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That old trick with a piece of tape on the vise jaw actually saved a job
I was running a batch of 50 aluminum parts last Thursday and the last ten kept coming out with a tiny shift, like .002 off. The program was fine, the tool was fine. I remembered an old guy at my last shop said to put a single layer of masking tape on the fixed jaw. I tried it, just one strip. The next part was dead on. The tape must have taken up the last bit of slop or grit. Who would think something that simple fixes a hold issue? Has anyone else used a weird trick like that when a vise just won't grip right?
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evah405mo ago
I ran into a similar issue last year with some steel brackets. That tape trick might work for a quick fix, but it feels like a band-aid. If your vise has that much slop or grit, shouldn't you be cleaning it or checking the jaws for wear instead? A piece of tape degrades fast and isn't a real solution. I'd worry about consistency over a full production run.
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thea_knight5mo ago
But what if the tape is just for dialing in a specific part? Sometimes you need that tiny adjustment to get perfect repeatability right now, not after a full tear down. It's a shop trick, not a forever fix.
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finleythomas5mo ago
Wait, you used just one layer? That's wild... I had to use three strips of the heavy cloth tape last month on some brass fittings. It was the only way to stop them from creeping. But @evah40 has a point about it being a band-aid. My tape got all shredded and gummy after like twenty parts. It works in a pinch, but you're right, it's not fixing the real problem. Still, when you need parts now, you do what works.
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