Keep that metal strapping for parallel bars

I watched a ton of youtube vids with people having to remove their parallel bars after each cut because the chips get under them.
Also the parallel bars are tipping over, I have no idea how your parts come out square???
There is such a simpe solution to this problem and it costs absolutely nothing.
All you need is some of that lovely metal straping they use when shipping heavy boxes. you could probably use just about any type of flexible metal, maybe even some old regular broken bandsaw blades could do, just grind down the teeth.

These things can be bent into any shape or size you need. Make into a giant horseshoe shape with feet for larger items too.
you can also use them with just one bar if the part is real small.
I even have used three of them to keep the bars floating in the middle of the vise (vise - strap - parallel - strap - parallel - strap - vise).

You don't have to use them with just parallel bars either. stick them in their with 123's to take up space with a part that is bigger then the 123's.
Just use your imagination.
I love little things like this that make working easier.
Here is a few pics so you can visually see what I am refering to.



And by the way, I did not put all those holes in the vise. I am only responsible for 3 of them and two of them wasn't really my fault cause the stupid machine kept jumping .020 on the Z axis due to the knee cover plates binding up under each other. that vise has seen over 10 years of service.

Anyways try this out and don't forget to round off the corners and make them dull or you'll be sorry!
One more note: If you seat the part, then brush or vacuum it off, then hit it with some compressed air BEFORE remove the part you will be able to remove almost all the chips out, then remove the part and hit it with some air again, just remember your safety glasses.

Strapping also works well for blocking in parts on your surface grinder.

Here is another one.
When having to put a t-nut into the slot deep under your fixture plate or a part. Bend a long strip into such shape _________|__| and put your t-nut in there.
Later when you need to unclamp your part and remove the tnuts it will be easy to simply pull the strip with tnut in it out.

I've always been a fan of using rubber bands to hold parallels against the vice jaws. Obviously this won't work in every situation, but a bag of rubber bands is cheap.

I have been using the straping for years as parallel keepers. I usually bend into a Z shape. I have several sizes of Zs.

Great tips,

Josh

I've used them for years as shims under lathe tools that are held in solid toolposts that have no height adjustment.
Also handy for getting boring bars on center.
An easy way to see how many of these shims might be required would be to put the tip of the lathe tool up to the tailstock center and then lay the shims on TOP of the tool to see what gap needs to be bridged to get said tool on center.

I use double sided tape.

I used to work for a place where they had identical vises on each machine.

Their parallels were shop-made and had threaded holes in them.
The idea was to bolt them down in place as if they were soft jaws.

Worked really well.

Great Idea! I normally use a spring in between the parallels to keep them from moving around and that also works pretty well. The amount of random springs that I have in my box increases every week.

One of those..."Why the h*ll didn't I think of that?"...ideas. I've got bits of strapping all over the place--use lots of it for shims and such, but never thought to use it as a parallel keeper.

Your vise looks like mine. Those holes were in it when you got it, right?

Good tip, now I need to go find some strapping.

I don't like bolting parallels in because it makes it hard to feel if the part is down on one parallel tighter than the other. But I also rarely work in production quantities greater than 10. You real production folks probably know way better what does and doesn't work.

Another one, though many of you probably already know it or have better ways:

Use a cheap gauge block as a precise removable spacer off of the vise stop for when you need to hold X location but are concerned about hitting the stop while facing or profiling the part (think of it as a poor-man's removable vise stop). I didn't really start doing this until I started CNC machining (after 7+ yrs of manual work) because on the VMC it seems like one is always holding stock by the bottom 1/8" and doing full profiles to within .02" of the vise jaws.

If you need different / specific widths similar things can be got commercially as Wavy Parallels, at least that's what the label says on my boxed set. About 4" long, bent in 3 sinusoidal waves going from 1/2 to 1 1/2 in 1/8 steps got when kitting out my first mill mumble mumble years back thinking them to be a good idea. Pretty much never use them for some reason. Probably habit of going for the ground parallels box.

Cheap / surplus / nearly knackered gauge block as known dimension vice stop spacer is good idea but if the source is unknown measure the darn thing before trusting the nominal size. I use an old set found in the bottom of the bit bonus box with a SouthBend lathe I got. Most of them are still close enough but some had been nicely ground to specific smaller size so the numbers were wrong. Figure that a previous user had the same idea and needed some pairs of same size. My main use is setting the 6 position bed stop bars on the lathe for short step jobs so its nice if the nominal size can be trusted

Clive

It's an oldy but a goody. I also use springs. The banding is used for up to a 1" space or so between the paralells and after that I get out the springs.

I too am in the spring-wavy parallel camp. These keep the ground parallels in place. Parallels that stay in place despite a strong chip clearing blast of air saves much time and improves accuracy!

I've used both the strapping and rubber bands, I've found that rubber bands work better... at least for me

To me, anything can become a stop fixture as long as it can be bolted down in some way. some of my rigs look like an erecta-set a kid set up on my table! It's all good

Mtndew said:

I've used both the strapping and rubber bands, I've found that rubber bands work better... at least for me

Click to expand...

As long as it works for you it doesn't matter what you use, I might try that myself if I have a part that sits below the bars and needs clearance, thanks.

david n said:

It's an oldy but a goody. I also use springs. The banding is used for up to a 1" space or so between the paralells and after that I get out the springs.

Click to expand...

I learned this trick from an old timer that I brain pick every time i see him. I even made a strap that spans about 6", this is done by bending it in a big horseshoe shape with feet pointing out.
I'll try to post a pic of all the weird shaped ones I made

QuickFab said:

To me, anything can become a stop fixture as long as it can be bolted down in some way. some of my rigs look like an erecta-set a kid set up on my table! It's all good

Click to expand...

(My Itallics)
Good post Quick as long as a set up does what is required of it with security and accuracy etc, it doesn't matter,........... At the end of the day, a set up is a means to an end.

Nice job machining on your vise, parallels and jaws, looks great.