Chatted with a retired toolmaker about workholding at the local shop meetup last Saturday

Honestly, I always thought my vice setup was fine until this guy named Pete pointed out I was only using 2 out of the 6 holes on my subplate. He showed me how bolting down the back corners stopped the chatter I've been fighting on aluminum parts for months. Cost me nothing but 10 minutes to rearrange and my surface finish improved like crazy. Anyone else had an old school trick completely change how they mount parts?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_jake1mo ago

Pete saved you hours of headache with that one simple fix.

rowanbennett1mo ago

Flip that around though @the_jake, maybe Pete's advice just masked a bigger issue like your machine not being rigid enough in the first place. Sometimes chasing that perfect workholding setup lets you ignore the real problem wearing out your spindle.