Soft Jaws

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GlennW
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Soft Jaws

Post by GlennW »

I hadn't run my CNC mill since some time last year so I thought I'd see if it still remembered how to make stuff.

Cut off the pieces on a Cold Saw, which leaves a nice finish.
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Next to the Bridgeport for drilling, counter boring, and beveling the one end.
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Next to the CNC Mill for a bit of face milling, cutting the keyways, and generally making a colossal mess slinging chips and coolant!
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Glenn

Operating machines is perfectly safe......until you forget how dangerous it really is!
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GlennW
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Re: Soft Jaws

Post by GlennW »

They fit!
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Glenn

Operating machines is perfectly safe......until you forget how dangerous it really is!
SteveM
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Re: Soft Jaws

Post by SteveM »

Nice.

The one thing you might want to do (I keep forgetting on mine) is to radius the outside edges.

If your hand or arm ever hit that sharp 90 degree corner, it's going to be bad.

I thought of just clamping down on a large enough work piece to make the jaws stick out and then just machine a bevel or radius, then hit them in the other direction with a file.

Steve
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GlennW
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Re: Soft Jaws

Post by GlennW »

SteveM wrote: Sat May 26, 2018 7:53 pmIf your hand or arm ever hit that sharp 90 degree corner, it's going to be bad.
Been there, done that...

It's a little rough on the old knuckles!
Glenn

Operating machines is perfectly safe......until you forget how dangerous it really is!
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Dave_C
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Re: Soft Jaws

Post by Dave_C »

They look good though!

Dave C.
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earlgo
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Re: Soft Jaws

Post by earlgo »

Reminds me of when I bought the SHAR 6" with 2 piece jaws. I sent to MSC or TTC for soft jaws @ $30. They sent me one (1). I called and said what about the other 2 and the sales lady suggested I had ordered only 1. I asked if I should send it back and she said, no, keep it. Hmm. My immediate thought was to order 1 each, two more times. :evil:
I ended up making the poor man's soft aluminum jaws.
Soft Jaws.jpg
So far these have done what I needed.
--earlgo
Before you do anything, you must do something else first. - Washington's principle.
SteveM
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Re: Soft Jaws

Post by SteveM »

Nice solution, earlgo.

I have a bunch of soft jaws for 6" chucks for sale, all of them used, but with some life left on them. If you'd like to try soft jaws, this could be a cheap way to start (and I will send you three and not one).

I had a post on this in the for sale section, but it's not there any more. I'll have to see if I can get a new pic of what's left.

Steve
earlgo
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Re: Soft Jaws

Post by earlgo »

The soft jaws cut from round stock was not my idea. I saw it several years ago either on this board or maybe it was utube. Wherever, it is a simple easy solution. Drill and counterbore a hole for the M8 screw, cut a groove on the back for the hard jaw, bolt them on and go. The original design had 2 slots on the back so the jaw could present 4 'sides' to the work, but I was in a hurry so I only cut 1 slot. Oh and the jaws can be mounted on the outer hole for a bigger part. Additionally they can be cut to fit inside a tubular part if required. Something that can't be easily done with the rectangular soft jaws.

Steve, thanks for the offer, but this solution works for the few times I have needed soft jaws.
--earlgo
Before you do anything, you must do something else first. - Washington's principle.
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GlennW
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Re: Soft Jaws

Post by GlennW »

Nice solution Earl!

I'm working with short sections of dead soft 1/2" dia. thin wall tubing, so I needed as much contact as I could get.
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A collet could have worked for this step of the job, but I need depth location so I would have had to machine a collet blank to suit. (Which can also lead to depth irregularities when using a draw bar system) Then the next step wouldn't have worked with a collet, so soft jaws it is as they will!

I usually make one extra part as a "set up" part, so I now have seven jaws...

It seems that every time I think I don't need that extra part, I screw one part up and have to make one over, which takes nearly as long as making the entire batch!
Glenn

Operating machines is perfectly safe......until you forget how dangerous it really is!
earlgo
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Re: Soft Jaws

Post by earlgo »

Your solution is best for your application, as was mine. The point being, soft jaws work for all kinds of situations. It might be fun to try some hexagonal stock.
Yours look far better and much more professional. Nice job.
--earlgo
Before you do anything, you must do something else first. - Washington's principle.
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GlennW
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Re: Soft Jaws

Post by GlennW »

earlgo wrote: Thu May 31, 2018 5:32 pm The point being, soft jaws work for all kinds of situations.
Exactly!

Not sure how else you would do these other than soft jaws:

First step was to hold them and turn the flange to the proper diameter using the jase as shown in the previous post.

Then groove the jaws so they could accept the flanged end so they could be trimmed to length.
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Last edited by GlennW on Thu May 31, 2018 6:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Glenn

Operating machines is perfectly safe......until you forget how dangerous it really is!
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GlennW
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Re: Soft Jaws

Post by GlennW »

Since it seems to be soft jaw week around here...

Finished the above project today and moved on to finish up this one as well using a different set of soft jaws.

These needed grooving to finish up, so they needed to be indexed and held securely by a short portion of the flange.
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A number of setups on three different machines to make these...
Glenn

Operating machines is perfectly safe......until you forget how dangerous it really is!
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