Post by springcrocus on May 2, 2020 8:56:45 GMT
It's always awkward to get a thin section to stand square in the upright position in a drilling or milling vice and I thought I'd share this very simple way of creating a vertical locating face.
Quite simply, a piece of 16 swg mild steel the height of the the vice jaws was milled perfectly square on two faces and marked. A magnet from a stripped-down hard drive is used to hold the plate in place. This particular one came from a Seagate 80 GByte drive and has a 1/16" thick neodymium magnet set on a 1/16" plate (after linishing off a couple of locating pegs).
These magnets are very powerful and will hold the plate firmly against the back jaw. Any workpiece thicker that 1/8" can be lightly rested against the edge of the plate and the vice locked up. Now, the next edge can be milled square very easily.
Steve