Morrison and Marvin Vise from Castings

[Lamachina58]

These are beautiful castings and machine really nicely. I don't do a lot of 1-72 tapping and believe me I was nervous! Tonight was a little more work on the vise jaw area. This explains my set up as described in the prints

Center finding with my wiggler, made that about 38 years ago, still comes in handy!

I am getting close to assembly and pondering finishing! Here I am milling that slot. Everything is pretty parallel.

I have concentrated on finishing one vise since my students are almost ahead of me and I keep dropping the tiny parts so it is good I bought three sets! Maybe they will show up when I sweep. I can slow the student down with assignments and finals
Surprisingly this has more than met my expectations as a CNC project and as something that teaches discipline on manual machines. We discuss jig and fixture design with this project too. The castings require careful planning since you only get one chance and on a cnc it is much harder to sneak up on sizes compared to a small manual machine. Spring semester we are going to tackle the Morrison and Marvin Gade engine and complete a steam engine started last spring.

But to answer one of the first questions, to paint or not to paint? I can't answer yet!

 

[Lamachina58]

And we have a winner!

Cody finished his vise first of the students and all of his required semester projects!

 

[CMS]

Congrats to Cody for a fine looking vice and to the teacher that's coaching him. Very nice work and thanks for taking the time to put this project in a posting here. A karma for you two to share.

Thanks,

Craig

 

[ShedBoy]

Nice finish on that little jigger. Looks handy to boot. Great thread.

Brock

 

[gbritnell]

Certainly congrats for the winner but also kudos for such a great learning project for all involved.
gbritnell

 

[Swede]

They look great! I'd paint them with a nice model air brush and some good enamel or even 2-part epoxy paint for super durability and corrosion resistance.

 

[Lamachina58]

Today was the final day of our fall semester. Bob finished his vise and his wife will be very happy this Christmas!

I spent some time taping the 1-72 holes and fitting the jaws.

Fit the works and check it all out.

Assemble the jaws at final fit up.

And here is my vise! What a fun project! The one for Christmas is ready to go...amazing.

I know this will be a useful tool for many years to come.

 

[CMS]

Very well, send that one to me!!! I called it first!!!

 

[moconnor]

Hello,

Congratulations on a project very well done. What a great project for your students as well. They are fortunate to have an instructor like you.

I bought a set of castings a while back and they are absolutely beautiful. It is one of the nicest model engineering kits currently available IMO.

A few questions that I would like to ask you... Could you provide the details on the 1/8" broach that you used? The DuMont A-series broach that I have is too short to complete the keyway in the vise body and looking at the dimensions of their B-series broach, that doesn't appear to be much longer. Is yours some type of production broach? The photo of your broaching operation that shows the top of your broach, appears to have a section above the last full-depth tooth that is shorter than the vise body. Is that the case or is there sufficient length to push the broach through the work piece? Could just be the camera angle. I have never tried to use a 'pusher' to finish broaching a keyway and am reluctant to try that with my A-series broach and vise body.

I could build a slotting fixture for my lathe and figure out a way to lock the spindle to put the keyway in if I can't find a suitable broach. I am planning to build three vises, one for me and the other two to give to my brothers, so a commercially available broach would be preferable. The more that I think about this operation, the better the lathe option is looking because of the 3-1/8" length of the keyway. The broaching fixture that you made is probably necessary to properly locate the keyway and counter the potential cutting forces during broaching. What kind of resistance did you encounter while broaching the hole? Sorry for all of the questions, your advice will be greatly appreciated and help me decide which method to use.

Thanks for posting your progress on this project. Again, very well done all around.

Kind regards,
Mike

 

[Lamachina58]

Mike,
This is a series B broach and it says 1/8-BB HSS Poland on it. About 6 3/4 long. First of all, I used the broach we had and that is 1/8 wide, the print calls for using the key in the 3/32 direction but I just accommodated my depths to use the 1/8 wide cut.
Also you are right, I used a small pusher and that is only about 1 1/2" long. At the point of needing it there was very little left and it went through easily. So no problem there.
It might be worth making up a test cut with your A style and give it a push?
The shims I made are one at .010" and two at .020" so I went in .010" increments and easily at that. I also flipped the piece each increment.
We have a wonderful volunteer, Lowell, who is a retired journeyman machinist and he assists in class. For that he has time on machines to build his own models. He built the fixture and it is very nice to be sure everything is square with the world before committing to a cut like that. For three vises it will be worth it.
If you look at mscdirect.com and type in 00300251 I think that is the broach we have. Not to suggest any one source.
My students have done an amazing job on their projects in addition to this one. This semester is all about CNC programming and the vise did fit in well as they used the cnc's on a lot of it. It mostly met the needs of the Jig and Fixture course I taught.
Thanks for the compliments!
Tom

 

[moconnor]

Hello Tom,

Thanks for answering my numerous questions. I will make a fixture and a test piece. I even have some 4140 from one of my student's precision vise projects from a few years back.

I was a Machine Tool Technology instructor for the last ten years of my machining career and really enjoyed teaching. Unfortunately, our school was closed several years ago by a shortsighted board of directors. Same sad story in many of our cities.

Thanks again Tom and all the best to you and your students.

Kind regards,
Mike

 

[moconnor]

Hello Tom,

After reading your reply, I rechecked the drawings and instructions for the vise to determine what the dimension of the keyway was. My print of the Moveable Vise Jaw calls out to "MILL KEYWAY .125" WIDE x .047" DEEP". That would mean that the keyway requires an 1/8" broach and the supplied 1/8" x 3/32" key would be correct. So you did use the called out width broach on your vises.

I thought that I may have missed something. Thanks again for your advice.

Regards,
Mike

 

[Lamachina58]

Mike,
Thanks for the correction, I guess that is why .050 of shims was about right!
Teaching is one of the greatest ways to pass on our knowledge and I'm sorry to hear of another closed program. Trade programs are expensive and don't bring in the revenue per teacher like math, English and so on. I feel lucky to focus on 12 to 17 students for 5 or more hours a day. And I get my own education reading this forum as well. I am so lucky we have a vibrant program in Montana and one that is appreciated and supported by the state, the communities and industry. Our students are eager to be trained and all have three or more offers at graduation. So, I feel like my personal goals of creating a program that graduates qualified machinists is working. I wish this were true all over America. For all the bad news about manufacturing there are actually jobs in our state, not enough for millions but certainly the numbers we graduate.
I hope we get to see your vise posted soon too.
And, for finish? No one has asked but I zinc plated mine. I bought a kit from Eastwood and it is very nice looking. I'm a worse painter than I am a woodworker so that narrowed my possibilities considerably.
Good luck and I hope you have a press with enough stroke to broach yours!
Tom

 

[Lamachina58]

Mr. CMS , that is funny!

 

[Lamachina58]

I couldn't help but put it on the Gerstner