Measure Vise & Part Deflection

With the large forces applied by a vise, deflection can occur between the jaws of a vise. These jaws can deflect away from each other along their top surface, known as jaw lift (see below for more information), as well as from side to side.

While there are a number of ways to hold work, when there aren’t many (or any) flat surfaces, a standard vise can complicate things. When using a lathe or holding something that just doesn’t have flat sides, a chuck is a great solution. A chuck is essentially a round vise, with jaws that hold your workpiece.

A good vise is a fundamental tool for precision machining. In addition to choosing the right size vise for your machine, identifying the right types of vise for workholding is critical to making sure your workpiece is secured while its being milled. There are a three types of vises that you’ll commonly encounter in CNC milling – the machinist vise, the CNC vise, and the toolmaker vise.

Workholding is one of the most hot-button issue in the worlds of machining, metalworking, and general fabrication. While finding new ways to hold parts as you cut can be an entertaining endeavor, if you’re on a budget and/or schedule, it will plague your very existence. Vises are one of the primary ways to hold your work, and milling soft jaws to fit specific parts is a common practice.

Although not nearly as common as 3- or 4- Jaw chucks, a 2-Jaw Chuck can be quite handy for certain 4th Axis jobs. The jaws on a 2-Jaw chuck are opposite each other (obviously!) and they are driven by a scroll plate, just like the jaws on a 3-Jaw chuck. They are typically used in 2 scenarios:

A popular tech line request is  for more information about setting up a 4th axis.  Earlier, we showed how to true a 4th axis to the mill motion using shims and how to set up a 3 Jaw chuck.   In this new video, Mike  C. demonstrates  how to set up a 4-Jaw chuck on a 4th axis.  He also shows basic tail stock setup.