Leveling your ball vise

Tom Curran · May 14, 2008

I used to spend a looong time trying to level my ball vise. Not any more. Twelve bucks later, and I'm saving two bucks everytime I go to level up the vise. Two bucks, four times a day, times two hundred and forty days a year... why, I'm gonna be rich from all the money I'm saving!

The whole concept is stuck right on my ball vise, lower right corner of the top fla of the ball.

Order yours TODAY from:
http://www.mcmaster.com/
1 3329A31 1 Each Magnetic Backed Bullseye/tubular Level, Chrome Plated Brass, One Circle, 1" Base Dia

I have not made any special arrangements for kickbacks or benefits from the above mentioned company. Not me!

pilkguns · May 14, 2008

Tom, can you tell me why you are concerned about leveling a ball vise? I assume it is something not engraving related. Not trying to be smart or anything but it seems to me if I was drawfiling or doing some operation where level was critical I would be using a regular vise.

KCSteve · May 14, 2008

I'm with Scott - good idea using the magnetic bullseye, but why do you need the vise level? Mine meanders all over the place as I work - all I care about is that my graver is at the right angle to the spot I'm cutting.

monk · May 14, 2008

i levelled mine; found out my floor was 15 degrees outta whack ! i don't know why i would want mine levelled either. but that's a good way to do it !

TallGary · May 15, 2008

Why level a vise?

I use a turntable. I level my vise so that as I move (slide) the vise to keep the active engraving area in the center of the microscope, the image does not get out of focus. It doesn't need to be perfect and I usually only spot check when first setting up a piece for engraving or if I notice that I am experiencing a problem with keeping the piece in focus. I use a little plastic bulls-eye bubble level, not the nice mag-based one illustrated above

. If you don't use a microscope, leveling the work piece will not be an issue.

Gary

Tom Curran · May 15, 2008

I guess I never though WHY i would want to level the work......

My vise is mounted on a turntable. The vise's internal brake is on, almost always.

In working flat pieces, if the workpiece is out of level, and I rotate the vise, the angle of attack will be constantly changing. When I try to level by eye, I find I just can't judge level very well.

Tom

pilkguns · May 15, 2008

Interesting answers. This is curious to me, sinceI have used a microscope on a rotating disc for going on 20 years this year and never noticed any need for this. In fact, it was at my insistence that GRS added their turntable to their inventory, somewhere floating around Emporia is a the final prototype of what they are selling now that I engraved "Pilkington Approved" on.

In trying to figure out why this is such a difference, could it be that you guys are doing rather large scrolls that require a lot of movement, whereas I am doing pretty small scrolls mostly? Or the other solution that I can think of is that maybe you have a microscope with a very short DOF? I have Meiji EMZs, and l have used a bunch of different ones between the 3 I have here and the different ones I have used in the GRS classrooms over 14 years and like I said, I never have noticed an issue with this.

leschowe · May 15, 2008

Hi Scott,
I use the GRS turntable. I find that if the turntable is not level, and I
have the vise moved quite a bit off the center of the turntable (due to centering
my work in the microscope), there is a rotational torque, due to gravity, on the
vise. This is very annoying to me.

Les Schowe

michaelp · May 15, 2008

I must be odd,well I know I'm odd ,but I only use moderate brake on the vise and the turntable runs free. every thing moves free ,tilt for different angles rotation to keep it under the scope. as long as everything gets turned into the graver and not the other way around

monk · May 15, 2008

god knows i'm a freak ! the stupid scope i bought almost never goes out of focus. this scope for reasons unknown to me, has an exceptional depth latitude to it. it maintains proper focus and seldom needs changed unless i change to another object to be engraved. i can go thru maybe 90% of the zoom on this scope before touching the focus knob. if i tilt the vise top out of plane, no problem !

Danny C · May 16, 2008

You can also get a "flat" bubble level for about $2.
Not as pretty but works just as well.

vdrum4250 · Sep 23, 2016

i bought this and added some magnetic tape to the back

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00S78C6LI/ref=sr_ph_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1474674389&sr=sr-1&keywords=bubble

monk · Sep 24, 2016

Tom Curran said:
I used to spend a looong time trying to level my ball vise. Not any more. Twelve bucks later, and I'm saving two bucks everytime I go to level up the vise. Two bucks, four times a day, times two hundred and forty days a year... why, I'm gonna be rich from all the money I'm saving!

The whole concept is stuck right on my ball vise, lower right corner of the top fla of the ball.

Order yours TODAY from:
http://www.mcmaster.com/
1 3329A31 1 Each Magnetic Backed Bullseye/tubular Level, Chrome Plated Brass, One Circle, 1" Base Dia

I have not made any special arrangements for kickbacks or benefits from the above mentioned company. Not me!

maybe i'm crazy. but when i engrave, i'm always tilting this way or that. i sometimes tilt while my cuts are in progress. even tho i levelled the vise shaft sometime ago, it really isn't needed for the way i work

Brian Marshall · Sep 24, 2016

I DO need a level top. I am a cripple and these days I engrave with my arm hung from a sling anchored in the ceiling under a scope.

Because of the limitations imposed by the sling and the scope used together, I can no longer tip the vise the way I once could.

90% of my work is done within about 2 square inches - all of which is covered by the positioning vise. No turntable.

Amazing what you can get used to - when you have no choice...

It's pretty hard to bump the vise hard enough to tip it, but it can be done.

I use a $2 bubble mounted on a 2" plexi disc. Just place it on top of the jaws once every coupla weeks and check, it rarely needs adjusting.

Brian

Leveling your ball vise

Tom Curran

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