[Only of interest to manual mill users.]
The situation with vises and T-track clamps on the two manual mills was quite a mess the other day and took a long time to sort out. Please keep these things in mind:
1] Try to keep the T-track clamp pieces in some sort of order, mostly in the proper spots within the two cases on the second shelf of the machine shop cabinet. It’s OK if a few pieces are sitting out on the shelf, but not for more pieces to be left out of the case than were still in it.
2] The lack of short bolts for the clamps was a recurring problem, so I cut several new short bolts for them. Unlike the kit bolts, they are all-thread. Don’t try to put them in the slots for the kit bolts. They are (very obviously, in my opinion) too short for that. Several of them were stuck inside those cases, and I had to dump everything out of the cases then roll several Dexterity checks to get them out.
3] The mill T-Track bolts are 1/2". Don’t mix in pieces from the 3/8" T-track kit that goes with the drill press. (That is currently located in the top of the toolbox, though I may mount them on a wall near the drill press now that it’s been moved.) While the stepped spacers from the two kits are likely interchangeable in use, they are slightly different widths and won’t store properly in all of the cases. Just keep them all separate.
(And someone had even gotten two 7/16" T-nuts mixed in with everything else. I distinctly remember putting those back in the annex about a year ago, because they are useless unless/until they are re-machined. How did these even get back in the main cabinet?!)
4] The bolts that hold down the vises on the mills are distinct from the other bolts. The bolts for putting vises on the large mill have been cut to size. All of the kit bolts are too long (lacking complete threads where needed); the others I added are too short. I have painted the proper vise bolts yellow on both ends to make them more distinctive. These do use regular T-nuts and top nuts.
The bolts for putting a vise on the Rong Fu are also specific to that machine. We have used a non-standard setup here so that a single dedicated wrench can do everything needed on that machine. The bolts have a 19 mm / 3/4" head, and the T-track nuts are also specific to this, since the bolts have to pass completely through (which standard T-track nuts do not allow). I have painted these bolts’ heads and part of the T-nuts red to mark them. I’ve also added red tape to that end of the wrench. And since the other end of the wrench, used for the draw bar, already had blue tape, I painted the top of the draw bar blue. Everything is color coded to match, like Garanimals.
5] Remember: the Tormach brand vise is to be used on the Rong Fu. To emphasize that, I’ve covered the Tormach branding with Rong Fu labels — now it’s simpler, use the Rong Fu vise on the Rong Fu mill.
“Can I use one of the Sharps vises on the Rong Fu instead?” No. Request denied. “Why?” 1) I want the Sharps vises both available for paired configurations on the large mill. 2) There is no point. This vise is equal to if not superior to the Sharps vises individually. It’s larger, deeper, and more rigid. Yes, its native handle is missing, but the provided speed wrench is also arguably superior (assuming it’s found and returned [eye-roll]). And the second, red-taped, end of the Rong Fu dedicated wrench will also turn it. I’ve painted the end of the vise screw red to continue to the color matching scheme.
6] It looks like someone was putting alignment pins on one of the Sharps vises. I pulled them off and put them in the “Important Tools” box in the manual mill drawer. I remember talking about this with someone, and it’s probably a great idea, but before you leave something like that in place, I need to understand what you are doing so I can consider broader issues and inform everyone else about how to use them. (And they’d been used to put a Sharps vise on the Rong Fu anyway.)
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I realize I may not have clearly spelled out some of these issues before, like the distinctiveness of the vise bolts. I hadn’t expected the vises would get shuffled around without their matching bolts moving with them. But hopefully, with the rationales explained and color markings added, everything will be clear.