AMF Float Lock vise. What am I doing wrong

[CalsXS2]

I just grabbed this little beauty. It's an older AMF Float Lock Mighty 7 Vise.

This one has the clamp that tightens to the bottom side of your drill press table. The problem is the clamping screw is just walking across the table thus not holding things in place tight enough. I can move the whole vise with my hand.

Look at the pic below showing where the screw has moved. I think I might have even bent it. Unless of course it was all ready bent. But I did tighten it pretty tight.

At first I thought I was missing a part. But according to all the pics I've seen it all seems to be there.

I wonder if I could put a round foot like on a c-clamp on the screw to help it clamp better.

You guys got any ideas. Or am I doing something wrong.

 

[larry_g]

I have a similar vise on mine but instead of the C clamp to the table it uses a T-nut in the slot. I would suggest you try that or drill and tap the table top so the screw can screw directly into it. It will never be as solid as a vise that is bolted down in two places, better to think of it as a anti-rotation devise rather than hard locating devise.

lg
no neat sig line

 

[CalsXS2]

Well I came up with a couple of ideas.

First. I used a socket on the screw. It helped a bunch but can still be twerked a little. I assume that it would be good enough just using it as a anti-rotation for when you break through drilling a hole. Sadly it buggered up the threads on the end of the screw. But it doesn't even matter unless I want to take the screw all the way out for some reason.

Second. We were thinking along the same lines. I used an existing hole in the table and bolted it down like you said. Pretty solid. But it will limit the size of work. And like you said it is not as good as 2 mounting points. But good enough for what I do. Which is nothing really,,,lol.

 

[CalsXS2]

Hey larry g.

I can't believe you suggested I drill a hole in my 1936 Walker Turner drill press table,,,lol.

Actually. Do you ride a Goldwing by chance. There's a guy on the Goldwing forum that goes by larry g,,,or something like that.

 

[Rileysan]

I haven't seen one of those before and if no one else has copied that design, it probably doesn't work.

The problem I see with the design is that the entire vise is held at one far away point by the tip of a bolt and I'm sure it doesn't take much leverage to make the whole thing move. The farther away the vise is from the attachment point, the weaker the attachment will be. If you can move the vise by hand while the clamp is tight, it has zero chance of holding while you're drilling anything other than wood.

As a work-around, you might look for a drill press table clamp to hold the other side of the vise down to the table. Here's a picture.

Edit: If I had no other option but to use that vise, I would modify the clamp by welding a piece of square stock to the bottom side so that the clamp butts tight against the table, which would minimize any movement in the clamp.

Brian

 

[CalsXS2]

I haven't seen one of those before and if no one else has copied that design, it probably doesn't work.

The problem I see with the design is that the entire vise is held at one far away point by the tip of a bolt and I'm sure it doesn't take much leverage to make the whole thing move. The farther away the vise is from the attachment point, the weaker the attachment will be. If you can move the vise by hand while the clamp is tight, it has zero chance of holding while you're drilling anything other than wood.

As a work-around, you might look for a drill press table clamp to hold the other side of the vise down to the table. Here's a picture.

Brian

Oh I've got options,,,lol.

Obviously the hold down that goes on the column is not installed.

Actually they still make that vise. It's bigger now. It's over $300. It's best used in a t-slot. I've seen some youtube videos of big shops using them. Google float lock vise.

I just thought it was cool,,,lol. Can't have too many vises. Right!!

 

[Rileysan]

I just thought it was cool,,,lol. Can't have too many vises. Right!!

I never said I wouldn't own one!


Did you see my edited comment on modifying the clamp? It's an easy one that might make it useful.

Brian

 

[larry_g]

Hey larry g.

I can't believe you suggested I drill a hole in my 1936 Walker Turner drill press table,,,lol.

Actually. Do you ride a Goldwing by chance. There's a guy on the Goldwing forum that goes by larry g,,,or something like that.

I have no compunction in modifying a tool to serve MY purpose. I am not a tool collector, I'm a tool user and consider tools from the factory as a starting point.

Here you can see my setup;

View media item 62439
As for the motor scooters, not my thing.


lg
no neat sig line

 

[catalytic]

Float lock vises are awesome. However, the ones that are made now by Wahlstrom and also the similar Heinrich 13-WH have abandoned that c-clamp attachment -- they all just have a bolt that bolts the bar holder block to a tapped hole in your drill table (or a T-nut).

In the machine shop where I go (which has a Heinrich 13-WH on every drill press), no one actually ever bothers with those blocks -- people just rest the bar of the clamp against the left hand side of the drill press column. It works just fine.