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Float Lock Vise
Float Lock Vise
[Sep. 2019]
[Feb. 2020]
This build is inspired by and (mostly) based on a series of videos by mrpete222 in which he builds a copy of an older version of the commercially sold "Float Lock Vise" (I believe this older model is no longer manufactured). I thought this would be an ideal project for me for two reasons. First, I have recently (July 2019) an Atlas Shaper and I think this will be a good project to try out different shaper methods. Second, I am also in the process of learning OnShape 3D CAD and this will be a good opportunity to practice and also prepare drawings for the project (although a set of drawings is already available for the "original" vise).
3D CAD and Drawings
3D CAD and Drawings
You can view the OnShape drawing at the link below. If you are an OnShape user, this is a public document which you can view and copy.
A set of drawings in PDF format can be downloaded here:
Important note about the drawings: The final set of drawings were used by me for an actual build. While I have done my best to proof-read the drawings, there may be errors which have not yet been corrected. The design in these drawings is slightly different from the "original" mrpete222 youtube project.
If I find any errors or make changes after this posting, I will post updates here.
float-lock-vise-2020-02-25.pdf
[10-14-2019] Updated drawings with some missing dimension call-outs, and added some note
[11-20-2019] Minor change to add missing dimension call-out.
Drawings revised to reduce width of vee-grooves in fixed jaw
Updated 12-12-2019 to add missing dimensions
Updated 02-25-2020 to add additional dimensions and notes
Build
Build
[Nov. 20, 2019] It begins! Got a couple other small projects out of the way, so I can finally start work on the vise. As noted in the above introduction, this project has two objectives: First, to build a float lock vise, and second, to use the shaper extensively for the build. The reason for wanting to use the shaper for this project is that at the time of this writing, I have just started teaching myself how to use the shaper. Although I have practiced a bit on a few test pieces, I find that using the shaper for an actual project is both more interesting and more instructive. In addition, using the shaper for a project gives me the opportunity to grind and use cutting tools which I can also use for other future projects.
Jaws
I cut two pieces of stock to rough length, and began squaring up one end in the shaper. The vise is rotated to the 0 degree position (and fine tuned to squareness using an indicator). This was also an opportunity to grind a cutting tool for cutting on the right end.
Note the angle of the clapper box, to ensure that the tool swings away from the work. I took cuts of about 0.020" off the end, and downward about 0.012" (approx. 1/8 of a full rotation of the down-feed handle) on each pass.
Here is a a closer look (slightly out of focus on the cutting tool, I'm afraid). Note the slight gouging of the workpiece on the front top edge; this was caused by my initially having the clapper box angle wrong, causing the cutting tool to swing into the work on the back-stroke. Fortunately the rough cut length was sufficient to allow me to clean up the end completely.
Not shown in the picture, but I also tried grinding a cutting tool for shear cutting on the end, to see if it would improve the finish. This did give me a better finish, although I also did the down-feed in smaller increments so that was probably also a factor.
All of this end cutting makes me wish I had automated down-feed on my shaper - maybe a future project.
To square up the opposite end and finish to proper length, I ground a cutting tool for left-end cutting. Note that the clapper box angle is reversed for cutting on the left side. Of course I could have just reversed the work pieces in the vise, but I wanted to continue with my effort to develop tooling for my shaper, while using it for different operations.
Although I am enjoying using the shaper, I can see why the advent of the Bridgeport mill rapidly made the shaper obsolete. It took much longer to finish the ends of the work-pieces in the shaper than it would have taken in a mill (even my mini-mill). On the other hand, access to the work is much better in the shaper in terms of taking measurements, etc. I also like the nice finish I get from using the shaper, and I can see where this might be an advantage for some projects.
Fixed jaw : [See photos below] The work-piece was setup in the mill and the holes for the guide rod and threaded rod were drilled in stages to 1/64" below final size, and then reamed to final size. The hole for the threaded rod was counter-bored before it was reamed.
Spotting for guide rod hole
Guide rod hole drilled in stages and reamed
Counter-boring the threaded rod hole before reaming
Vee Grooves
Vee Grooves
The jaw has been blued and the groove locations marked. Note that the long groove extends only to the screw hole. Before putting the work-piece in the vise, and indicator was used to make sure the vise jaws were parallel to the ram travel.
The long groove is cut first.
