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A guy in a Detroit shop told me to always hand-scrape a new vise before trusting it
I was setting up a new machine at a job in Pontiac last year and this old timer named Carl saw me just bolting down the vise. He walked over, tapped it with his knuckle, and said 'You'll get a tenth out of it if you scrape the base first.' He spent twenty minutes showing me how with a piece of granite and a sharpie. Anyone else still do this for critical work?
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pat_perry1mo agoMost Upvoted
Oh, absolutely. That old timer knew his stuff. I had a similar thing happen with a surface plate that just would not sit right. A bit of careful scraping with a hand scraper and some Prussian blue made all the difference. It's a slow job, but for getting things truly flat and locked down, you can't beat it. I still do it for any setup where half a thou matters.
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ellis.nina1mo ago
Truly flat" sounds like overkill for most jobs. Modern vises come pretty good from the factory and I've never had one fail me. That whole process seems like a solution looking for a problem.
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Have you ever tried to hold something really thin or delicate? Factory vises are fine for rough work, but they often rock slightly. That tiny bit of movement can ruin a finish or throw off a precise measurement. Taking the time to flatten the jaws makes sure everything is solid and square. It's not overkill if you need things to be right, not just close.
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