I want a set of soft jaws for the mill vise. A vertical V groove or 2 will be added. I have Asmara eat of v blocks I can use but they have too wide and deep of a groove to hold smaller parts and are also hardened so they dent softer material.
I started with a 3” wide chunk of Al. Used the Sawzall to cut roughly to length and then split it down the middle. Leaves a rough cut but the flycutter doesn’t seem to care.
Flycut the sawed edges then faced all other sides. I flycut the two sides with the parts side by side in the vise so they came out the same. I then faced the two faces and left the mill setup the same when doing the final face so they are the same thickness.
Ends were cleaned up with a 1/2” endmill. Used my new mill stop to make them the same length.
Now I need to make a 45° angle block, do some layout, and make my grooves. I will probably mill the sides so I have a lip that rests on top of the vise jaw to hold the soft jaw roughly in place.
I started with a 3” wide chunk of Al. Used the Sawzall to cut roughly to length and then split it down the middle. Leaves a rough cut but the flycutter doesn’t seem to care.
Flycut the sawed edges then faced all other sides. I flycut the two sides with the parts side by side in the vise so they came out the same. I then faced the two faces and left the mill setup the same when doing the final face so they are the same thickness.
Ends were cleaned up with a 1/2” endmill. Used my new mill stop to make them the same length.
Now I need to make a 45° angle block, do some layout, and make my grooves. I will probably mill the sides so I have a lip that rests on top of the vise jaw to hold the soft jaw roughly in place.