The vise is rotated 90 degrees in order to cut the short groove. The vise is checked using an indicator to make sure the jaws are square to the ram travel.
The short groove is cut. While it is not critical, I took care to make sure that the bottom of both grooves intersected.
The step in each jaw was cut, one jaw at a time, with the top of the jaw facing upward. The step was first cut to slightly less (5 - 10 thousandths) than the finished width,to the full required depth. A downward cut was then made at the finished width, in order to ensure that the vertical face was square and flat.
Both jaws with completed steps, and vee grooves in the fixed jaw. Note that the jaw angles have been marked for cutting.
The depth of the steps differ by .005" - somewhat disappointing as I had hoped for a much closer match. However, as this is to be used as a drill press vise, this will be sufficient. My error was in thinking that because I used duplicate setups and tool slide settings for each jaw, that I would get essentially identical results. I should have taken measurements when the second jaw step was almost complete, and then cut the final depth accordingly. A lesson learned.
Finishing the jaws
The jaw angles were first rough-cut on the bandsaw (on my small bandsaw this took about 12 minutes per jaw).
The jaws were first laid flat and even in the vise, and then clamped together. A parallel was then laid on the vise jaw and used as a reference straight-edge to line up the jaws for cutting. This is not a critical dimensions, so simply cutting by eye to the marked line is sufficient.
Both jaws are cut with a roughing tool to within about 0.010" of the final depth of cut. Cuts were made using the automatic table feed (0.010" per feed), with a cut depth of 0.010" on each pass.
Crank connect
Not shown: I used a radius form tool on the lathe to turn the rounded end of the crank connect piece. You can see the same from tool used to make the crank handle below.
After preparing a grooving cutter, I set up to cut the slot in the crank connect piece. I had intentionally left the piece a bit long up to this point, in order to make it easier to hold for this step. The work-piece was clamped in the vise jaws using a Vee-block.
I used a brass shim as a feeler gauge to locate the left and right sides of the part (as measured on the shaper dial). From there it was a bit of simple math to locate the center of piece and determine the required dial settings for cutting the groove.
My cutter was not wide enough to cut the slot in one pass (this was by design, as I did not want the cutting forces to bee too high). The technique I used was to cut one half of the slot a bit, then switch over to the other side, and continue that way back and forth until I reached final depth.
Here is the completed slot. Finishing the piece was a simple matter of chucking in the lathe, cutting to proper length, and drilling the shaft hole to depth.
Crank handle
The crank handle (see photos below) was for the most part a straightforward turning job on the lathe. I held the workpiece with a 3-jaw chuck and a center ash shown. The tapered sections were cut by turning the cross slide to the appropriate angle. For the rounded end, I made a form tool with the required radius.
Turning straight section
Turning tapered section
Turning radius end with form tool
Here is the crank handle with all of the turning operations completed. The next operation is to use the shape to form the "tongue" on the end.
The photos below show the shaper operations for cutting the tongue on the crank handle. I happened to have a long narrow Vee-block which was perfect for holding the work-piece in the vise. Cutting the first flat was a simple shaper operation. Next, in order to make sure the second flat was parallel to the first, I clamped a parallel to the first flat (now on the underside), and used a depth micrometer to make sure it was level with both of the tops of the vise jaws by making sure the distance from the top of each jaw to the parallel was the same. Once the piece was lined up, it was another simple shaper operation to cut the second flat. I used the dials on the shaper to get close to the final size, and then took very small cuts while test fitting the crank connector piece until I had a good fit.
Cutting the first flat
Lining up for the second flat
Test fit
Here is the crank handle after the final shaper operation.
Drilling the roll pin holes - crank handle and crank connect
Next, to cut the pivot hole in the crank connector I lined up the work piece in my milling vise similar to the way I used a parallel in the shaper. However, in this case I used a thin angle block (wedged against the top face with a drill bit) to get a flat reference surface.
With the piece properly lined up (and the hole position previously marked with Dykem) the pivot hole was drilled. The piece was the re-positioned in the vise (using the drill bit to make sure the original drill hole was oriented properly), and the crank handle was lined up for drilling the pivot hole in the tongue. I used a piece of paper as a shim between the tongue and the crank connector to make sure there would be some clearance for pivoting. With the two pieces lined up the hole was drilled (later I separately enlarged the hole in the tongue slightly with a #20 drill so it would pivot freely). The final operation was to drill the hole in the crank connector for the roll pin.
