CA2275020A1 - Vise jaws - Google Patents

Abstract

A vise jaw accessory system for attaching vise accessories, such as parallel plates. The system includes a removable jaw having a ledge along its longitudinal direction and an offset surface incorporating a number of magnets, and parallel plates or set-up gages attracted by the magnets and abutting the ledge of the jaw. The parallel plates or setting gages are movable along the longitudinal direction of the jaw and can be set at any location using an external workstop.

Description

vzsE JAws FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to removable vise jaw assembly and, more particularly, to jaws accurately accepting parallels or other setting gages by magnets.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Workpiece holding frequently involves clamping at an elevated position relative to the vise bed. The purpose is to make sides of the workpiece accessible for machining as well as to provide clearance on the bottom of the workpiece for through machining.
Traditional solution is provided by parallels placed against the vise jaws. The parallels work satisfactorily in manual prototype machining, however, in production machining they proved to be unreliable and difficult to maintain since they are not attached to the jaws. One solution to the problem is provided by US Pat.
No. 5,078,372 to Fitzpatrick where a step is introduced into a replaceable jaw. The problem with this solution is that the whole jaw has to be replaced when a different step is required which is expensive as well as time consuming. Additional disadvantage is that difficult "L" or "T" shaped workieces can not be properly clamped since they would overhang the jaws. Another solution to the problem is provided by US Pat. No. 5,037,075 to Durfee or, similarly, by Officina Meccanica Lombarda srl (Italy), which locks the parallel to the jaw using a spring loaded ball plunger.
This solution still lacks the versatility since the parallels are not movable along the jaw and therefore can not be used to clamp "L" or "T" shaped workpieces. Further solution to the problem is provided by US Pat. No. 5,711,515 to Nishimura where parallels are clamped against the jaws using magnets fastened to the parallels. This arrangement allows clamping the difficult workpieces but only at the end of the jaw. Usefulness of this arrangement is further limited by the requirement to equip every custom parallel or standard angle blocks with the magnets.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention overcomes the foregoing and other drawbacks by providing the jaw on the face opposite to mounting face with a maximum step defined by the ledge and the offset surface. The offset surface of the jaw is provided with embedded magnets to attract the parallels or setting gages against it and the ledge is provided to accurately abut the parallel plates or setting gages at any location along the longitudinal direction of the jaw. This arrangement is very versatile since the jaw step bridges the vise bed ditch completely and since the parallels or other gages are accurately movable along the length of the jaw. A
narrow workpiece can be thus clamped in the middle of the jaw without use of parallels. Also, more than one parallel can be set on the same jaw. The parallels can even have different height.
Therefore difficult workpieces such as "L" or "T" shaped can be set anywhere in the jaw with full contact area. Furthermore, standard angle block gages can be set anywhere in the jaws using an external workstop for setting the gages. The step can also be completely filled with an appropriate parallel plate thus converting a step jaw into a full jaw. Another advantage is that changing the set-up arrangement is quick since no fasteners are needed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The invention will now be described further, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the vise jaw according to the invention;
Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional view along lines A-A of the vise jaw illustrated in Fig. 1 shown with an attached parallel plate;
Fig. 3 is a side view of a vise assembly utilizing vise jaws with attached parallel plates while clamping a workpiece;
Fig. 4 is a front elevational view of a vise jaw clamping an "L" shape workpiece.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED
EMBODIMENTS
According to FIG.1 a generally rectangular vise jaw 1 has a mounting face 2 and a face 3 opposite to mounting face designed to accept various setting accessories. Face 3 has a step along the length of the jaw defined by ledge 4 and by offset surface 5.
Mounting holes 6 are located in the area of offset surface 5 and extend through the width of vise jaw 1. Typical mounting holes are counterbored, provided to accept socket head cap screws. Also in the area of offset surface 5 are located permanent magnets 7 preferably imbedded slightly below the surface 5. As shown in FIG. 2 the magnet 7 is accommodated in a larger pocket filled with nonferrous material 8 such as aluminum to separate the magnets from the surrounding ferrous material. This arrangement provides undiminished attractive force of the magnet 7 required to hold parallel plate 9 against surface 5 as shown in Figure 2.
At an installation the parallel plate 9 is attached against surface 5 while also abutted against ledge 4.
A typical installation of jaws is illustrated in FIG 3. The vise 10 comprises a fixed member 11 provided at one end of a base 12 and a movable member 13 provided in opposite relation to the fixed member 11 to be able to move back and forth on the upper surface of the base 14. Vise jaws 1 of the present invention are bolted respectively to the front surfaces of the fixed member 11 and the movable member 13. When clamping workpiece 15 parallel plates 9 are used to create sufficient clearance between the bottom surface 16 of workpiece 15 and the surface of the base 14 to expose the upper portion of the workpiece for machining.
Set-up of a difficult piece such as "L" shaped is shown in Figure 4. Horizontal leg 18 of "L" workpiece 17 is supported and accurately aligned by parallel plate 9 which can be positioned along the length of the jaw 1 while attracted by the magnets embedded in the jaw and while abbuted to the ledge 4. This allows the vertical leg 19 as well as horizontal the leg 18 of the workpiece 17 to be clamped thus providing secure clamping arrangement. Since ledge 4 of vise jaw 1 spans over ditch 20 of vise base 12 any workpiece can be set-up also in the middle of the jaw above ditch 20. Such central location of a workpiece~
provides the most secure clamping since clamping forces are uniformly distributed over the contact area between the workpiece and surface 5 of the vise jaw 1.
The above description is an example of simple embodiment only. Further variation of the same invention can be achieved by substituting permanent magnets with electromagnets.

Claims (4)

1. A vise jaw comprising:
a generally rectangular member having a longitudinal extend, a height and a width, a mounting face being defined by said longitudinal extend and said height, a second face on the opposed side of said rectangular member from said mounting face, said second face having a step throughout said longitudinal extend, said step providing a ledge and an offset surface, said offset surface reducing said width of said rectangular member of a portion of second face; and a plurality of mounting holes extending in said width direction of said rectangular member, said holes provided for mounting on a vise assembly, said holes located in the said offset surface of said rectangular member.

2. A vise jaw as claimed in claim 1, comprising a plurality of magnets, said magnets fitted into said offset surface of said rectangular member.

3. A vise jaw as claimed in claim 1 or 2, comprising a removable plate, said plate abutting said ledge, said plate attracted by said magnets,

4. A vise jaw as claimed in claim 3 wherein said plate has thickness, said thickness being the same as size of said ledge.