Thursday, June 9, 2011

Jewel of a vice

On Saturday May 7th I hosted a gathering of Home Shop Hobby Machinists, and along with the "Show and Tell" of their projects, they were invited to bring items for swapping. George brought an old milling vise. It was in good shape but rather small, and had a rather large awkward base. No one seemed interested, so George just left it in trade for a box of Micarta that I had set out. At first I thought of adding it to the antique display, but after thinking a little more about it, I decided it could be converted into a vice for the shaper. I have been trying to find a better one than the old homemade one anyway.
The first order of business was to take the base and mount it on a face plate and machine a Tee shape groove.
Then the big mounting lugs were sawed off, and the bottom of what was left machined off smooth and level. The big screw that held it together was discarded and two smaller screws with Tee nuts now take it's place.
The end result was "Jewel" of a vise for the shaper. It fits and works just like it was made for the job. It closely resembles an original Atlas shaper vise. It even has the patina to look the part. I'm really pleased with it.
Presently I'm working on a new invention that I call a bottle washer engine, but you will have to wait, because I'm not ready to disclose much information on it.

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