Tweaking a cross-slide vise

Teakettle · Jul 19, 2014

I recently acquired a (Chinese but seemingly better-built than most)
cross-slide vise. But when I tried to use it today I observed that the
screw action in one direction doesn't move parallel to the jaws -- in
3" of travel it's off by about 1/32". By fiddling with the gib screws I
reduced that a little, but it's still annoyingly off-axis. Other than
majorly remachining it (which I can do, but really don't want to
spend the time), any suggestions on getting it closer? Thanks.

harely · Jul 19, 2014

don"t buy chinese

NCWayne · Jul 19, 2014

To me it sounds like one of those things that can be done, but really isn't worth it. If it's that far off, and it's new, I'd take it back and tell them I wanted a new one. Obviously the quality control is pretty low or it would be right. In the end getting it right now doesn't mean it's going to stay right from use to use, and who has time to "play" with it every time you want to use it?

That said, if you need the precision, return it and spend the extra bucks to get a good one that will be right on day one, and will stay right through the course of it's life.

Stan in Oly, WA · Jul 19, 2014

This might just be a waste of your time since I don't have any machinist experience to actually understand the problem you describe, but it does concern doing something to correct a problem that the vise came with.

Anyway, good luck.

Stan
H/F 6

ss55 · Jul 19, 2014

By "cross slide" do you mean two axis of travel? You could probably loosen the connection between the two axis and re-align everything to be square. Most new woodworking machines I've purchased need to be realigned or "tuned" to get the best from them. Have fun!

Tweaking a cross-slide vise

Teakettle

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harely

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NCWayne

Well-known Member

Stan in Oly, WA

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ss55

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