Brown & Sharpe Tilting Machine Vice

[Retro Steam Tech]

[dalee100]

Hi,

Nice vise. I used to have a B&S with a swivel making it a compound tilting vise. Very handy for some complex milling operations that I used to do. But it's a bloody tall vise that ate a lot of daylight under the spindle. It also sometimes had issues with not being very still and rigid. Not something to leave in the mill all the time.

[Retro Steam Tech]

Hi, thanks. I haven't had a chance yet to use it, i don't have a mill but it will go very well my Craftsman Drill Press. It only has one clamping point but it does weigh a ton so i'm hoping that i won't have too many problems with rigidity.

[Toolmaker51]

Tilt Vise; You'll do fine drilling, drilling thrust being vertical doesn't tax the fit between body and trunnions. As noted by dalee100 some combo vises, are mysteriously difficult when milling. Combo vises were important before numerical control and more developed methods generating compound angles. You couldn't build many kinds of tooling without them.
I still like tilt vises simply that related surfaces can be completed so easily. Tilting the head of a mill is tedious to get 'in' the work envelope and available axis travel. The used Yuasa combo vise I have, was low cost and completely satisfactory, doubting it being swiveled a dozen times in 25 or 30 years. Now, the swivel of a standard flat milling vise is a different story. If you plan cuts toward the stationary jaw no issues will arise.
For tilt vises, been tempted locating and boring pins into the sides for sine measuring. There is no need of 3" 5" or an even distance, just calculate accordingly.

[Paul Alciatore]

That's a great find. I like older machine tools and would love to have one myself.

I did find an older B&S protractor head on E-bay with no blade or the nut and stud that retains it. I made a blade to fit it with one from an inexpensive Stanley adjustable square. Made the stud from scratch and turned a real nice, brass nut for it. That brass nut is oversized and has a fine knurl so it is very nice on my 75 year old fingers. I like it better than my newer Starrett that I found in a local pawn shop. For one thing I made the blade's width to have it sit dead flush with the base of the protractor when it is set to zero degrees. I like that in a protractor head and, as far as I know, none of the manufacturers make them that way.

[Retro Steam Tech]

Thanks, i was very lucky. That's a great job you did with the protractor.