Swivelling Machine Vice from Hemingway-Kits

[Bruno Mueller]

I have started a new project.
It shall become a vice. I found it at Hemingway in England and used the favorable exchange rate.

I ordered the material set and after a few days it was there.

Yesterday was the start. Part 1, I finished the base plate. The 360° graduation and the fitting of the pass strips are still missing, but they will be attached later.
First the cast blank was clamped onto the large face plate chuck and the bottom side was turned flat.
Then the center of the round casting shoulder was torn on the upper side. I did this with the centering angle. Again on the faceplate chuck this center was aligned and drilled, and the hole was turned out to 19.5mm and reamed with a 20mm reamer. The surface was turned so far that no casting skin was visible and the surface was smooth.
Now the 20 degree bevel could be turned. The inner heel was turned to the required depth and diameter. The center was supported with the rolling center punch and the top of the clamping flange was turned.
The groove for the clamping screws of the actual vice was cut to the required depth and width. For this purpose I ground a recessing steel from a broken off 6mm carbide cutter.
Now the part was taken to the milling machine and the outer contours of the clamping flange were machined.
Finally the mounting holes were torn and drilled. The positioning of the holes was based on the conditions of my milling machine table. My T-slots are 50mm apart.
In order to clamp the vice on the lathe (I have a groove distance of 75mm there), this dimension was also taken into account.
A 19mm hole to the groove was drilled from below.
Now I could clamp the base plate with a 20mm clamping bolt on the rotary table. Through the 19mm counter bore I could insert a T-slot milling cutter with 6mm shank from below and clamp it in the collet chuck of the milling machine and finish milling the T-slot.

[Bruno Mueller]

I have already pre-milled the actual vice. The dovetail for the movable jaw was already finished. I also milled the seat for the actual vice jaw.

The milling of the clamping plate and the outer contours is still missing.

The hole for the clamping nut will be machined later.

[Bruno Mueller]

With the vice I have come further. The lower part of the vice is almost finished. The drillings for the spindle nut and the attachment of the top jaws are still missing.
I had to mill the dovetail again, the selfmade cutter had not shaped the corner properly. The corner radius of the insert was too large.

[Bruno Mueller]

And on it goes with the vice.
Today I have almost finished milling the movable jaw.
Dovetail is finished and fits.
Inner cutout for the spindle nut is fitting.
Outside contours, up to the final height and the jaw support is also made.

First I clamped the blank with the upper side (which was relatively straight and did not wobble) on the milling table.
As a stop I put a 12mm fitting strip into the rear guide groove of the milling table and clamped the blank with claws.
Now the underside of the vice was milled slightly and in the same clamping the sides were milled to a right angle up to 0.5 mm.
Now I could place the jaw on the underside and machine the upper side. Here I left about 1mm to the final dimension.
The jaw could now be clamped in the vice, which I had previously aligned exactly with the fine tracer.
The dovetail was next.
First only pre-milled and at the end the dovetail was milled with the HSS milling cutter. First of all only the side that does not get a positioning strip. This was tried again and again to see if it would fit on the vice.
After that the other side was on. Here also again and again try if the adjusting bar fits. A tenth of air does not matter. It is compensated with the adjusting bar.
Now the movable jaw was placed on its lower part and the sides were milled flush with the fixed jaw.
Then the cut-out for the spindle nut was made.
Still to be done, - the cutout for inserting the spindle nut.
- the hole for the spindle, as well as the holes for the set screws and the top .

[Chipswitheverything]

Thanks, Bruno, for the photos and write up of this interesting project.  It is coming on very well, and may inspire other members to have a go at making this useful accessory.  Dave

[Johnmcc69]

 
Nice project!
 

 John

[Bruno Mueller]

After the dovetail guide was finished, the upper part was fitted.  I removed the guides only very slightly with a grinding file.
The movable jaw runs very easily and evenly.
I milled the complete vice again on the milling machine on the upper side so that the jaws are on the same level.
The height of the sliding plate is about 2mm higher, so it is possible to clamp wider pieces of sheet metal on the vice.
The thread of the spindle was pre-cut on the lathe and then the last hundredths were cut with a tread cutting dies.
The spindle runs in a bronze bushing.

[Bruno Mueller]

Further progress.
The engraving of the 360° division was completed. That was a hard work.
Furthermore a milling for an adjustable zero line carrier was made. After the vice is exactly aligned on the milling machine, the zero line is finally applied.

[Bruno Mueller]

more images

[sco]

Great work Bruno!

Time it earned it's keep now ;-)

Simon.

[Kim]

Yes, I can see that took some time - but the time certainly paid off - it looks great!
Kim

[Bruno Mueller]

The part is finished. The adjustable zero line carrier is attached and adjusted.
Now the question arises, should I still color the part or should I leave it like this?
What do you think.
I would have RAL 6011 available for selection.

[Bruno Mueller]

I have now completely finished the vice. The fitting strips for the milling machine table were attached and also adequate clamping screws were made.
The vice was exactly adjusted on the milling machine with the fine tracer and the zero line carrier was aligned to position zero on the rotary plate.

[propforward]

Lovely work. Not sure about painting it. It would certainly look good - but it already looks good in bare metal! Seems a shame to cover it up.

[Bruno Mueller]

The vice is now in place.
Adjusted and ready to work.

I will leave the vice like this. I think it looks so very good.