Tools - Vise Clamps for Mill Vise

This was a simple little project, but it fixed a small annoyance that has been bugging me: When I purchased my (used) mill, the purchase included a nice little mill vise. The previous owner had either purchased or made some basic hold down clamps for the mill, and while these were serviceable, they took up more space than was necessary and tended to pick up a lot of swarf.

These clamps are so simple they hardly need a drawing, but I have created one anyway. Of course, different mill vises will require different dimensions, but even then these drawings may serve as a useful starting point for modifications. I note that my particular vise is a "screwless" vise 2.48" in width; other than that I have no idea where it was purchased or who made it.

Measured Drawing

• Drawing in LibreOffice Draw format: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bykt5WZ092aWVTlqTVRHOXppblk/edit?usp=sharing
• Drawing in PDF format: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bykt5WZ092aWdmpTVmhjd3dwblk/edit?usp=sharing

Making the clamps

I started with 1" x 1" square steel bar (1018 mild steel). I cut off a piece slightly more than 2" in length, and marked and cut out a section to reduce the amount of milling I would have to do.

The resulting L-shaped piece was milled to 2" length, and the other dimensions were also milled to size.

A couple of 3/8-16 x 1-1/2" tap bolts and 5/16" thick washers were purchased locally. The bolt was shorted slightly (by about 3/16") to ensure that it could be tightened without bottoming out in the T-slot. This worked for my mill, but should be verified for your particular mill; if the bolt is too long, it will not tighten properly, and could damage the mill bed if overtightened.

I also made some T-nuts, but these could just as easily be purchased.

Here again is the completed vise clamp: