Squaring stock in the mill - Now with more VIDEO!

[Tony]

I'll apologize right out of the gate, I realize squaring stock is a very advanced topic in machining, but hopefully you can follow along.

I know there are quite a few of these videos out there, but I thought I'd throw my hat in the ring.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tW8HNAlUXxU

[BCRider]

Not something I'd want to toss at a beginner. But for any shop guys at all beyond the basics this is a SUPERB video that really makes us think about what is needed to produce flat and square componets.

It's longer than your usual productions but you packed in so much material on so many aspects that it still comes across as well paced. I would not change a thing.

[Joel]

"Welcome to my surface plate - the place in my shop where dreams come to die".

[Tony]

Thanks BCR, glad you liked it.

[Andre3127]

"Welcome to my surface plate - the place in my shop where dreams come to die".

It's the cold, hard, black, very flat truth.

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[boslab]

A deeply moving production, I had to reach for the tissues halfway through, I had a lump in my throat I had to swallow in instalments. I myself have great mastery of making rhombic, trapezoidal cuboids so I'm going to try making a cubic body that is square, polish it and engrave my name on it,
I semi jest, enjoyable, keep up the good work
Mark

[LibbyHillBrewer]

A well done video as usual. I actually learned a bit from it. Thanks

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[TGTool]

Good demonstration and discussion. Being methodical, understanding the basic geometry, interpreting measurements you get, and knowing how to compensate to get better accuracy than might be built into the vise. Thanks. I hope a lot of folks benefit.

[BCRider]

Tony's video got me enthused enough to finally get around to checking the tram on my new mill. Up to now I'd trammed it side to side but lived with knowing it was a bit out in the "nod" direction. Like .006 across a 6 inch spread front to rear of the table.

I'd like to pull the head off some day and file and scrape the seat square but for now shimming is going to handle the job. I got it to where it's out about .0007" as the needle moves around. And that much I can live with.

Once that was done I mounted up my usual vise and checked it for true on the flat "bed" and the fixed jaw for square. It's actually an old Record swivel jaw drill press vise that way back I "blue printed" on a mill drill using some of the same basic concepts noted by Tony in his video and some hints on truing a vise up in one of the Guy Lautard Machinist's Bedside Readers. I'm happy to report that some 25 years after tuning up the vise that the flat "bed" is still true to within a needle's width overall. The fixed jaw has a few worn spots from use that are up to as much as .002 deep. While it's sitting all true I might just run a skim cut over the cast iron to true up that fixed jaw.

All this tuning and testing takes a while. Especially when I needed to stop and make a better way to hold my DTI in a dovetail stem to allow sweeping the table. And that involved modifying an old worn 1/4" end mill into a single tooth dovetail cutter to sneak into the groove.

All in all it was a fun evening even if the shop didn't look a speck's worth of different once done. It's nice to know that I can now trust the machine to a higher degree.