Rotary table vise mount for A1-6 platter

Hello,

New to the forums, please let me know if I've made any mistakes posting.

We have a rotary table that uses an A1-6 spindle platter. Historically, we have only ever used a lathe chuck on it for holding parts, however we are now in the need to hold square stock. What is the best way to mount a vise onto an A1-6 platter? We toyed with the idea of machining a plate with the bolt appropriate bolt pattern, but were unsure if we would be able to get the vise bolted to the adapter plate and achieve a ±0.001" tolerance.

Anyone have any experience in this area or know of a better solution?

Thank you!

Just buy an A1-6 four jaw lathe chuck. I see them on Ebay.

Or buy a A1-6 backing plate and bolt on your vise.

What does your 0.001 tolerance apply to? Flatness or ?

The 0.001" tolerance was for if we bought a backing plate and bolted the vise to it. How could we get the vise to be centered on the back plate with a tolerance of 0.001".

We would be using a self-centering vise - such as a Fifth Axis branded vise.

noahd said:

How could we get the vise to be centered on the back plate with a tolerance of 0.001".

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Drill and tap bolt holes in the backing plate within a small fraction of an inch of the accurate location. Use slightly oversized bolt holes or slots on the vise, together with appropriate washers under the bolt heads. Lightly bolt the vise to the backing plate, lightly enough that a light hammer (2oz, 4oz, something tiny, not a 4lb engineers hammer) can shift the vise position. Clamp a dowel or similar ground pin in the vise. Using a test indicator, position the vise so the pin is at the center of table rotation, by lightly tapping the body of the vise. Bolt the vise firmly to the backing plate. Using the test indicator, verify that firm fastening of the bolts did not shift the position of the pin.

You will probably want a skim pass on both the backing plate and the bottom of the vise to ensure one slides smoothly on the other, with no potential for rocking or hanging up on a high spot.

In other words, very basic manual machine shop skills.

[Added in edit] Once you have the vise located, you can drill and ream for two dowels through the body of the vise and into the backing plate. That will make remounting the vise a snap. I would position them so it will be obviously wrong if you accidently mount the vise 180 degrees off the original orientation. Use either through holes all the way through the backing plate or dowels tapped for pulling. You can also add additional clamps, if the initial bolts don't impress you for their holding capacity.

Have you actually looked at the vise and the mounting accommodations? There are literally thousands of people and shops doing this. If you are actually that new to things, the vises have a dowel hole in the back that engages a hole in the plate. Of course, there is nothing that says you have to use the simple and easy way.

Of course, if you really want "easy", then the four jaw chuck with A6 back plate is the simplest, less expensive way to go.

We have done those and more. We have 3 jaw, 4 jaw, 5C collet nose, face plate, ER collet nose, & self centering vise on our rotary at varying times, depending on the work needs.

Some self centering vises even have adjustment for offsetting the jaws to align to a center point.

Zahnrad Kopf said:

We have done those and more. We have 3 jaw, 4 jaw, 5C collet nose, face plate, ER collet nose, & self centering vise on our rotary at varying times, depending on the work needs.

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Did you get that rotary indexer "bridge" done yet ?

Maybe post some pix.

You do realize most self centering vices won't repeat to that, you also realize most square stock is not that accurate right?

digger doug said:

Did you get that rotary indexer "bridge" done yet ?
Maybe post some pix.

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Hi DD! I have not. I would almost preface that with "sadly", but there is an explanation to it. Instead of derailing this thread, I will update that original thread with what's been going on. Speak with you soon.