Small parts clamping block for the mill

[Frank S]

Another reason for making these fixtures whether they are small enough to be clamped in the vice or for much larger parts which would normally be clamped to the table itself is they serve to prevent those Uh-OH disasters. if anyone has ever been around a fast paced production shop I'm quite sure they have seen the results of those moments where something didn't go as planned leaving a deep gouge or divot from a cutter or drill point in the table.This can happen to anyone from the greenest novice to a seasoned professional
I have an American Vertical Knee mill that I am cleaning up and semi restoring to be added to my cadre of machines that has many such gouges in the table. There is no way to know how many years this poor old regal machine suffered through countless such tool encounters. I am hoping to eventually fill them by welding then re grind and scrape the table back to something more presentable even though for my purposes the uh-oh's from past users won't effect anything I might make on it.they just look bad