[widget_maker]

I bought my Tormach used, and part of that used was that someone had run end mills into the moveable vise jaw. It does bug me a bit when I have to look at it, so it made me wonder how fussy people are in general about their machine.
Would you
a) Live with it
b) Stick in a carbide end mill and flatten both jaw tops until the damage was machined out (maybe 20 thou - 25 thou?)
c) Buy new jaws?

Just curious.......

Attachment 275030

[adamboon]

I would leave it until you are 100% sure you won't run into the jaws yourself. I cut both of my jaws 2 weeks ago while in a hurry. DOH!!

[WOTDesigns]

I haven't had much luck machining them on purpose, but man they cut nice by accident. I'd leave em unless you plan to use as reference (which I never understood). Buy new ones if you are. Or just buyachinable jaws.

[Hirudin]

I also hate looking at jaws that I ran a tool into! I usually live with it as long as it's not having too much of a negative impact on how well it clamps.

If you decide to get new jaws I would suggest checking out monsterjaws.com . They sell American-made 6061 soft jaws for low prices.

[pickled]

Hirudin has the right idea. Grab a couple of pairs of monster jaws and swap them out when you want to run something "special". Otherwise the original jaws can be used for when you want to run a new unproven program or perform some "de-bugging". For the price it is sure hard to beat the monster jaws and you can get various heights and lengths (i.e. full 6" or 2" high).

[popspipes]

little bit of chatter = little bit of pullout = cut vise jaws, I just faced mine off 2 weeks ago, now they have a small nicely machined area about 1/4" on one end!

I usually live with the small hickeys until I cant stand to look at it anymore.

[CadRhino]

You can just flycut them down to be equal or better yet, get some Monster jaws as suggested. I use them all the time and if I make a mistake, I am only out $10 for the aluminum ones.

I bought my Tormach used, and part of that used was that someone had run end mills into the moveable vise jaw. It does bug me a bit when I have to look at it, so it made me wonder how fussy people are in general about their machine.
Would you
a) Live with it
b) Stick in a carbide end mill and flatten both jaw tops until the damage was machined out (maybe 20 thou - 25 thou?)
c) Buy new jaws?

Just curious.......

Attachment 275030

[Philbobb]

You can just flycut them down to be equal or better yet, get some Monster jaws as suggested. I use them all the time and if I make a mistake, I am only out $10 for the aluminum ones.

And if you make a mistake it could be much easier on the machine and the tool.

Is there any reason, other than durability, not to just use aluminum jaws?

[Hirudin]

Yeah! When I hit the jaws I'm glad that they're aluminum instead of steel.

One consideration is that the aluminum jaws might cause some galvanic corrosion with the cast iron vise. For me it has been a bit of a problem, but not much. I've decided I'm just going to live with it (I guess the fact that it stays hidden is good enough for me) but it might be a bigger problem in other climates or something.

[Steve Seebold]

The first thing I did when I got my machine was to take the steel jaws out of the vise and replace them with aluminum. Now if I nick a jaw, it doesn't kill the cutter.

[R.DesJardin]

I use aluminum soft jaws 99% of the time, always have a few new sets in the drawer. I usually cut steps in them so no need for parallels.

[Fastest1]

Too bad they arent made to just flip over.

[EvolveES]

I would just live with it as long as you can, we have two vices, one has nicked jaws and the other is perfect, we interchange them and it's kind of like having a "Rough" vice and a "Precision" vice. anytime the program is untested or the cut is just a few thou above the jaw surface or when running it manually i like to throw in the rough jaw because it's already dinged so i won't feel so bad if i nick it again

[SomeWhatLost]

they add "character"
or so I have been told...

[pickled]

they add "character"
or so I have been told...

Oh yeah! Maybe the OP should just make up some cool looking geometric pattern that is about the same depth and try to tell folks that they were customized for a "secret" part that he is bound by confidentiality agreements not to discuss. It's kind of like folks that get tattoo cover-ups when they have their significant others name emboldened on their skin. Yeah add some more roses and flames!