Adjustable Vise

My first "real" project on a mill. This is a two-piece vise that can accommodate a wide range of sizes. The fixed end is straight-forward. The cap screw heads are counter bored below flush with the top surface. The foot has a full-length slot to provide clearance for the tops of the Sherline T-nuts.

The adjustable end has two ground hardened steel dowels that are Loc-Tited into the moving end and a tight slip fit through the fixed end. The dowels are too long so we'll change that on the next one. The adjustment screw is 10-32 like all of Sherline's main screws and the standard T-handle hex key fits. The small V-groove along the top surface is for alignment purposes. While the pieces of the vise can be used in any relationship to each other with very good precision, by assembling the parts on the cross slide with the V-grooves all on the same side, the flatness and parallelism are increased from ±.001 to ±.0005 TIR.

This vise is nominally 3/8" high x 3/4" wide. A 1" width would allow more holding force with less tightening on the T-nuts. That would be the Mk II model (or ver 1.1). Next up is a 1" x 1" version for larger work.

clicky on the little pictures

001 ready to use	adjustable side	squaring the clamp	ready to tighten
clamped	vise in use