Rant: A senior operator told me I was squaring my vise wrong after 3 years of doing it my way

Been running a Haas VF-2 at a job shop in Dayton for about 4 years now. I always squared my vise by tightening the front jaw first (you know, just winging it with the torque). Old timer named Dave walks by last month, watches me do it, and just says "you're fighting the pull there, kid." He showed me to snug the rear jaw first, then tighten the front. Stupid simple but it stopped my parts from creeping by like 0.002 on the Y axis. Has anyone else had a little trick like that totally change their setup game?

2 comments

2 Comments

jordangibson11h agoMost Upvoted

Dave's not wrong. That rear jaw first trick saved me about the same amount of time and frustration on my old Fadal when I was chasing a 0.0015 drift on some aluminum plates. Also make sure you tap the work down with a dead blow after snugging the rear jaw but before you crank the front one, it lets any chips or debris settle out and keeps the part from lifting. Another thing is to clean the vise keyway and table T-slots with a brass brush before mounting, a tiny burr there can throw your square off more than you'd think.

faithrodriguez7h ago

Tapping the work down after snugging the back jaw saved me from scrapping a few parts too.