Had verbally described this thing a while ago in some thread but took too long to find it and get a pic - now I can't find the thread. Anyway, here's my homemade contraption to maybe keep from damaging a frame clamped in a vise:
There's probably better ones, but this one works for me.
I feel that holding the frame in a vise is very precarious at best.
The frame by itself does not provide the rigidity to allow for accurate chatter free machining aside from being an impossible nightmare to set up for zero...
Years ago I made this fixture to mount the frame. It's a Blanchard ground 1.125 thick steel plate. It is ground true/square on the edges to ease in set up, and the fixture can be moved or turned without losing square. The locating dowels are reamed to align and center off the slide stop pin.
The set up is very rigid and supports any number of machining cuts, from truing up the ramps; ramped barrels; bowtie cuts; setting back the VIS; accu- rails; fitting slides/frames;, etc.
What kind of set up could i come up wit so i could be able to fit a beaver tail? Hand filing only... I have a vise, but am not too sure about clamping it in that... I really don't want to drop $70+ on something I'll hardly ever use... only thing I could think of was fitting some 2x4s where they would enclose the frame and hold in tight, and clamping that in a vise?
I fit a beavertail using just a cheap Harbor Freight drill press vice. I didn't clamp too hard and I didn't push too hard as I worked. It was fine.
Quote:
I feel that holding the frame in a vise is very precarious at best. The
frame by itself does not provide the rigidity to allow for accurate chatter
free machining aside from being an impossible nightmare to set up for
zero...
Should have mentioned that the work done on the frame is being done by hand - not machine. In addition, the vise is nothing more than a medium-sized woodworking vise on a rather sizeable workbench with special plates made of hardwood plywood applying clamping pressure to the frame. Have used it to peen down frame rails and lower barrel beds. Here's my rinky-dink bed lowering setup:
Quote:
I fit a beavertail using just a cheap Harbor Freight drill press vise. I
didn't clamp too hard and I didn't push too hard as I worked. It was fine.
However, peening down rails requires some fairly serious frame clamping.
[Edited: To support the frame vertically during peening, the 1/4" steel plate shown here
Fits between the magazine well and two of the vise's horizontal things. [Not shown is the other plywood part of the sandwich and the steel filler used to keep the rails in the magazine well area from being moving inward.]