- Joined
- Jul 11, 2003
- Messages
- 3,258
Another tip just up and popped into this melon of mine! When I'm doing guards or slotting on my mill, I sometimes have to pass all the way through the material into the parallel the piece rests on. One thing I hate is those times when I don't have a means to hold my workpiece flush and square in the vise. Usually the problem lies in not having something parallel to set the piece on so you can clamp it up in the vise and mill it properly. So thats why I find myself milling my own most of the time.
I know a lot of us just don't have money to toss around, and buying parallels gets to be expensive. Nowadays what I usually do is mill out a piece of G-10 to the size I need. If I'm looking for a guard say, to stand proud of the vise so I can mill a slot into it, I take a piece of G10 1/4" thick and mill it down with a complete flatness, parallel to the workpiece and enough height to make the piece rest flat against it.
With this accomplished, I then mill what I need, passing into the G10 without worry I'll damage it.
Then I mark the G10 with an electric engraver and toss it in a drawer. That way I can find it next time I have to slot a guard that size.
This works for me quite well. I used to used aluminum to make my parallels, but since I discovered G-10 I like it better. In many ways its much more durable, and it stays flat!
I know a lot of us just don't have money to toss around, and buying parallels gets to be expensive. Nowadays what I usually do is mill out a piece of G-10 to the size I need. If I'm looking for a guard say, to stand proud of the vise so I can mill a slot into it, I take a piece of G10 1/4" thick and mill it down with a complete flatness, parallel to the workpiece and enough height to make the piece rest flat against it.
With this accomplished, I then mill what I need, passing into the G10 without worry I'll damage it.
Then I mark the G10 with an electric engraver and toss it in a drawer. That way I can find it next time I have to slot a guard that size.
This works for me quite well. I used to used aluminum to make my parallels, but since I discovered G-10 I like it better. In many ways its much more durable, and it stays flat!