Installing a machine vise - GIF

[albertq]

I always place a little oil on the table after cleaning before placing the vice on to prevent possible corrosion.

[nova_robotics]

I always place a little oil on the table after cleaning before placing the vice on to prevent possible corrosion.

That lasts a little while, but not very long. It will etch your table. Place the protective oil paper that comes with tooling between the vise and table as one option. That seems to work well. I used to use that a lot. Now I machine aluminum pads to place between the vise and the table. It acts as a sacrificial anode on a boat. It's less noble than both the steel in the table and the cast iron in the vise, so it will corrode preferentially and protect both. That's what I do on all my machines now.

It has the added benefit of being able to mount two vises on a single aluminum mount and keep them aligned. So you can keep two vises in perfect alignment, and remove and replace them as one single unit. In addition to protecting the tooling from corrosion I find it very helpful just for daily use. Reducing hours and hours of alignment is worth it on its own.