 times in a row he yelled. Well why not mount the vice at either end of the table and try that just use one of the 12 inch parallels clamp in in the vice zero off the center run it to the left or the right 1 time tap it to zero tighten the vice down and run the job .002" is close enough for what you are doing. If you keep on the way you are going I'm going to have to pay air miles for the job.

[thehomeengineer]

In our workshop we had a brand-new rotary table and the very first job someone drilled 9 holes into it. (I was gutted as it was less than a week old) anyway after a bit of investigation I found out who caused the damage. The guy said he didn’t realise he had done it. When I looked at the job he had machined on the rotary table it was an 18-hole bolted flange. So, a bit tongue in cheek I said to him “did you not go deep enough on the other 9 holes”.
The Home Engineer

[Toolmaker51]

In our workshop we had a brand-new rotary table and the very first job someone drilled 9 holes into it. (I was gutted as it was less than a week old) anyway after a bit of investigation I found out who caused the damage. The guy said he didn’t realise he had done it. When I looked at the job he had machined on the rotary table it was an 18-hole bolted flange. So, a bit tongue in cheek I said to him “did you not go deep enough on the other 9 holes”.
The Home Engineer

OUCH!
I've mentioned before; observation that such things plague those who haven't spent THEIR or serious money on equipment.

[Frank S]

In our workshop we had a brand-new rotary table and the very first job someone drilled 9 holes into it. (I was gutted as it was less than a week old) anyway after a bit of investigation I found out who caused the damage. The guy said he didn’t realise he had done it. When I looked at the job he had machined on the rotary table it was an 18-hole bolted flange. So, a bit tongue in cheek I said to him “did you not go deep enough on the other 9 holes”.
The Home Engineer

9 holes in one in a single round but wasn't quite up to par on the other 9 Eh? That's bad. Back in the day I would have gone Hiroshima and Nagasaki on him.
Some folks just should never be left alone around complicated machinery.

[thehomeengineer]

I like it Frank