Drilling pivot hole - crank connector
Drilling pivot hole - crank
Drilling roll pin hole - crank connector
The final step in making the crank handle is to form the bend in the handle (see photos below). I used a MAPP torch to heat the straight section of the handle to red/yellow heat (the MAPP torch was barely up to the job) while holding the piece in the vise and using a large plier to bend it. Can you see where I initially went wrong in this operation? There are two orientation to bend the handle relative to the tongue - in my haste I bent the handle the wrong way. Fortunately I immediately realized my mistake and I was able to straighten it out and bend it properly. A second smaller mistake I made was using the pliers on the handle directly, which resulted in some jaw marks on the handle.If I were doing this again I would wrap a piece of copper around the end of the handle to protect it. I used a de-burring wheel to polish out most of the tool marks to recover from that small error.
BOZO Alert!
BOZO Alert!
Got it right!
And here is the completed crank handle - a few small blemishes but it will do the job.
The remaining operations were cutting turning the shafts on the threaded rod, and drilling the final holes for the roll pins.
That completes the vise part of the project. I found the vise to be a little stiff in turning (a little bit of lithium grease helped), but I expect it will get easier after a bit of use wears it in.
Next: The table clamp.
The Table Clamp
The Table Clamp
Clamp bracket
I had an odd shaped piece of 1/2" thick steel in my scrap box - it was large enough for me to cut out the rough shape I needed. The rough cut edges weer smoothed out in the shaper, while at the same time squaring the work-piece and cutting to final dimension. This was a good exercise in squaring a block in the shaper, and in doing the most basic shaper operation. This was also a good test to see how close I could get to final dimension with the shaper.
I cut to final dimension my first getting two smooth and parallel edges. The, while shaping the second edge I used the depth micrometer capability of my digital caliper to measure and cut to final dimension. This got me to within 0.003" - 0.005" of the drawing dimensions which more than accurate enough for these non-critical dimensions. I was also happy to see that the sides were parallel to within the resolution of my digital caliper (0.001"). If I had needed to make this operation more accurate, I would have shaped it close to the final dimension, and then removed it from the vise to measure before making additional incremental cuts- a time consuming procedure not needed for this piece.
Raw stock
Bandsaw cut to rough shape
Smoothing and squaring in the shaper.
The next step was to drill and tap the two holes at the "top" of the bracket:
After shaping operations
Drilling and tapping
De-burring holes with countersink
To form the final L-shape of the bracket, I marked out the piece with layout die and rough cut with my band-saw. Her I made a minor mistake: I should have drill a hole for the internal radius first. I could have made both the internal and external radius cuts on the shaper, but they are not critical dimensions so I simply hand-filed to shape. After that, the sawed edges were smoothed on the shaper - I didn't bother to measure the dimensions for this last shaper operation as this is not a critical dimension; it was sufficient to get a nice appearance.
Layout for bandsaw cuts
Filing bath radius (radii?)
The next step was to drill and tap the hole for the clamp screw. As a final operation, I used a deburring wheel to ease all the sharp corners and edges.
Clamp Plate
The clamp plate was a simple job - rough cut on the band saw, true up with the shaper, and drill the mounting holes. The mounting in the shaper vise for the short end of the piece was a bit worrisome, as it was sticking out quite a bit, but I was careful to take light cuts and it worked well. If this had been a more critical piece, I would have added additional metal supports in the vise.
Clamp plate on shaper
Clamp plate on shaper
Drilling mounting holes
Here's the finished plate:
Clamp bracket and plate
Bracket and plate test fit
Clamp Block
Next job was the clamp block - made from aluminum. I cleaned up both halves in the shaper at the same time. The cleaned up pieces were then clamped together in the mill vise and frilled for the guide rod. Note that this hole is slightly off-center with regard to the dividing line between the two pieces, in order for the guide rod to be supported at the correct height, and also because the clamp plate adds some height. If you look closely at the middle photo below, you will see a small metal scrap in the vise behind the block - this is a piece of scrap from the same material used to make the clamp plate. This enables measuring from the back vise jaw face to get the correct distance to drill the hole.
After drilling the hole for the guide rod, the hole for the block screw is drilled. I then put the lower half of the clamp block pieces into the shaper and removed 0.055" from the surface with the half-hole in it - this provides some clearance for the blocks to clamp.
