Machinist jack

**Crusty** · Jul 16, 2019, 12:30 PM

I needed to mill a piece which hung out well to the side of my milling vise so I made this little machinist jack from a 5/8" coupling nut, bolt and thick washer. It worked as expected and I got a nice flat cut on that workpiece.

**bruce.desertrat** · Jul 16, 2019, 04:34 PM

simple and effective.

**Crusty** · Jul 16, 2019, 04:46 PM

I just realized that I can buy longer bolts if I need to go higher too.

It was easy to make and a lot cheaper than buying them.

**bruce.desertrat** · Jul 16, 2019, 05:24 PM

IS the washer welded or brazed to the bottom?

**TheElderBrother** · Aug 31, 2021, 10:03 PM

That's what they told me about becoming a lawyer. Weird.

**mwmkravchenko** · Jul 16, 2019, 05:10 PM

Simple and effective. What's not to like!

**Crusty** · Jul 16, 2019, 06:38 PM

First of all it's a pretty tight fit - I used my big vise to press it in. Then I tried to hard braze it in place and discovered that I couldn't get it hot enough with my propane torch so that idea fell by the wayside. Since it's a press fit and it only sees force in one direction I took it apart and pressed it together again using lots of red Loctite. I've always had to use heat to get anything apart again that was put together with red so I think that will be adequate. The next one I build I'll be more careful and try to machine it for a shrink fit.

I just reread this and realized that I hadn't explained that the bottom of the coupling nut was turned round to fit into the washer's central hole. Sorry for the lack of clarity.

**wizard69** · Jul 20, 2019, 02:21 PM

Crusty nice work. I’m sure loctite will be fine I also use it for things other than its and bolts. The nice thing about this design is that if you need a swivel pad you can always buy such from the likes of Carr-Lane and others.

I’m not sure why machinist jacks are so expensive, even the cheap imports made out of castings are expensive for what you get.