Squaring clamp block pieces - shaper
Drilling hole for guide rod - note offset piece
Finished clamp block.
Clamp Block Screw
The clamp block screw was a simple turning job, followed by threading with a die (not shown), and then drilling a hole for the handle.
Turning down down for thread
Threaded
Drilling hole for handle
The handle for the screw is kept on with drill ball bearings pressed onto the ends. I'v made this kind of handle before, so I had a bunch of ball bearings handy which had already been annealed by heating to red heat with MAPP torch and then cooled slowly. Each bearing is drilled 0.300" deep with a slightly under-size hole, and the end of the handle is pressed in with an arbor press (remember to insert the rod in the handle before pressing on the second ball!). The annealing process blackens the balls, so I polish them with a bit of scotch-brite using a hand drill to spin the rod while polishing.
Annealed ball bearings.
Balls pressed onto handle.
Polishing
The completed clamp block handle.
Clamp Bracket Screw
The clamp bracket screw is similar to the clamp block screw, but with an important difference: The end of the screw has a ball end. Rather than take the time to make a form tool for this purpose, I simply used files to hand-form the ball end (a process which only took five or ten minutes). After forming the ball end, the piece was turned down further for the threaded section, and then threaded using a die. The die just barely fits over the ball end - it left a few grooves on the side of the ball, but this does not detract from its function.
Ball end formed
Threading with die
Drilling hole for handle
Clamp Bracket Screw Foot
The foot for the screw requires a hole with a hemispherical bottom - this was accomplished first by drilling with a conventional twist drill,and then finishing up with a ball end mill used to "drill" the finish depth. Once the hole was formed, the foot profile was created by free hand turning and filing. Before cutting off the foot from the stock, the piece was transferred to a collect block and the end of the foot was slit 3 times in the mill with a slitting saw.
"Drilling" internal ball end
Forming the profile
Slitting the end
Here's the end of the foot after slitting: 3 cuts to form six "tabs".
After cutting the slits, the foot was parted off from the stock. The ball end screw was inserted into the clamp bracket, and the foot was fastened on by bending down the six tabs using the corned of a bench vise as shown on the left. bending down these tabs fastens the foot to the ball, but still allows for some movement. With the foot in place, a ball end handle was fitted to the screw as shown previously.
Here is the completed clamp assembly.
Here is the float lock vise installed on my Ryobi drill press.
References
References
This build is inspired by and (mostly) based on a series of videos by mrpete222 :
Drawings for the project (Download from DropBox).
Videos:
PREVIEW of my 10 part FLOAT LOCK VISE SERIES tubalcain
Part 1 : Overview of the project
MAKE A FLOAT LOCK Drill Press Vise TIPS 581 pt 2 tubalcain
Part 2 : Jaw measurements; drilling and tapping jaw holes
MAKE A FLOAT LOCK Drill Press Vise TIPS 582 pt 3 tubalcain
Part 3 : Cutting the jaw angles with a metal shaper
MAKE A FLOAT LOCK Drill Press Vise TIPS 583 pt 4 tubalcain
Part 4 : Cutting jaw steps and Vee groove; preparing the threaded rod.
MAKE A FLOAT LOCK Drill Press Vise TIPS 584 pt 5 tubalcain
Part 5 : Drilling holes for guide rod pins; laying out and making the end plate; starting the crank handle
MAKE A FLOAT LOCK Drill Press Vise TIPS 585 pt 6 tubalcain Crank Handle
Part 6 : Finishing the crank handle and connector (using a radius forming tool).
MAKE A FLOAT LOCK Drill Press Vise TIPS 586 pt 7 tubalcain
Part 7 :This episode is partly about cutting the radius on the vise crank connector, but mostly about different methods of cutting a radius. In particular, he shows how to make and use a form tool radius cutter.
MAKE A FLOAT LOCK Drill Press Vise TIPS 587 pt 8 tubalcain
Part 8 : Making the corner mount for the drill press table clamp using a modified c-clamp welded to a plate.
MAKE A FLOAT LOCK Drill Press Vise TIPS 588 pt 9 tubalcain
Part 9 : Making the clamp to hold the vise to the drill press table, including making the clamp screw.
MAKE A FLOAT LOCK Drill Press Vise TIPS 589 pt 10 tubalcain
Part 10 :Final finishing - polishing, bluing, and painting.
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